AD150 Color Vocabulary PDF

COLOR AND COMPOSITION: AD 150 New Jersey Institute of Technology Instructors: Justin Countee, Glenn Goldman, Monica Nelson, Martin Short, Sophia Sobers GLOSSARY (from a variety of sources including Understanding Color: An Introduction for Designers/4th Ed. by Linda Holtzschue, Design Through Disco...

COLOR AND COMPOSITION: AD 150 New Jersey Institute of Technology Instructors: Justin Countee, Glenn Goldman, Monica Nelson, Martin Short, Sophia Sobers GLOSSARY (from a variety of sources including Understanding Color: An Introduction for Designers/4th Ed. by Linda Holtzschue, Design Through Discovery: An Introduction to Art and Design by Marjorie Elliott Bevlin, Design Principles and Problems by Paul Zelanski and Mary Pat Fisher, How Color Works: Color Theory in the 21st Century by Pamela Fraser, Graphic Design: The New Basics by Ellen Lupton and Jennifer Cole Phillips, and Color Studies by Edith Anderson Feisner) Achromatic: Having no discernible hue or color. Additive Color: The process of mixing the colors of light together. Additive Mixture: Color seen because of light only. Additive Primaries: Wavelengths of light that must be present to yield white light: red, green, and blue. Afterimage: A “ghost” image generated by the eye in response to stimulation by a single color in the absence of its complement. Analogous Colors: Colors adjacent on a color spectrum, sometimes defined as hues limited to the range between a primary and secondary. A group of colors including any two primaries but never the third. Architectural Order (color): A sequence with the lightest value at the top and the darkest at the bottom. Artists’ Media: A family of subtractive media that selectively absorb and reflect light. Artists’ media are composed of a liquid, paste, viscous, solid, or other base into which pigments or dyes have been introduced to form a transferable colorant, such as paint, dye, crayon, or chalk. Artists’ Spectrum: The full range of visible hues as organized by Goethe: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet; expandable to include any and all hues in between them. Also called color circle or color wheel. Ascender: In typeface, it is the portion of the lowercase letter that extends above the mean line of a font (x-height). Aspect Ratio: The proportional relationship between the width and height of a rectangle (written as width:height). Asymmetrical Balance: Balance that relies on non-symmetrical design components, in which both sides of the work are not the same or divisible. Atmospheric Perspective: The effect of an intervening body of air between an object and the viewer, causing a softening of outlines, blurring of colors, and loss of detail at the horizon; the simulation of depth in two-dimensional art by the portrayal of this effect. Azo dye: A family of petroleum-based dyes developed in the latter nineteenth century, with greater color fastness than the aniline dyes that preceded them. Bézier Curve: A line defined by a set of anchor and control points (named after the engineer Pierre Bézier). Bezold Effect: The changing of an appearance in a pattern accomplished by swapping out (only) one color for another (named after meteorologist and carpet maker Wilhelm von Bezold). Biomorphic: Taken from nature, from the Greek meaning “structure based on life.” Brilliance: The combined qualities of high light-reflectance and strong hue, typically found in saturated colors and strong tints. Carried Colors: Colors in an image or design that are laid on the background. Chiaroscuro: The use of light and shadow effects in a painting. Chroma: A synonym of hue and color; the name of a color (see “hue”). Also, a term used to describe the relative presence of hue in a sample. A vivid color has high chroma, a muted color sample has lower chroma. Chromatic Simultaneous Contrast: Simultaneous contrast the concerns itself with hue/color changes that occur due to the influence of the surrounding hues/colors. Chromophobia: Fear of color. Chromotherapy: The use of color for healing. CIE: The Commision Internationale de l’Eclairage; an organization that attempts to standardize color notation with regard to the colors of light. Collage: A composition in which various materials and objects are combined together either two-dimensionally on a fixed backing, or three-dimensionally as sculptural object. Color: A category of visual experience including hue, value, and saturation. Also, a synonym for hue and chroma; the name of a color (see “hue”). Colorant: A substance that reacts with light by absorbing some wavelengths and reflecting others, giving an object or surface its hue. Color Coding: The use of color to differentiate between objects or ideas. Color Cycle: A period of time or stage in consumer preference for certain palettes; the prevalence of certain colors in the context of a particular time. Color Forecasting: A service that provides manufactures and vendors with information and guidance on upcoming consumer interest in certain colors and palettes. Colorimeter: A device that measures the red, green, and blue wavelengths of emitted light; used to calibrate computers and monitors. Color Rendering Index (CRI): A rating scale meant to assess the ability of a lamp to render the colors of objects. Lamps are rated abased on the degree of color shift that occurs when an object placed under the test lamp is compared to the same object under a reference standard lamp. Color Scheme. A plan for selecting, organizing, and using colors in a specific application. Color Separation. In printing, the process by which the primary colors are printed separately but create a full color image when superimposed with each other. Color Temperature: In lighting, the measurable temperature in degrees Kelvin of any given light source. In color theory and description, the relative warmth (red-yellow-orange cast) or coolness (blue or green cast) of a color. Color Wheel: A synonym for spectrum. Also a term sometimes used to mean a circle of color that scientist James Maxwell devised to demonstrate the responses of the human eye to color in motion. Complementary Colors: Colors directly opposite each other on the artists’ spectrum or color wheel. Each pair of complements contains the three primary colors (red, yellow, and blue) in some proportion or mixture. Complementary Contrast: An effect of intensified hue difference that takes place when colors used together contain even a partial complementary relationship. Cones: Cells in the retina that are sensitive to bright light and color as well as fine detail. Cool Grays: The result of mixing white with a commercially produced black. Contrast Reversal: A variation of afterimage in which the “ghost” image is seen as a negative of the original image and as its complementary color. Cross-hatching: A series of intersection sets of parallel lines used to indicate shading or volume in a drawing. DPI: Dots Per Inch that refers to the number of ink droplets the printer will produce per inch when printing a digital image. Because a raster image is resolution dependent, and the size is defined by the number of pixels, the conversion between PPI onscreen and DPI for printing is generally 1:1. Descender: In typeface design, it is the portion of a lowercase letter that extends below the baseline. Deuteranopia: A form of color blindness in which sensitivity to green is reduced. Diffraction: The breaking up of a beam of light into a series of dark or light bands or colored spectra, after hitting an obstacle. Dilution: Changing a pure or saturated hue by lightening, darkening, or muting (or by the addition of black, white, gray, or its complement). Direct Mixing: The mixing of wet colorants together to create composite colors. Display Mode: The way in which a user mixes colors of a monitor light display. Dot Gain: In process printing, an unintended instance of ink spreading around half-tone dots. Dye: A colorant created by dissolving pigment into a liquid vehicle. Equilibrium: An involuntary, physiological state of rest that the eye seeks out. Equilibrium occurs when all three (additive or subtractive) primary colors are within the field of vision. Equiluminance: The appearance of vibration when two colors of equal luminance are adjacent to one another. Our eyes cannot perceive the shape edges and thus compositional elements appear to be in movement. Also referred to as color vibration. Fauvism: A movement originating in France in 1905, characterized by the unconventional, seemingly arbitrary, use of bright contrasting colors (associated with Matisse). Figure-Ground: In two-dimensional design, the relationship that exists between the principal image (the focus) and the background shapes. The term “figure-ground ambiguity” implies both are of equal importance (visually). Filter: When used in the context of color theory, a material that transmits some wavelengths of light and absorbs others. Flat Color: A single solid area of color used as a design element in printing; also match or spot color. Font: A collection of letters, numbers, symbols of a specific size and weight within a particular typeface. For example, “Arial 12-point regular” is a different font than “Arial 20-point bold italics” even though they are members of the same typeface. Font Family: A collection of related fonts. These may, for example, contain the font files for “Regular,” “Narrow,” “Italics,” “Bold Italics,” etc. all within the same typeface. Gamut: The full range of colors available in software and seen as the display of a color monitor. Geometric Shape: A shaper created according to mathematical laws or formulae (e.g. square, circle). Gouache: A matte and opaque water-based paint with a gum arabic binder. Gray Scale: Anything that contains intervals of gray as well as black and white, such as a gray scale monitor, which usually displays 256 grays. Grid: A network of lines – physical or implied – that may be horizontal, vertical, angled, irregular, broken or continuous, curved, and/or circular. A network of coordinates. Ground: The background against which colors, forms, or shapes, are laid. Harmony: In color, the pleasing joint effect of two or more colors used together in a single composition. Hexachrome: A type of printing that adds orange and green to the CMYK system to increase the range of colors. Hexadecimal Colors: Colors within a system of specifying colors for Web graphics based on a 16-symbol code consisting of numbers 0 through 9 and the letters A through F. Each color is specified by two symbols as a percentage of red, green, and blue. Hick’s Law (also known as Hick-Hyman Law): The time it takes to make a decision increases as the number of alternatives increases. HLS Color System: Hue, Lightness, and Saturation used as a color coding system. Hue refers to the color, lightness refers to the amount of white present in the color, and saturation is defined by the amount of gray (which by definition, has zero saturation). HSB Display Mode: Hue, Saturation, and Brightness used to represent the mixing of light and color on a monitor in the context of digital design. Horizon Line: The distant point at which the sky and ground appear to meet. The line on which the vanishing points lie in an accurate perspective. Hue: The name of the color: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, or violet. Synonyms are chroma or color. Hue Intensity: The saturation or purity of a color; its vivid versus dull quality (see “saturation”). Impasto: Paint applied to a support very thickly, usually with a palette knife, for the purpose of providing texture and a feeling of plasticity to the paint. Incident Beam: The beam of light that is emitted by a light source. Intensity: Sometimes used as a synonym for brilliance, or the strength of a hue (see “hue intensity” and “light intensity”). Intermediate Color: A color on the spectrum between a primary and a secondary. Interval: A visual step between color samples. Even intervals are visually equidistant steps between colors. Iridescence: An attribute of surfaces on which the hue changes as the observer’s angle of view changes. Ishihara Test: A test used for color deficient vision (colloquially known as color blindness) and color confusion diagnosis. Kerning: The spacing between individual letters or characters, generally to improve legibility or pleasing visual effect(s). Leading: The vertical spacing between lines in a body of text. Linear Perspective: A system originating during the Renaissance for depicting three-dimensional distance on a two-dimensional surface, depending on the illusion that parallel lines receding into space converge at a point, known as the vanishing point. Luminosity: Literally, light emitted without heat. Used to describe the light-reflecting quality of a color. Luminous colors reflect light; non-luminous colors absorb light. Luster: Sheen; softened or diffused light reflectiveness on a surface. Maximum Chroma: The strongest possible manifestation of a hue. Medium: The means by which something is transmitted. Metamerism: The phenomenon that occurs when two objects that appear to match under one set of light conditions do not match under a different set of light conditions. Minimalism: The theory or practice in art or design in which the fewest possible elements are used to achieve the greatest effect. Moiré Pattern: An interference pattern produced by overlaying similar but offset templates or patterns. Monochromatic: Containing only one hue. Monochromatic Color Scheme: The use of a single hue and its variations to impart color to a composition. Monotone: Color without variation. Generally used to describe two or more colors of close or identical value and saturation. Munsell Wheel: A color wheel with hues arranged based on afterimaging. Its principal (primary) colors are yellow, red, violet, blue and green. The wheel is the basis for partitive color. Nanometer (NM): A measure of wavelength, one billionth of a meter. Natural Pigments: Pigments that are derived from animal, vegetable, and/or mineral substances. Negative Afterimage: An afterimage that is seen as the complement of the observed color area. Nonobjective: Having no relationship to recognizable objects (non-representational). Meant to be appreciated for line, shape, color. Object Mode of Vision: The presence of a viewer, light source, and object. Occlusion: The obstruction of one visual element by another in a composition, often used as a method to convey or imply depth. One-Point Perspective: Spatial drawing or rendering of a figure/object whose sides recede towards a single point. Oppositional (or Opponent) Color: Also called complementary color and formerly known as binary colors. When mixed together such hues will dull each other; when adjacent to each other, they will intensify each other. On a color circle, they lie directly across from each other. Optical Mix: A new color that is seen as a result of the close juxtaposition of small areas of two or more colors. PPI: Pixels Per Inch that refers to the number of picture elements that fits one inch in a digital/onscreen image. Because a raster image is resolution dependent, and the size is defined by the number of pixels, the conversion between PPI onscreen and DPI for printing is generally 1:1. Palette: Literally, a board or plate upon which colors are mixed. Palette describes a group of colors used characteristically by an individual artist or designer, or in a specific design, group of designs or body of work, or the colors of a particular era. Pantone Matching System (PMS): a proprietary but standardized color reproduction system in which colors are each given specific numbers. This system, based on nine colors, black and transparent white shows the percentages of colors required to produce a particular color. Partitive Color: A new color that is seen as a result of the close juxtaposition of small areas of two or more other colors. Pastel: An apparel-industry (also used by color product manufacturers that include paint, wallcovering, etc.) term for colors diluted by white to high or middle values; also clean tints with little or no muted quality. Pattern: A coherent visual structure, usually created by repetition of similar design elements. Physical Spectrum: The full range of visible colors of light as postulated by Newton: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo (blue- violet), and violet. Pigment: A colorant that is finely ground and suspended as minute particles in a vehicle. Traditionally, pigments were inorganic (earth colors), but modern chemistry has blurred this definition. Pigments in general are opaque. Pixel: One of the points of light that make up the picture on a computer or television screen. The word is short for “picture element.” Point (typography): In typography, the point is the smallest unit of measure and is used for measuring font size. 1 inch is approximately 72 points. 1 point = 0.013836 inch = 0.3528 mm. Pointillism: The use of small dots of varying colors in painting or graphic arts to create optical color mixtures. Also, a 19th-centruy French school of painting that used this technique. Primary Colors: The simplest colors of the artists’ spectrum; those that can not be reduced or broken down into component colors: red, yellow, blue. (See also “additive primary colors” and “process colors.”) Process Colors: A subtractive medium that selectively absorbs and transmits light. Yellow, cyan (blue-green), and magenta (red- violet) colorants that when mixed or laid over one another result in nearly all possible colors on the printed page. Used with the addition of black in four-color (CMYK) printing. Process Primaries: Cyan (blue-green), magenta (red-violet), and yellow. (See “process colors.”) Protanopia: The most common type of color blindness, which confuses red and orange with yellow and green. This is characterized by defective perception of red and confusion of red with green or bluish green. Pure Color: See “saturated color” and “maximum chroma.” Quaternary: The mixture of a primary hue and a tertiary hue in visually equal proportions. Quinary: The mixture of a secondary hue and a tertiary hue in visually equal proportions. RGB: Red, green, and blue: the additive primaries used in color television and other color display systems. Raster Image: Resolution-dependent representation (image/picture) created with discrete picture elements (pixels) defined by the location of the pixel along with the hue and value assigned to the pixel. Also known as a bitmap image. Reflected Beam: The beam of light reaching an object that is reflected back to the eye. Retina: The light-sensitive inner lining of the back of the eye. Rods: Cells in the retina that are sensitive to dim light, but not to color. Sans Serif: The lack of any extending projections or lines (or “feet”) that extend from letters in certain typefaces. Saturated Color: The most intense manifestation of a color imaginable; the “reddest” red or “bluest” blue. Saturated colors are undiluted by black, white, or gray. Synonyms are pure color, full color, or hues at maximum chroma. Saturation: The degree of purity of a color; its hue intensity or vivid quality, as opposed to muted or dull quality. A fully saturated color can contain one or two of the primary colors but never the third. Saturated color does not contain any black, white, or gray. Scale (noun): Size or weight relationships in a two- or three-dimensional composition (or structure), especially as measured by some standard as the human body. It generally refers to relative size – how big or small something appears to be. Scale (verb): In graphic design, to change dimensions of an object to make larger or smaller without modification of the design or absolute appearance. (Relative appearance of an element, however, may change significantly in a composition.) Scumble: To apply a layer of opaque or semi-opaque pigment irregularly, so that some of the color underneath remains visible. Secondary Colors: Colors made up of two primary colors. In artists’ media, orange (red and yellow), green (blue and yellow), violet (red and blue); in additive mixtures cyan (blue and green), yellow (red and green), and magenta (blue and red); in process colors red (magenta and yellow), green (yellow and cyan), and blue (magenta and cyan). Serif: The short lines or projections (“feet” when at the bottom) finishing a stroke of a letter in certain typefaces. Sfumato: A painting technique from the Italian Renaissance in which boundaries of shapes and figures have soft edges. From “sfumare” (to tone down or evaporate like smoke). Shade: A pure color made darker, or with black added. Simultaneous Contrast: A spontaneous color effect that results from a physiological response of the eye to the stimulation of one color only. The eye, seeking equilibrium, generates a “ghost” image that is the complement of the stimulating color. Single Interval: The smallest difference between samples that a viewer can distinguish; established by the individual’s threshold. Spectrum: The full range of visible hues (see “artists’ spectrum” and “physical spectrum”). Split Complementary Color Scheme: A color scheme formed from any hue and the two hues at each side of its complement. The three colors are NOT equidistant on the color wheel. Stippling: The use of dots to create tones in black and white work. Substrate: The material on which color is applied. Subtractive Mixture: Color seen as the result of the absorption of light; the colors of objects. Subtractive Primaries: The primary colors of artists’ media, the artists’ primaries: red, yellow, and blue. Tertiary Colors: Colors made of any mixture of the three primaries; “brown” or chromatic neutrals. Or, a hue that results from the mixing of a primary hue and an adjacent secondary hue. Texture: The quality of surface and its relative smoothness or roughness. Texture may be actual or implied. Tiering: The portrayal of images on a two-dimensional surface in tiers or layers, as a means of indicating distance. The upper tier represent the most distant part of the scene while the lowest tier is equivalent to the foreground. Tint: A pure color plus white, or made lighter. Tone: A nonspecific word referring to some changes in a hue. Most often used to mean a graying, or reduction in saturation (chroma). Transparence Illusion: An illusion in which opaque colors are made to appear transparent, created by placing two colors as if they overlap and placing an interval/intermediate color between them in the area of overlap. Tritanopia: A form of color blindness in which sensitivity to blue is reduced. Typeface: Refers to the shape and style of the letters, organized into a set based on the alphabet, numbers and punctuation needed to completely express language. A collection of letter shapes (like “Calibri” or “Times New Roman”) is called a typeface. The typeface refers to the design of the letters. Value: Relative light and dark, with our without the presence of hue. High-value samples are light, low-value samples are dark. Vanishing Point: In linear perspective, the imaginary point at which parallel lines appear to converge. Vector Image: A resolution-independent (and therefore infinitely scalable) picture or representation made up of points, lines, and shapes determined by formulae. Vehicle: In color theory, a liquid, paste, viscous, wax, chalk, or other substance into which pigments, dyes or other colorants may be introduced to form a medium such as oil paint, textile dye, or crayon. Also referred to as a base or binder. Vignette: A representation in which the center of interest is sharply focused by the image fades out at the perimeter. Viscosity: Referring to the fluidity, specifically the tensile strength, of a fluid substance. Visual Acuity: Sharpness of vision, the ability of the eye to see detail. Visual Texture: Sensations taken in visually (by eye) but interpreted in the mind as tactile. Visual Vibration: The effect of pairing equal valued complementary hues in a partitive setting. Warm Grays: Grays that result from mixing white with a black that is generated by mixing red, yellow, and blue together. Watercolor: A transparent water-based paint with a gum arabic binder. Wavelength: Referring to the measurement of light by the distance between crests of waves of electromagnetic radiation. X-height: In type design, this refers to the distance between the baseline and mean line of lower-case letters in a typeface.