Color is a general term for all colors, including achromatic colors and chromatic colors. Black, white and gray belong to colorless color system, while red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue and purple belong to colorless color system.
This section will briefly introduce the hue, lightness, saturation, color feeling and other aspects related to color. If you need to learn more about other knowledge related to color, such as color mixing, color mode and so on, please refer to professional books or network materials related to color.
General Properties of Color
The General Properties of color refer to the basic variables of color that can be distinguished by human vision. The three attributes of color include hue, lightness and saturation, which are different from each other, independent of each other, interdependent and mutually restrictive.
 |
| Figure: Three attributes of color |
- Hue
Hue is the inherent appearance of each color. Hue indicates the difference of "quality" between colors, which is the most essential attribute of color. Red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue and violet are the seven representative hues in the spectrum.
in the spectrum
Figure: 7 color phases - Brightness
Brightness refers to the degree of light and shade of color, and also refers to the degree of reflection of color to light. As shown in the figure below, in the colorless color system, the highest lightness is white, the lowest is black, and there are various shades of gray in between.
and darkness of the color in the color system and darkness of colors in an achromatic color system
Figure: The lightness 
Figure: The lightness - Saturation
Saturation is the purity of a color. Pure colors have the highest purity, and the more mixed colors (whether black, white, gray or colored), the lower their purity.
It should be noted that "saturation" and "lightness" are two concepts, "lightness" refers to light and shade, strength, and "saturation" refers to fresh gray, pure and miscellaneous. High lightness is not necessarily high purity.
The feeling of color
Color itself has no soul, it is only a physical phenomenon, but people can feel the emotion of color, this is because people live in a world of color for a long time, accumulate a lot of visual experience, once the perceptual experience and external color stimulation have a certain echo, it will lead to a certain emotion in people's psychology.
- Color Excitement and Silence The excitement and calmness of
color depend on the strength of stimulating vision. Among the color attributes that affect people's feelings, the most important one is hue, followed by saturation, and finally lightness. For example, warm colors such as red, orange and yellow make people excited, cool colors such as cyan and blue make people calm, and green and purple are neutral. High lightness color has a sense of excitement, while low lightness color has a sense of calmness.
- Coldness and warmth of color
Warm colors: red, orange, yellow, etc.; cool colors: cyan, blue, etc.; neutral colors: green, purple, etc.
Figure: Cold and warm color contrast - Advance and Retreat and Expansion and Contraction of Color
Warm colors, with a sense of bulge, belong to advancing colors; cool colors, with a sense of depression, belong to receding colors. In map design, we can use the sense of distance of color to form different levels and distinguish the primary and secondary contents.
- Weight and softness of color The weight of
color is related to the degree of perception. The dark color system with low lightness is stable and feels heavy; the light color system with high lightness is light and feels light. Under the condition of certain lightness, warm colors with high purity have a heavy feeling, while cool colors with low purity have a light feeling. The basic law of the lightness and heaviness of color is:
- (heavy) black & > low lightness & > medium lightness & > high lightness & > white (light)
- (Heavy) High & > Medium & > Low (Light)
color mainly depend on lightness and purity, high lightness with gray has a soft feeling, low lightness with pure color has a hard feeling.
- Splendor and Simplicity of Color The relationship between gorgeous and simple
colors is the largest in hue, followed by purity and lightness. Red, yellow and other warm colors and bright and bright colors have a sense of magnificence; Cool colors such as blue and blue and muddy and dark colors have a sense of simplicity. The color system has a sense of magnificence, while the non-color system has a sense of simplicity. The gorgeous and simple sense of color is also related to the combination of colors.
colors
Figure: Gorgeous and simple - Vibrancy and Melancholy of Color The brightness and melancholy of
color are mainly related to lightness and purity. High lightness, bright color-bright pleasure, dark and turbid color-melancholy. The color matching of high lightness tone is easy to achieve bright pleasure, while the color matching of low lightness tone is easy to produce melancholy.
Inthe achromatic series, black and dark gray are easy to make people feel melancholy, white and light gray are easy to make people feel pleasant, and gray with medium lightness is neutral.
Color contrast and harmony
- Color contrast
- Brightness comparison The contrast formed by the difference of lightness
in the three attributes of color is called lightness contrast. Those with high lightness will appear bright, while those with low lightness will appear darker. For example, a color of the same lightness will appear darker on a white background and brighter on a black background.
Figure: Brightness contrast - Hue Contrast
In the three attributes of color, the contrast mainly formed by hue difference is called hue contrast. Hue contrast includes the contrast of the same color, the contrast of similar colors, the contrast of contrasting colors, and the contrast of complementary colors.
Figure: Hue contrast - Saturation comparison The contrast formed by the difference of purity
in the three attributes of color is called purity contrast. The color of the same purity will appear bright on the background of low purity and gray on the background of high purity when it is on the background of two colors with almost equal lightness and hue but different purity.
Figure: Saturation comparison - Cold and warm contrast The contrast formed
by the difference between cold and warm is called cold and warm contrast. The proportion of cool and warm colors in a picture determines the overall tone of the picture, which is commonly known as warm and cool tones. The use of cold and warm contrast colors can make the picture more layered.
Figure: Cold and warm color contrast - Area comparison
When the hue is juxtaposed, the size of the hue area will affect the viewer's feeling, and the contrast color matching made by using the relationship between the size of the area is called area contrast. For example, the color matching of the same hue often produces different visual perception due to the change of color area size and position.
Figure: Area comparison
- Brightness comparison The contrast formed by the difference of lightness
- Harmony of Colors There are two explanations for
color harmony. One refers to the process of adjustment and combination of different and contrasting colors in order to form a harmonious and unified whole; The other refers to the color relationship with obvious differences, or the combination of different contrasting colors can give people a harmonious and aesthetic feeling without sharp stimulation, which is the "rhythm" relationship between the combination of hue, lightness and purity of color.
There are many methods, means and principles ofcolor harmony, which will not be introduced in detail here. We only need to remember the important principle of color harmony: color matching should conform to the theme purpose and arouse the reader's aesthetic psychological resonance.
Figure: Color Harmony
Related content: