Held: Tuesday, 17 September 2013

Back to Outline 10 - Programing the GIMP Tools. On to Outline 12 - Raster Graphics and RGB Colors.

Summary

We consider the basics of color theory.

Related Pages

• Reading: Design and Color
• EBoard (Source) (PDF)

Overview

• A bit about design.
• A bit about color theory.
• Exploring some images and design spaces.

Administrivia

• Dr. Davis and I discussed the exam and decided that we'd prefer to distribute it after HW3 comes in. So you'll get it tomorrow a.m.
• My email aplication has been acting up. If you want a meeting with me and haven't scheduled one, please see me after class and we'll pick a time.
• Reading for Wednesday: Raster Graphics and RGB Colors
• SACNAS Ice Cream Social Thursday, September 19th at 8:00PM in the Biology Commons
• EC Opportunities:
  • Convocation this Wednesday (see Sam's rant on the importance of convo in the outline for more details)
  • CS Extras Thursday @ 4:30: Kim Spasaro on Linguistics Programming
  • CS Table Friday (Pair programming)
  • Other?
• I also encourage you to attend any of the other Title IX talks/events.

The chief aim of color should be to serve expression as well as possible. Henri Matisse

A Bit About Design

• Many issues to consider, both formal and informal
• Formal attributes include things like balance, symmetry, dimensionality
• Informal goals
  • How does the image lead your eye?
  • Does the image maintain your viewer's interest, or is it easy to see and dismiss.
• Successful designers know how to take advantage of certain formal attributes to acheive various goals (including these informal goals)
• Right now, we're just going to look at some formal issues regarding color

Basics of Color Theory

• Issue: Do we think in terms of paint (traditional) or in terms of light (computer/modern)?
• Three models
  • RGB - additive color, based on red, green, and blue lights
    • Adding colors makes things brighter - more light is transmitted
    • Often represented using a 0-255 (integer) or 0-1 (real) range.
  • Red, Yellow, Blue - subtractive color
    • Adding colors makes things darker - more light is absorbed
  • Hue, Saturation, Value
    • Hue is the underlying color
    • Value refers to lightness and darkness (high value is lighter)
    • Saturation refers to how much of the color we have (low saturation is closer to grey, high saturation is purer color)
    • We'll look at the color wheel to ground this understanding
      • A color wheel
      • A color cylinder
      • And we will play with some issues in lab tomorrow
• Working with RYB and the color wheel, we say that there are
  • Three primary colors: Red, Yellow, and Blue
  • Three secondary colors, created by combining the primaries.
  • Six tertiary colors, created by mixing a secondary with the neighboring primaries.
• We also assign temperature to colors: red colors are warmer, blue and green are cooloer
  • Temperature can also affect where in the plane you see something
• The ways you arrange colors affect the way you understand them.
  • Traditionally, there are ranges between harmonious and dischordant.
• Color schemes
  • Complementary - opposite on the color wheel
  • Analagous - three neighboring colors on the 12-color color wheel
  • Monochromatic - variations on one color (different hue/saturation)
  • We may take a quick look at the Color Scheme Designer

Activities

• Another clicker quiz!
• Some sample designs, taken from the Kluber version of Digital Design
• Maybe more fun with the Color Scheme Designer