310002664 Yu Jeong Hyeon

This report will identify and provide the graphic design image chosen and identify the range of colours using Pantone colour system and finally provide an in-depth analysis and discussion of the colours featured in the graphic design based on various colour theories.

(ByFriday Design Studio, 2012)

This graphic design is created by ByFriday Design Studio in 2012. Each petal has distinctive colours to consist of a flower. Basically, nine colours are in the design – red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, purple, white and black.

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(ByFriday Design Studio, 2012)

(Pantone Colors, 2012)

Using Pantone colour system, 15 different colours are identified in the graphic design.

The colours used in the graphic design can be identified as two categories of colour –

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conventional and formula colours. Except black, every colour is formula colour which means that each colour seems to be mixed with at least two or more colours. This design does not

have substance and spectral profile colours because the colours used in the design are not derived from natural source and the form of light-waves. In terms of the attributes of colour, it is difficult to say that the design has only one hue but apparently it consist of big four hues – blue, red, yellow and purple.

Blue -

Red -

Yellow -

Purple (Pantone colors, 2012)

While its chromaticity of four hues is from moderate to high, its tone is low thoroughly. Under Gastalt theories, three Gastalt’s laws can be found in the design – law of Good figure, law of similarity and law of figure-ground (Tuck, 2010). Compare the three different designs below.

(Figure1)

(Figure2)

(Figure3)

While Figure 1 is the original graphic design created by ByFriday Design Studio and includes various colours, Figure 2 has only grey and black. Is it easy to count that how many petals does Figure 2 have? In addition is it easy to notice that the design expresses as a flower on

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Figure3 without seeing Figure1? The answer could be no because according to Gastalt, “people do cognitive process until they find something meaningful within the image” (GestaltTheory, 2012). Therefore the original graphic design can be regarded as a good figure because people can easily notice the design that describes a flower and each distinctive colour contributes to grab an attention than Figure2 and Figure3. Through the colours on the design, the law of similarity can be discovered. As it mentioned on the attributes of colour, there are big four hues – Blue, Red, Yellow and Purple. Thus people can group and find similar colours perceptually on Figure1. According to Gastalt, “law of figure-ground is strongly influenced by colour and colour texture”(ibid). Using black as background colour on Figure1 help people to identify the outline of the flower easily and to distinguish the colours of petals with contrasting background colour -balck. See Figure4.

(Figure4)

Comparing with Figure1, it is difficult to identify the contour of the flower and to reckon what designis in Figure4 and even the flower does not seem to be segregated from background because the colours used in Figure4 are black, dark grey and grey. According to Itten, there are seven types of colour contrast – contrast of hue, light-dark contrast, cold-warm contrast, complementary contrast, simultaneous contrast, contrast of saturation and contrast of extention (Bratteberg, 2009). The interesting fact is that four types of colour contrast occur in the graphic design.

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“A contrast of hue is simply compromised by the visual difference of dissimilar hues. For the contrast to work, minimum three colours of clearly distinctive nature must be used – Red, Blue and Yellow” (ibid). These nature three colour are used in the design.

(Itten’s colour wheel, 2011)

(Pantone colors, 2012)

Comparing with Itten’s colour wheel on the left side, these three colours are not perfectly matched with Itten’s because those are formula colours. However, it is obvious that the colours are blue, red and yellow and the design contains a contrast of hue.

The polarity of black and white in the design does not dominate more than the other three colour contrast because although the majority of colour in the design is black, only one petal is cool grey which can make the contrast with black. However it is intense to affect people’s perception. Itten also supports that light-dark contrast is extremely important because it gives the impression of three-dimensional forms. In the design, black and cool grey are used.

(Pantone colors, 2012)

Personally, when I see the graphic design, the colour that grabs an attention at first is cool grey. It is not because only one cool grey used in the design but light-dark contrast seems to occur at first then the other colour contrast. In addition, while light-dark and cold-warm colour contrasts are perceptual effects, complimentary contrast and contrast of hue are congnitive effects. In other word, perceptual effects always happens former in my opinion.

Itten states that using the equal light or dark of colours in cold-warm contrast might be an advantage (ibid). In other words, using similar tone and saturation of colours in the contrast is more effective. Cold-Warm contrast can be found in the design.

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Cold (Pantone colors, 2012)

Warm (Pantone colors, 2012)

Finally, “the graphic design also contains complimentary contrast which means that directly opposite colours are located to each other on the colour wheel” (ibid). More interesting fact

that the design uses more than one complimentary contrast colour so that it motivates to grab more attention from people.

(Figure5)

As it can be seen above, three complimentary contrast colours exist in the design. Those are red – green, yellow – purple, orange –blue.

Through the analysis, this graphic design implicates three Gestalt theories and four types of colour contrast however it is difficult to find any perceptual effects.

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Bratteberg, A. L. (2009), Johannes Itten, On Contrast. 26th March, The Shutter Chronicle. Retrieved February 19, from http://www.shutterchronicle.com/2009/03/johannes-itten-oncontrast/ ByFriday Design Studio [Image], (2012). Retrieved February http://blog.byfriday.com.au/graphic-design/grow-with-graphic-design.html GestaltTheory (2012), Basic Concepts. http://www.gestalttheory.com/concepts Retrieved February 14, from

20,

from

Itten’s Colour Wheel [Image], (2011). Retrieved February http://www.kulturservern.se/wronsov/selfpassage/XXI/XXI-1104/1104.htm Pantone Colors [Image], (2012). Retrieved February http://www.logodesignteam.com/logo-design-pantone-color-chart.html

19,

from

16,

from

Tuck, M. (2010), Gestalt Principles Applied in Design. 17th August, Six Revisions. Retrieved February 16, from http://sixrevisions.com/web_design/gestalt-principles-applied-in-design/