Color and space

Spatial Indicators1. Size/ Scale

2. Position/ Overlapping

3. Linear Perspective

4. Value Range/ Contrast

5. Detail

Size/ ScaleBecause of how our eye works, objects appear to diminish in size as they recede in space. The farther something is from us, the less space it occupies on our retina

Position/ OverlappingWhen things are closer to us they appear lower in our field of vision. Also as they overlap we understand spatial relations

Linear PerspectiveParallel lines appear to converge at vanishing points as they recede in space. Diagonals indicate space and a grid tends to indicate flatness

Value Range/ ContrastBecause we receive less reflected light from distant objects we don’t see them as clearly or with as much contrast. The brights aren’t as bright and the darks aren’t as dark, as it’s a limited value range

DetailMuch like value, detail diminishes as objects recede in space

Relationships to color• Contrast always comes forward. With

color there are multiple ways to create this contrast

• Value

• Intensity

• Complimentary colors

• Warm/ cool

• Simultaneous contrast

Value and color• Value range directly affects color and

how we perceive it spatially. Lighter colors can take the effect of reflecting, or emitting light, thus appearing to come forward.

• Darker colors can appear to be in the shadows and appear to recede.

Value and color• This depends on the surrounding

colors, values and spatial indicators. Light values do not always appear in the foreground because they are light. They can, however, compete for the foreground, appearing to visually come forward despite the other spatial indicators causing a spatial inconsistency

Color Intensity• Due to atmospheric perspective, as

objects recede in space, we do not receive as much reflected light. Fewer photons means less light which means less color is reaching our eye

• Intense, highly chromatic colors come forward

Complimentary colors• These colors create contrast

particularly when adjacent to one another

• It creates a vibrancy and intensity that other color combinations don’t quite achieve

Warm/cool colors• We associate temperature with colors,

warms being red, orange and yellow, cools being green, blue and violet

• Warm tends to come forward and cool tends to recede

Simultaneous contrast• The colors of two different objects affect

each other. The effect is more noticeable when shared between objects of complementary color

Bezold effect• An optical illusion, named after a German

professor of meteorology, Wilhelm von Bezold (1837–1907), who discovered that a color may appear different depending on its relation to adjacent colors.

Optical illusionsThe cars are the same size, but because of their location in the picture plane, they appear to be getting bigger

Optical illusionsAfter image will go towards the compliment

Optical illusionsAfter image will go towards the compliment

Relationship to color

• Every color has a value, level of intensity and a hue family

• Every color is affected by all the surrounding colors

• How you chose to place adjacent relationships affects a color’s appearance and spatial location