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COLOURS
DIMENSIONS OF COLOUR
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Known as characteristics or properties of colour.
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They are termed as
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Hue​
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Value
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Intensity or Chroma
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Temperature
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1. HUE
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Hue is the name of the colour
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All primary and secondary colours.
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Colour can be lightened or darkened depending on use.
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Eg; light blue, dark blue; but they are all blue
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2. VALUE
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Describes the lightness or darkness of colour.
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White has the highest value
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Black has the lowest value
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A shade is a hue that has been darker by adding black.
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A tint is a hue that has been lighter by adding white.
3. INTENSITY/ CHROMA
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Refers to brightness or dullness of a colour
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Very bright colour is said to be of full intensity.
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4. TEMPERATURE
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It is relative warmth or coolness.
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Blue, green, violet are cool colours.
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Red, orange, yellow are warm colors.
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WARM AND COOL COLOURS
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Walls on the north side which gets less of sunlight should have warm colours and south should have cooler darker colours.
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Warm colours are active while cool colours are relaxing.
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Cool colours make a small room look big and warm colours make large room small.
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NEUTRALS
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Neutrals are white with any small amount of colour
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Black - all primary colours
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Grey - white + black
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Beige - can be used with most colours
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Brown
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COLOUR WHEEL
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Visual representation of colour theory
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Primary colours -> Secondary/ Binary Colours -> Tertiary/ Intermediate Colours
PRANGS COLOUR SYSTEM
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PRIMARY COLOURS
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Red, Yellow and Blue are primary colours.
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They cannot be made by mixing other colours but can be mixed to form other colours.
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Equal distance from each other in colour wheel.
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SECONDARY/ BINARY COLOURS
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Formed by mixing two primary colours in equal quantities.
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They are also called six standard colours.
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TERTIARY/ INTERMEDIATE COLOURS
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It is formed when a Primary and a neighbouring Secondary colour is mixed in equal quantity.
COLOUR SCHEMES
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It refers to the combination of colours used for decorating.
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It is categorised into three types:-
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Monochromatic​
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Analogous
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Complementary
MONOCHROMATIC
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Use only one colour from the wheel
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It has a disadvantage of monotony
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Interest is gained by using different values of colour from light to dark
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ANALOGOUS
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Colour schemes uses neighbouring colours on the colour wheel.
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3 to 5 colours are used with one dominating.
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COMPLEMENTARY
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These colour schemes use opposite hues in the colour wheel
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They create great contrast like red and green giving a Christmas scheme.
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* TYPES OF COMPLEMENTARY COLOUR SCHEMES -
1. DIRECT COMPLIMENT
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Uses exactly opposite such as red and green
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Two pairs exactly opposite like yellow and violet
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2. SPLIT COMPLIMENT
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Base hue and two colours on each side like red orange green and blue
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3. TRIADIC COMPLIMENT
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Uses three colours equidistant on the wheel like yellow, blue and purple
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CHROMATIC & ACHROMATIC COLOURS
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Chromatic colours are all colours apart from black, white and grey.
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Achromatic colours are black, grey and white.
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ROLE OF COLOURS IN INTERIORS
1. To increase the height of the room.
-> Paint the ceiling and walls with light cool colours to increase the height of the room
2. To decrease the height of a room
-> Paint the ceilings with darker, warmer colours than the walls
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3. To increase the size of a room.
-> Square room looks more elongated if two opposite walls are painted a dark colour and the other two lighter colour
4. To reduce the size of a room.
-> Paint all the walls in warm darker shades to decrease the room size.
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5. To reduce the length of a long narrow room.
-> Paint either smaller or longer walls with dark warmer colours.
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IMPACT OF COLOUR ON HUMANS
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Blue: lower blood pressure, masculine
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Red: creates hunger, danger, strength, love
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White: gives purity, cleanliness, fresh, calm
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Yellow: brings health, happiness, warmth
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Green: inspires creativity, peace, nature, safe
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Grey: high tech, wisdom, corporate
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Black: Mystery, sorrow
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