Week 6: C-O-L-O-R!

My mind is still blown from color theory class yesterday, so this blogpost may seem kind of basic/ beginner ….

I have never thought about color in terms of theory because it has always existed and I've never thought to question it.  I now understand that color comes from the way that light is broken apart when it hits a prism, and that sunlight is this main source of light. On the spectrum of color, ultraviolets, or black light, overexposes our eyes, and infrared "lies between the visible and microwave portions of the electromagnetic spectrum" (I did further research, this is from nasa). I also learned that white light contains all color, and black is the absence of color, which means that grey and brown (although this is more complicated) are not colors. Primary colors include blue, red and green, and make up every color on the spectrum, which includes secondary colors. In lighting design, subtractive color mixing means selectively removing colors in order to display a certain color (if red, then green and blue are subtracted). In additive color mixing, two sources are needed to make a color that is a mix of two primaries.

Now that the basic facts have been covered, I have learned that a basic knowledge of color theory is vital to efficient design-work. The designer must have an understanding of how color is created so that he/she may make intelligent decisions when creating a plot and when ultimately making color choices. During the lecture, I began thinking about the value of lighting. If it weren't for lighting design, a piece would not be complete; lighting adds visibility, establishes the setting and mood, creates special effects, and creates a focus point for the audience, ultimately steering the audience towards the overall purpose of a piece. A designer must have a basic understanding of a color's transmission, saturation, brightness, etc. so that he/she can establish all of these aspects and further contribute to the value of a piece.  While I do understand that color theory is important to recognize and grasp, I believe that part of designing is acknowledging and forgetting these concepts, because color has an emotional impact on a viewer that color theory cannot particularly explain.  A designer has to be in touch with the way that color speaks: What does that color make me/the audience feel? What does that color make me/the audience think? WHY? Color is yet another rhetorical device used by a designer that contributes to the overall message of a piece, and compliments every aspect of design including costumes, set, sound, and movement.