Learn colour fundamentals
The Colour Literacy Project aims to re-frame colour education to align with 21st century challenges and opportunities. From this updated perspective, we start with seeing, noticing and describing all the variations of colours around us. As we build our visual vocabulary, and become attuned to all the colours that surround us, we create a strong foundation for our colour journey.
Our Colour Fundamentals pages introduce key ideas about the important role of colour in our lives and how we see, describe and work with colours.
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Colour is an essential part of our lives.
Colour impacts us in complex ways.
Colour is a perception.
Colour is contextual.
Light is the key to seeing colour.
People who are ‘colour blind’ can see colours, just not as many.
People with synesthesia can experience colour through their other senses.
Colours can be described by more than just hue.
Colours can be arranged in three dimensions.
We can see millions of colours, yet only a handful are named in any language.
You can’t mix colours - but you can mix paints - or other coloured media.
The appearance of colour is dependent on the device we use.
Correct common colour misconceptions
Our knowledge about colour is constantly evolving. Due to a lack of awareness of current colour research, or an oversimplified view of colour, several common misconceptions about colour have not yet been updated - for example, the dominant idea that red, yellow and blue are ‘the primary colours’, or that there are ‘only’ seven colours in the rainbow.
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Misconception: Colours have universal symbolic meanings.
Misconception: People who are ‘colour blind’ see the world in black and white.
Misconception: Magenta is not a ‘real’ colour.
Misconception: Light rays (or their wavelengths) are coloured.
Misconception: Yellow objects reflect only yellow wavelengths.
Misconception: Colour and hue mean the same thing.
Misconception: Black, white and grey are not colours.
Misconception: The rainbow (or spectrum) contains all the colours we can see.
Misconception: The spectrum is divided into only seven colours.
Misconception: All colours can be mixed using a ‘primary’ set of three.
Misconception: There are simple rules that guarantee colour harmony.
Misconception: Green paints made by mixing ‘contain’ yellow and blue.
