Hi Terry
What kind of design theory are you alluding to? And when you say always
comprises a set of fixed colours¹ do you mean always comprises a fixed
set of colours¹? As in the same set? If the latter, then no, since the
primary school primary colors are red, blue and yellow, but the primary
colours of AV equipment are generally red, green and blue, of printing CMY
and so on. Pantone have their own proprietary primaries. Painting, TV,
print could all easily come under aspects of communication design theory
and there¹s a huge range of different ways of understanding and applying
colour just under that umbrella. Or parasol if that¹s a more colourful
metaphor.
I guess information designers think less about sets or spectrums of colour
and more about the careful application of colour: alike things should be
coloured alike, for example. With regard to distinction between colours
very similar colours should probably be shown close to or touching each
other on a transit map so their difference is more easily perceived.
If you want to apply to design theory the psychophysics of seeing, as it
pertains to colour, it¹s important to remember that the mind assumes
things are more likely to change colour because of changes in ambient
light than they are to change colour in and of themselves. This mental
faculty is called colour constancy. This is how the simple colour schemes
in many comics are still effective in communicating even when the artist
disregards niceties of realistic shading. Hergé knew this when he rejected
the idea of shadow completely and stuck with flat consistent colour
If we¹re going to wax philosophical, and to add to Eduardo¹s nod to the
Greeks and the importance of language to our understanding of colour I
recommend a look at Eco¹s short essay How Culture Conditions the Colours
We See. In it he talks about how the ancients would use the same word for
a reddish hue as they would for the colour of the ocean ...
Our old pal Paul Green-Armytage should really be chiming in here.
Regards
Stuart
Associate Professor Stuart Medley, PhD
Associate Dean, Design, Media & Communications
School of Arts & Humanities
Rm 5.267
School of Communications and Arts
Edith Cowan University
Bradford St, Mt Lawley WA 6050
Australia
Tel: +61 8 9370 6709
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