COLOR THEORY

How we see color

• As scientists tells us, color is a mental sensation that can only occur if three requirements
are fulfilled: that there is an observer, an object, and sufficient light in the narrow band of
wavelengths called the visible spectrum.
• Daylight (white light) is made up of numerous waves or impulses each having different
dimensions or wavelengths. When separated, any single wavelength will produce a specific
color impression to the human eye. What we actually see as color is known as its color
effect. When an object is hit (bombarded) with light rays, the object absorbs certain waves
and reflects others, this determines the color effect.
• The electromagnetic scale shows different waves, which vary in length, frequency and
energy. The entire electromagnetic spectrum is not perceivable to humans, what we see we
call the “visible spectrum.”
• Light sources emit this visible energy in pulses or waves. All light travels at the same speed
but waves of light energy are emitted at different distances apart, or frequencies.
• The distance between peaks of these energy emissions is called wavelength. Wavelengths
of light are measured in nanometers.

• The colored light in the visible spectrum ranges from red to violet. We can see this process
by passing sunlight (white light) through a prism. Upon entering the prism, white light
refracts (is bent, causing light waves of different lengths to be revealed, red having the
longest wave length and violet having the shortest) into the visible spectrum

Factors in Perception
1. Light Quality
• Spectral energy distribution of the light
• Including the conditions under which the color is perceived
Metamerism and Matching
• Two objects that appear to match under one light source but not under another
exhibit metamerism.
• The objects are called a metameric pair.
• If the colorants of two things are different, they cannot be made to match under all
light conditions.
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 Color Constancy- The perception that the colors of familiar objects remains the same no
matter what the illumination (light sources) may be.

2. Media and Techniques

• Spectral characteristics of the object, with respect to absorption, reflection and
transmission of light
• Colors may be different according to the media, support employed, brands of paint

3. Eye and Brain

• Most of what we see is based on the memory of a color- when and how we have
experienced it before
• Certain colors are perceived more easily than others.

SYNESTHESIA- A neurological condition in which stimulation of one sensory or

cognitive pathway leads to automatic, involuntary experiences in a second sensory or
cognitive pathway.

Grapheme- color synesthesia - an individual's perception of numbers and letters is

associated with the experience of colors. Like all forms of synesthesia, grapheme-
color synesthesia is involuntary, consistent, and memorable.

Sound-to-Color Synesthesia or Chromesthesia- color is experienced as a result of

a musical sound such as sound, pitch, tone, key or timbre. Synesthetes that perceive
color while listening to music experience the colors in addition to the normal auditory
sensations that would be triggered in the average person.

COLOR BLINDNESS- (color vision deficiency, or CVD) is the inability or decreased

ability to see color, or perceive color differences, under normal lighting conditions. For
the vast majority of people with deficient color vision the condition is genetic and has
been inherited from their mother, although some people become color blind as a result
of other diseases such as diabetes and multiple sclerosis or they acquire the condition
over time due to the aging process, medication etc.

4. Psychology and Culture

• Memories, experiences, intelligence and cultural background all affect the way a
color’s impact can vary from individual to individual.

Color Study
▪ Eye Training- learning to distinguish in every color sample three objective attributes
▪ Color Control- the instability of colors cannot be eliminated, but with awareness and skill it
can be minimized, even utilized.
▪ Color Competence- is the ability to predict and control, to the extent possible, color effects
and the ability to select and use colors that will enhance every product and page.

Color Terms
Dimensions of Color
1. HUE Undiluted colors. The true colors of the spectrum. Attribute of colors that permits them
to be classed as red, yellow, green, blue or an intermediate.
Color Name for any color
Chromatic: having hue
Achromatic: without hue
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 Polychromatic: having many hues
Monochromatic: having one hue only
Prismatic: use of pure hues only
Chromatic Scale Any linear series of hues in spectrum order. A chromatic scale can
illustrate pure saturated colors or more complex, diluted colors. Its defining characteristic is
that each step in the progression is a change in hue.
Broken Hue A combination of unequal proportions of all the primaries
Russet, gold, ecru are some examples found in nature, sometimes known as earth colors.

Color Wheels
Color arrangements or structures that enable us to organize and predict such color
reactions and interactions.

Pigment Wheel
• The mixing or pigment wheel is the basis for working with subtractive color, it imparts
information about the reactions colors have when they are actually mixed.
• When using this wheel keep in mind that red and yellow and blue cannot be obtained
by mixing pigments, and when these three pigments are combined a muddy black is
the result.
Primary Colors The primary colors consist of 3 unique colors, red-yellow-blue.
Secondary Colors 3 secondary colors are produced from the mixing of one primary
color with another. These colors are orange-green-violet.
Tertiary Colors/Intermediate These colors are created when mixing one
secondary and one primary colors
Process Wheel
• In contrast with the pigment wheel, the process wheel gives us three basic primaries–
yellow, magenta and cyan--- that do upon mixing, result in purer hues.
• This primary arrangement is the standard employed in color printing and photography
as well as pigment (ink) manufacture.
• Again mixing the three primaries together will result to gray- black
• A look at the colors used shows a very luminous and bright yellow, an intense magenta
that is red though leaning toward violet, and a cyan that is blue but tending toward
green.

Light Wheel
• Is based on the additive color system and provides information concerning light rays
and transparent color.
• Since these are combinations of colored light, when all the primaries (red, green and
blue) are combined, white results.
• The total absence of light results in black. Because light is being added to light, the
more color rays are mixed or fused with other color rays, the lighter they become.
• The light wheel is used for theatrical lighting and projection and is now the basis for
video and computer graphics as well.

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 Color Temperature
Cool Hues are usually related to blue with the coolest hue being blue-green. Cool Hues
recede and suggest sky, water, distance, foliage, shadows. It is quiet, restful, far, airy, and
light.
Warm Hues are usually related to red, with the warmest hue being red-orange. Advance
and suggest aggression, sunlight, heat, blood, arousal and stimulation. Warm hues appear
heavier than cool ones and when placed side by side, these differing visual weights influence
their surroundings. Orange appears heavy and is warmer than yellow
2. VALUE Lightness and darkness of a color.

Tint A color with the presence of white. Lighter shade of a color. Pink is a tint of red.

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 Shade A color with the presence of black. Darker shade of a color. Navy is a shade of
blue.
3. SATURATION Intensity, brightness or dullness of a color.
Tone Addition of gray to pure hue
▪ Intensity, brilliance, purity, chroma
▪ A saturated hue can be reduced in saturation by the addition of achromatic gray or by the
addition of its complement.
▪ Saturated color is a great way to compare color value
▪ Some colors, such as yellow and orange, have a much lighter value at their highest
saturation point, while other colors have a darker value (such as blues and purples)

Dilution Changing a pure hue by lightening, darkening or muting by the use of additives such
as white, black, gray or its complement. When the descendant of any two colors is arranged as
if the parent colors were crossing one another, it creates an illusion.
Intervals An interval is a step of change between color samples. Most design situations
involving intervals involve three elements: The “parents” (samples on either side) and the
“descendant”, a visual step between two parents.
Transparence The impression of transparency can be achieved when two sets of color are
joined by a third that is perfectly balanced between them.
Gradient Series of progressive intervals that are so close that individual steps cannot be
distinguished. It is a seamless transition between color differences.
Threshold The threshold of vision is the point at which an individual can no longer detect a
difference between two close samples.
Visual acuity for color is the ability to detect differences between wavelengths (colors) of light.
Each individual's visual acuity for color determines his or her threshold of color vision.
Colorway Any of a range of combinations of colors in which a style or design is available.
Dissonance Use of conflicting, unrelated colors

Colors are generally regarded as more advancing as they become:

• Lower in value (darker)
• More highly saturated,
• And warmer in hue
Colors are generally regarded as more receding as they become:
• Higher in value (lighter)
• Lower in saturation,
• And cooler in hue

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Color Harmony – refers to the visual agreement of all parts of a work. Also called
Color Chords, these are time-tested combinations that work well together.

Monochromatic Analogous

Direct Complementary Near- Complementary Split Complementary

Double Complementary Triadic Tetradic

• Achromatic
• Neutral
• One hue with neutral

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Color Systems

Partitive Color
▪ Based on the viewer’s reaction to colors when they are placed next to each other.

Subtractive Color
• Process of mixing pigments together, such as we see in paintings.
• The pigments in an object enable it to absorb some light waves and reflect others.
• When these pigments are blended, more light is absorbed and less is reflected-
hence the term subtractive.
Colorant- a material that changes the light absorption characteristics of another
material to which it is applied: dyes and pigments
o Dyes- Natural or artificial colorants that absorb but usually do not scatter light
and are soluble in the substrate
o Pigments- The natural or artificial colorants that not only absorb but also
scatter light and that are insoluble in the application medium or substrate
o Vehicle- a liquid, paste, wax or other substance that holds particles of
pigments (dyes or other colorants) together without dissolving them and acts
as a binder which adheres the pigments to the painted surface.

Additive color
• The process of mixing colored light, such as in theatrical lighting or television
• The lights are mixed by placing colored filters in front of a projected light ray.
• It’s called the additive primary model because the absence of all light is black. To
create different colors you must add levels of the primary colors (Red, Green and
Blue).
On-screen Color
• Additive color is sensed very differently from color reflected from a “real” surface.
• Direct light color is very brilliant.
• Reflected colors are less fatiguing to the eye than additive colors.
• Print on paper is more successful than the screen in conveying the color and
surface of interior materials.
• Printed colors cannot be matched exactly to colors on-screen.
Software Color Display Modes
The user can mix the colors of the light display in one of three different ways:
• CMYK mode (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Key)
o The CMYK mode of color display imitates the results of mixing process colors.
o This display mode facilitates working on-screen for print production.
o When two of the CMY colors are mixed without black, clear colors and tints result.
o CMY colors mixed in equal percentages without black make a middle gray.
o Grayscales are made by manipulating percentages of black (K) alone.
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 o Each of the 4 CMYK colors can have a value of 0-100%. 0% equals no color (white),
while 100% equals 100% color.
• RGB mode (Red, Green, Blue)
o The RGB Mode of screen display parallels the behavior of light.
o When 100% each of the three colors is mixed, the result is white.
o RGB colors are usually displayed in 0-255 mode. Each slider has 255 individual
options. You can adjust the sliders or enter RGB values in the text entry boxes. The
higher the number, the brighter the colors. White is rgb(255, 255, 255) while Black is
rgb(0, 0, 0).
o RGB mixing does not correspond to either of the artists’ colors or process colors.
• HSV mode (Hue, Saturation, Value or HSL Hue, Saturation, Lightness)
o The HSV mode displays a circular color map. Next to the map are three boxes one
each for hue, saturation and value. The user first selects a color from the map, then
instructs each of the boxes to modify that selection.
o The HSV mode requires learning to mix color in a way that is associated only with
digital design.
Gamut The range of colors reproduced in a color mode.
Web Safe Colors are an informal standard of 216 colors that are generally considered web safe.
In the early days of personal computers, most displays only supported 256 colors. Out of these 256
colors, monitors/operating systems/browsers generally represented 216 colors in a relatively
consistent manner. Hence, these 216 colors were deemed to be web safe.
Hexadecimal Color Codes (Hex colors) are prefaced with a #. The two characters following the #
represent the red value, the next two characters represent the green, and the final two characters
represent blue.
The maximum of each value (red, green and blue) is FF and the minimum is 00. Each single
character of each value can be one of 16 values (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, A, B, C, D, E, or F).
Calibration is the setting or correcting of a measuring device or base level, usually by adjusting it
to match or conform to a dependably known and unvarying measure. To calibrate a monitor
means to adjust it so that specific combinations of red, green and blue signals produce specific
colors on-screen.
Pantone Color Matching System Standardized color reproduction system. By standardizing the
colors, different manufacturers in different locations can all refer to the Pantone system to make
sure colors match without direct contact with one another.

Color and Lighting

Transmission, reflection and absorption are all measurable properties and are used to quantify the
ways materials interact with light.
• Absorption- The absorption of light occurs when a ray of light strikes a surface. The
energy from the light is transferred to the surface material. The transfer creates heat
(usually small amounts). An absorbing surface prevents reflection or diffusion of light
striking on the surface.
• Transmission- mostly unimpeded passage of light through a transparent object.
• Reflection- the process by which the light arriving at a smooth-surfaced material change
their direction of travel on impact and are returned.

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 • Scattering- refers to the change of direction suffered by radiation on impact with a rough-
surfaced material or with fine particles of uniform or varying shape
• Refraction- Refraction is the bending of a beam when it enters a medium where its speed
is different. The refraction of light when it passes from a fast medium to a slow medium
bends the light ray toward the normal to the boundary between the two media.
• Interference- temporary splitting of light waves into parts that are later recombined. Typical
source of interference is an oil film on water or a soap bubble
• Diffraction- special case of the combined effect of scattering and interference. The
behavior of a light wave arriving at the edge of a solid material is influenced by the
sharpness of the edge. When light waves hit an obstacle it bends around the edges of the
obstacle
• Iridiscence- is an optical phenomenon that occurs with reflected light. The color is
produced by the structure of a surface that amplifies some wavelengths of light and
suppresses others, depending on the angle of the light reaching it.
• Luminosity- The word luminous is used often to characterize very light-reflecting colors
and media with a great deal of light reflectance, like watercolors, dyes and markers.
• Luster- The state or quality of shining by reflecting light; glitter, sparkle, sheen, or gloss.
• Brilliance- The combined qualities of high light-reflectance and strong hue, found in
saturated colors and strong hues.

Color Rendering Index (CRI)

• a quantitative measure of the ability of a light source to reproduce the colors of
illuminated objects accurately when compared to a reference light source, such as
pure sunlight.
• A CRI scale is from 0 to 100. High CRI equates to sharper, crisper, more natural
colored pictures while at the same time reducing glare.

Glare is a visual sensation caused by excessive and uncontrolled brightness. It can be

disabling or simply uncomfortable. It is subjective, and sensitivity to glare can vary widely.
• Disability glare is the reduction in visibility caused by intense light sources in the
field of view
• Discomfort glare is the sensation of annoyance or even pain induced by overly
bright sources
Light Reflectance Value (LRV) is the quantity of light reflected by a surface when
illuminated by a light source. It quantifies the lightness and darkness of a colored surface.

Color Temperature (K)

• Color Temperature best describes the color appearance of the light source and the
light emitted from it.
• numerical value assigned to the color emitted by a light source, measured in
degrees of kelvin.
• For offices the most preferred lighting is the cool daylight 6500K which is a bright
white, while hotels and environments that want to create a warm atmosphere a
color temperature of 3500-4000K is recommended.

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Color Theorists
Aristotle (384-322 BCE)
• In “De Coloribus” (the first known book about color), the Greek philosopher attempted to
explain the composition of colors and how they were related.
• The work outlines the theory that all colors (yellow, red, purple, green, and blue) are derived
from mixtures of black and white.

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519)

• He set out his beliefs on color theory in his Treatise on Painting, which was not published
until 1651.
• According to him, black and white were indeed colors
• He assigned white, yellow, green, blue, red and black as the simple or primary colors.
• This was the appearance of the four primaries of the color wheel.
• Working by observation from his own optical reaction, Leonardo concluded that certain
responses took place when colors are placed next to each other. This was later to become
known as simultaneous contrast.

Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727)

• English physicist Sir Isaac Newton was interested purely in the physics of color rather in the
perception.
• He discovered that as a ray of white light passes and is bent, or refracted, through a prism it
is broken into an array of colors, or spectral hues- red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo
and violet.
• He was never able to, in his experiments, to mix pigments of two or three of his hues to
obtain white, because his theory was based on the mixing of light, while the mixing of hue
pigments is based on subtractive color.

Moses Harris (1730-1788)

• An English entomologist and engraver, wrote The Natural System of Colors in 1766.
• In this book he presented red, yellow and blue as the primary hues, which he termed
“primitives.”
• The mixture of these primitives produced the “compound” hues of orange, green and violet.
• The Harris wheel was divided into eighteen equal hue divisions and each division was then
graded by value, light to dark.

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Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832)
• In 1810 the German poet Goethe published his “Theory of Colors”
• He was one of the first modern thinkers to investigate and record the function of the eye
and its interpretation of color, rather the properties of light.
• Goethe’s six-hue spectrum remains the convention for artists; Newton’s seven-hue model
of the full range of visible hues remains the scientist’s (physical) spectrum.
• He explored every aspect of color and its reactions, including the role of complementary
colors in creating shadows, simultaneous contrast, successive contrast and proportional
color use.

Philip Otto Runge (1777-1810)

• Philip Runge was a German painter. In his book The Color Sphere, published in 1810, he
arranged twelve hues in a spherical format, thus giving us the first three-dimensional color
model.
• Runge’s primaries were still red, yellow and blue, and the nine remaining hues were
interspersed to form a diameter of equator around the center of the sphere.

Michel Eugene Chevreul (1786-1889)

• The French chemist Chevreul was hired by the famous French tapestry- weaving studio
Gobelins to be its dye master.
• His findings became part of his major publication The Principle of Harmony and Contrast of
Colors.
• He verified that all hues could be obtained from mixtures of the primaries red, yellow and
blue.
• His greatest contribution was his recording of the reactions that colors have when placed
side by side or in relationship to each other.
• It led to the color theory laws of simultaneous contrast (based on complementaries),
successive contrast (based on afterimages), and optical mixing.
• Afterimaging is an optical reaction that occurs after we stare intensely at a hue and then
shift our eyes to a white surface, the second hue is called an afterimage.
• Contrast reversal when an entire design reverses color when the eye looks away to a
blank space. In contrast reversal the “ghost” appears as a sort of double negative, with both
complementary colors appearing, but in reversed positions.

Ogden Rood (1831-1902)

• The American Ogden Rood proposed that colors differed from one another as a result of
three variables- purity (saturation), luminosity (value), and hue.
• His experiments were concerned with the optical mixing that occurs in pointillism,
• a painting technique in which dots of pure hues are placed together on a white
ground so that they are mixed by the eye.

Albert Munsell (1858-1918)

• The life’s work or American-born color theorist Albert Munsell led to his system being
adopted by the United States Bureau of Standards as the acceptable language of color.
• This language was published by Munsell as Color Notation in 1905.
• Developed a partitive color system based on five primary hues or as he termed them,
principal color: yellow, red, green, blue and violet.
• Munsell set up each afterimage as the complement to his principal (primary) hues.

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 • A complementary hue is the hue that occupies the position directly opposite on a
color wheel. From this he was able to arrange his twenty –step Munsell Wheel.
• He further systematized the color wheel into a three-dimensional form that he termed “tree.”
• Intervals of value, measuring the lightness and darkness of a hue, are shown along
the trunk or vertical axis.
• Any color along the innermost vertical axis is called a neutral
• Branches or horizontal intervals measure the saturation or relative purity of each
hue.
• It also provided pigment specifications that were precise, allowing industry to become color
standardized.

Johannes Itten (1888-1967)

• Swiss teacher and artist Johannes Itten is probably best known to the color student for his
book The Art of Color and its condensed version The Elements of Color.
• Itten taught both color and design at the enormously influential Bauhaus School in
Germany.
• Itten developed his color sphere and “star” for his Bauhaus preliminary course in 1919.
• The star was simply a flattened version of the sphere developed earlier by Runge.
• However, Itten placed yellow at the top of the diagram because it was the brightest
of the hues and the closest visually to white light.

Josef Albers (1888-1976)

• Teacher at the Bauhaus School. He became absorbed with how colors reacts and interacts.
• The teaching diagram that he used most often was a triangle. It had red, yellow and blue at
its points. Orange, violet, and green at the midpoints, with red-gray, yellow-gray, and blue-
gray in between.
• In his own paintings, Albers use few colors and strong contrasts in rectilinear format. These
formats were use over and over again to investigate the infinite color combination
possibilities and their varying effects.

Concepts to remember
• All the theories have one significant thing in common– the eye and its reactions to color
combinations.
• Various attempts were made to impose order on such findings by proposing “wheels” to
show the relationship of one color to another. This aided the study of mixing of color.
• Color theorists attempted to encompass all of these variables in a single system. However,
we see and use color in so many different forms that no single system can answer all the
needs of color theory

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Color Meanings

Red - Red is one of the oldest color names, first to be seen in a rainbow, has the greatest
emotional impact of all
The color of passion and drama. This color attracts the most attention and is associated
with strong emotions such as love and anger.

Red is the color used universally to signify danger, courage, strength, and power. Red is
stimulating, vibrant and exciting. Red inspires desire with a strong link to sexuality and
increased appetites. In Chinese culture red represents luck and prosperity. Use red when
you want to get pulses racing and to inspire action. However, use carefully as red can
evoke feelings of aggression and cause visual strain. Lovers of red are passionate with an
enthusiasm for life.

Red-letter day: a very important or special day

Caught red-handed: to be caught in the act of a crime or misdemeanor
Paint the town red: to dine, dance and have fun in town

Positive: love, luck, passion, sexiness, festivity, compassion, importance, power, healthy,
courage, feminine, sweet
Negative: war, revolution and anarchy, the devil, danger, fire, debt and bureaucracy

Pink- The color of sensitivity – The passion of red combined with the purity of white create this
color associated with love, tranquillity and femininity.
Pink has associations with tenderness and nurturing while conveying a sense of safety and
even vulnerability. Seeing the world through “rose (pink) colored glasses” holds a negative
connotation as being associated with being unrealistic and overly optimistic.

Baker-Miller Pink, also known as P-618, Schauss pink, or Drunk-Tank Pink is a tint
of pink which has been observed to temporarily reduce hostile, violent or aggressive
behavior. It was originally created by mixing white indoor latex paint with red trim semi-gloss
outdoor paint in a 1:8 ratio by volume.

Orange - The color of encouragement. The combination of yellow and red makes orange convey
excitement, warmth and enthusiasm. Social and inviting, this is the color of the extrovert, exuding
happiness and joy, releasing inhibitions.
Orange is a motivating and encouraging color. Orange is appealing to young people. It
stimulates the appetite and is associated with healthy good.

Positive: warmth, fruitfulness, brightness, cheerfulness, autumn and spices

Negative: danger, gloom, melancholy, boredom, insincerity, exhibitionism and self
indulgence

Yellow- most easily perceived of hues, with the highest luminosity rating after white. It is seen
before other colors, especially when placed against black. This combination is often used as a
warning sign.
The color of optimism. Yellow is a compelling color that conveys youthful, fresh energy. This
color of sunshine is uplifting and illuminating and associated with success and confidence.
Yellow stimulates the left side of the brain, helping with clear thinking and quick decision
making. Yellow grabs attention because the eye sees yellow first. The downside of yellow is
that it can induce anxiety and cause one to be over-critical. It also signifies cowardice.

Positive: cheerfulness, sun, gold, happiness, vitality, hope, warmth and optimism
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 Negative: caution, sickness, betrayal, treason, age, cowardice

Blue- The color of ocean and sky, blue is perceived as a constant in our lives. As the collective
color of the spirit, it invokes rest and can cause the body to produce chemicals that are calming.

The color of trust. Blue, the shade of the sea and the sky, is thought to induce calm and
convey tranquillity, serenity and peace.
The popular color instills confidence and inspires feelings of trust, loyalty, integrity and
responsibility.
Cool blue is conservative and can also be perceived as aloof. Blue tends to suppress the
appetite – there are not many foods associated with blue in nature.

Positive: royalty and aristocracy, the best, heaven, coolness, truth, tranquility,
conservatism, loyalty and dependability, security
Negative: introversion, sadness, depression, wintery, unexpected (out of the blue), low
class

Green- The color of growth and health. Think of nature and see green in all its glory expressing
renewal and life.
Green has a strong association as a refreshing and peaceful color.
It evokes feeling of abundance and a plentiful environment while providing a restful and
secure feeling. The prosperity signified by green can be negatively perceived as
materialistic and possessive.

Positive: environment, growth, renewal, fertility, freshness, nature, youth, health, peace and
calm, wealth
Negative: poison, envy, inexperience, gullibility, immaturity, eeriness, nausea, rawness,
sourness

Violet- The color of spirituality. The energy of red with the calm of blue combine to create violet, a
color that inspires reflection and self awareness.
It is the color of the sensitive, compassionate intuitive soul – the introvert. Also, violet has
long been associated with royalty, and characteristics of quality and luxury. Overuse of
violet can invoke irritability and arrogance.

Positive: bravery, dignity, aristocracy, spirituality, mystery, luxury and royalty

Negative: conceit, pomposity, mourning, death and rage
Black- The color of mystery. It covers, hides and implies that there is a barrier. A strong and
powerful color, black is formal and sophisticated, sexy and secretive. It is the color of things that
are scary and evil. Black conveys pessimism and a lack of hope.
While black has many negative associations, it is a color that signifies power and control. It
is considered unfriendly and intimidating, yet still refined, elegant and confident. Black is
helpful to other colors, being a strong contrast and making them stand out more.
Positive: Sophistication, power, respect
Negative: death, emptiness, depression, disapproval, mystery, bad luck

White- Ultimate lightness, it is all the colors combined (light) and absence of color (pigment)

Positive: Purity, cleanliness, sterility, innocence, peacefulness, birth, empowerment

Negative: Surrender, cowardliness, cover-up

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