Colour Basics: Directory of Links

Colour Fundamentals

Experiencing Colours

• Colour is an essential part of our lives

• Colour affects our emotions

Perceiving Colours

• Colour is a perception

• Colour is contextual

• Light and colour

• People who are ‘colour blind’ can see colours, just not as many

• Some people with synesthesia can experience colours through other senses

Describing Colours

• Colours can be described by more than just hue

• Colours can be arranged 3-dimensionally

• Naming colours

WORKing WITH Colours

• Why can’t we mix colours?

• Colour is impacted by the devices we use

Common Misconceptions

Experiencing Colours

• Colours have universal symbolic meanings

Perceiving Colours

• Magenta is not a ‘real’ colour

• People who are colour blind see the world in back and white

• Light rays (or their wavelengths) are coloured

• Yellow objects reflect only yellow wavelengths to our eyes

• The rainbow contains all colours

• The spectrum has only 7 colours

Describing Colours

• Colour and hue mean the same thing

• Black and white and grey are not colours

WORKing WITH Colours

• All colours can be mixed from a ‘primary’ set of three

• There are simple rules that guarantee colour harmony

• Green paints ‘contain’ yellow and blue

Learn More

• Colour attributes

• Relation between light, wavelength and colour

• Perceiving coloured objects and lights

• Seeing colour

• Comparative mixing explained

• Non-spectral hues