Colour

Colour identifies a product, and reflects seasons, events and moods. Which colours people like depends on culture, climate, the occasion and the person.

We see colour when light reflected from an object reaches the retina of the eye. If all the light is reflected, the object looks white; if none is, it looks black. Sunlight splits into VIBGYOR.

• Short wavelengths (green, blue, purple): receding, restful colours.
• Long wavelengths (red, orange, yellow): advancing, stimulating colours.

Colour has three dimensions:

• Hue: the colour's name. Primary hues: red, yellow, blue. Secondary hues: orange, green, violet. Tertiary hues mix a primary and a neighbouring secondary (red-orange, yellow-green and so on). Neutrals (white, black, grey, metallics) have no hue: they are achromatic.
• Value: how light or dark a colour is, measured on a grey scale from 0 to 10. A tint moves towards white; a shade moves towards black.
• Intensity (chroma): how bright or pure a colour is. Mixing in its complement (the opposite hue) makes it duller.

Colour names come from nature (like 'mango yellow') and vary by region. So world trade uses the Pantone shade card, where each shade has a code number.

Colour can be added at four stages: fibre (rare and costly), yarn (stripes, checks, brocade, ikat), fabric (the most common: plain colours, tie-dye, batik), or the surface (printing, painting, embroidery, appliqué). Hue names it, value lightens or darkens it, intensity brightens or dulls it.