AIC 2004, COLOR AND PAINTS
Interim Meeting of the International Color Association
Porto Alegre, Brazil, November 2-5, 2004
ABSTRACTS OF ORAL PAPERS
_________________________________________________________________________
Index
Bavaresco, Nelson - Harmonic composition of complementary colors according to its lightness
Bergström, Berit - Aspects of colour communication
between different paint materials
Billger, Monica - The experience of the painted room: The
significance of light and colour combinations
Caivano, J., I. Menghi, and N. Iadisernia - Cesia and paints: An atlas of cesia with
painted samples
Cler, Michel - Against colour globalisation. Colour trends and colour collections
Duangmal, K., S. Wongsiri, and S. Sueeprasan - Colour appearance of fruit juice affected by
vitamin C
Epps,
Helen, and Naz Kaya - Color
matching from memory
Fagerström, Katrin - The color of bricks
Ferring, Mari - The colour-system of architectural structuralism:
The office complex Garnisonen
Fontana, Ana María, and Nora Matías - Color and
patrimony in La Plata city, Argentina
Fridell Anter, Karin
- Painted walls From pictures and imitations to coloured space
Gay, Jennifer, C. Melo, and R. Hirschler - Instrumental whiteness evaluation
Girelli, María I., M. Marchisio, and J. Peralta - The role of color in the institutional
language
Grancarić, Ana Marija, et al. - The
fluorescence of sunprotected white cotton fabrics
Guimarães, Luciano - A model for the application and analysis of
colors in the media
Gurura, Helen, L. MacDonald,
and H. Dalke - Background: An essential factor in colour harmony
Habib,
Susan - Paint or color?
Hårleman, Maud -
Colour emotions in full-scale rooms
Ho, K. M., et al. - Assessing colour differences with
different magnitudes
Holmberg, Kristina, and Anders Nilsson - What has made the
use of NCS so widespread in the area of paint?
Kaya,
Naz, and Helen Epps - Color-emotion associations: Past experience and
personal preference
Kjellström, Richard - Local colouring and regional identity. Colours on
buildings exterior
Lee-Niinioja,
H. - Artistic expression of Goethe’s literary world, based on the
combination of paints, colors and texts
Lewis,
Garth - Colour, painting and
computing
Luzzatto, Lia, and Renata Pompas - Teaching colour plans
Manganiello,
Cristina - When color organizes the environment
Mattiello, María L. F. de
- Colour & light in architecture
Oberascher, L., F.
Oberascher, and M. Gallmetzer - Colour and emotion: An intercultural
approach
Ohno, Haruyo - Color ratings for safety signs by young and elderly people
Olsson, Gertrud - Paul Scheerbart’s
utopia of coloured glass
Pogacar, Vojko - Twelve periods of seasonal color typology
Prause, Carlos Esteban - Verbal and chromatic semiosis in
visual identity
Rabuini, Emilia - Color as a key factor in the cultural
inheritance of La Boca district, Buenos Aires
Schindler, V. - Le Corbusier’s colour keyboards in
comparison with Luis Barragan’s colour combinations
Stahre, Beata, M. Hårleman, and M. Billger - Colour emotions
in larger and smaller scale
Stern,
Claudia - Food for thought: The use of color in sculpture
Struck, Hanns-Peter - Color in architecture and its relation
to mankind
Sueeprasan, Suchitra, et al. - Quantitative analysis of Thai
sensation on colour combination
Sunaga, S., and Y. Yamashita - Evaluation of the color
impression of colored texture patterns by a color naming method
Tiwari, Lalchand - Innovative tool for colourimetric
data prediction of organic pigments
Vik,
Michal - Industrial colour
difference evaluation - lcam textile data
Viková, Martina - Visual
assessment of uv radiation by colour changeable textile sensors
Zoido, Jesús, F. Carreño, and E. Bernabeu - A theory on color perception
_________________________________________________________________________
HARMONIC COMPOSITION OF
COMPLEMENTARY COLORS ACCORDING TO ITS LIGHTNESS
Nelson BAVARESCO
Gerart Design e Recursos Visuais Ltda. / Cecor® Color
System, São Paulo, Brazil
After the impact and under influence of Goethe’s Farbenlehre, published in 1810, some new concept on color perception developed by the young philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer speculated about the role of the retina activity. His essay “Über das Schen und die Farben” (Concerning vision and colors) was published in 1816.
According to Rudolf Arnheim, in Art and visual perception, “Schopenhauer [...] pointing to the complementary colors produced by post-images, proposed that pairs of complementary colors happen by means of qualifying bipartition of the retina functions. Thus, red and green being of equal intensity, separated the retina activity into two equal parts [...]. Such a conclusion led to the following scale:
Black, 0 - Violet, 1/4 - Blue, 1/3 - Green,
1/2 - Red, 1/2 - Orange, 2/3 - Yellow, 3/4 - White, 1.”
That scale originated a dimensional harmony system for the pairs of complementary colors, by the conversion of Schopenhauer’s fractions in modular sections of 12 points for each pair. Harmony is made by the simple invention of those sizes, where a mathematic parameter is used for that kind of bichromatic harmony, applied to countless decorative conditions.
As far as we know, Schopenhauer’s scale was never reviewed since its creation in 1816, although scientific conditions are available. But Schopenhauer’s values and those of color lightness clearly match.
In spite of what exactly could be primary, secondary or complementary colors at Goethe and Schopenhauer’s time, it is clear that the problem is completely solved by now, thanks to a modern color theory. Today we have processes that satisfactorily apply to the colors of television sets, computer monitors, inkjet or laser printers, and any other digital systems. Under certain circumstances those equipment interpret, in black and white, colorful areas of a text or drawing, simultaneously working with the additive and subtractive synthesis.
Consequently, our proposal is to show that Schopenhauer’s scale can be updated by a version corresponding to the light absorption and reflection values according to the index adopted in the color management of computer programing language.
According to the study we have developed for Cecor® system, this new scale, enlarged from 3 to 12 pairs of colors including primary, secondary, tertiary, quaternary and correct complementary ones, very interesting results are obtained when converting the index into sizes and its further application to the dimensional harmony system.
Such study shows the methodology of the accomplished researches, also referring to the question of color complementarily, still wrongly presented in many publications.
_________________________________________________________________________
ASPECTS OF COLOUR COMMUNICATION BETWEEN DIFFERENT PAINT MATERIALS
Berit
BERGSTRÖM
Scandinavian
Colour Institute AB, Stockholm, Sweden
Different historical findings tell us
that man has been aware of and using colour as a visual sensation. Colour as a
visual phenomenon has been fascinating people in all times. Colours were
probably first used for decorative purposes 150,000 or 200,000 years ago. Paint
materials were made of plants and earth resulting in a very limited colour
scale. The ability to distinguish different colours was a necessary asset in
the fight for survival. Colour helps us to identify different objects, and
colour informs us about inedible plants, access to water, distance, whether
fruits are ripe or unripe, etc.
In the past it was expensive to
paint interiors or dye textiles except in certain natural colours. The objects
received their natural colour, which was determined by the available natural
pigments. The possibility to influence our surroundings with regard to colour
has increased considerably during the last hundred years as a result of the
increasing availability of synthetic colouring materials. We now use colour
everywhere as an environmental factor similar to shape and pattern. We are no
longer confined to nature’s limited colour scale. We can chose colours more or
less at our own delight.
Because of ever expanding
possibilities to control the colour environment, knowledge about colour has
become more and more important. The enormous variety of colours can even be a
disadvantage and may end in a big chaos of colours. We will have difficulties
in orientation and we might feel sick because of over stimulation through
colours. Colour planning which is more consciously done is indispensable for a
well-oriented society.
The big quantity of colours is
setting demands on different needs: colour systems have been developed and are
necessary to be able to communicate and produce all this colourfulness. Demands
on colour accuracy have increased and today we only accept small colour
differences. We are working with different materials like plastic, steel, and
textile and we want them to be perceived as “the same colour” even though they
are based on different colour materials, such as inks, surface colour, dye and
pigments. Nature does not consist of unlimited resources and we have to
restrict our use of environmentally harmful pigments and paint materials to
protect our world.
The colour has become an even stronger
factor than before in different fields like graphic design, corporate identity
colours, or marketing, where the colour and paint of a product can be decisive
of its fate and success. The colour designer is looking for experience and
knowledge from colour research, which can be used in colour design. Colour
research in areas like colour and paint, colour combinations, colour
preferences, colour emotions, etc. are having a more prominent role and the
demands on the practical use of colour research are increasing.
_________________________________________________________________________
THE EXPERIENCE OF THE PAINTED ROOM: THE SIGNIFICANCE OF LIGHT AND COLOUR COMBINATIONS
Monica
BILLGER
School of
Architecture, Chalmers University of Technology, Göteborg, Sweden
How do various placements of painted areas
affect the room? Colour is an important part of the gestalt of a building and
influences significantly the atmosphere within the building. This
paper presents a study, in which 280
architectural students experimented with colour and light in model rooms. In
their laboratory reports they accounted for the ways colour affect each other
and how light and colour interact. The students specially studied the perceived
colour of light in the room and the colour appearance of each room element,
i.e. the walls, floors and ceilings. They also noted how various colour designs
affected the impression of depth, width and height.
The students worked in groups of 3-5 participants that had one ground model (50 × 70 cm) and a great selection of uniformly painted room elements in many different hues and a few nuances. They were instructed to start out in a systematic way with a uniformly painted room and vary one surface at the time. Thereafter they combined the room elements freely. Guiding questions for the investigation were:
· How do various placements of painted areas affect the room?
· How do the colours of the floor, walls and ceiling affect the perceived colour of light?
· How can you make a painted area more or less intense?
· Can you change the impression of depth/height/width with different colour designs?
The laboratory reports give significant examples of colour effects in rooms, of shadow colours and how complementary colours affect each other. The students brought up various aspects of the painted room. For example, they discussed different ways of interpreting spatial properties and the difference between experiencing the room from the “outside” and from the “inside”. They also tested strategies for how to make rooms with cold and/or dim light character warmer. I will discuss their findings and compare them with earlier studies.
_________________________________________________________________________
CESIA AND PAINTS: AN ATLAS OF CESIA
WITH PAINTED SAMPLES
José Luis CAIVANO,* Ingrid MENGHI,† and Nicolás IADISERNIA†
* University of Buenos Aires, and National Council for Research (Conicet), Buenos Aires, Argentina
† Sherwin Williams Argentina SA, Buenos Aires, Argentina
The name “cesia” has been given to the modes of appearance produced by different spatial distributions of light. From the physical point of view, an object may absorb light, and the non-absorbed portion can be either reflected by the material, or transmitted trough it. Both reflection and transmission may occur regularly (specularly) or diffusely, and any intermediate combination may also appear. These are the stimuli for the visual sensations of cesia: transparency, translucency, glossy or mirror-like appearance, and matte appearance, with different degrees of lightness, and all the intermediate or combined cases. Every color appears in some of these modes of appearance. Now on, the stimulus for color can be produced by primary sources (objects that emit light) or by secondary sources (objects that reflect or transmit the light coming from another source). Both in a primary or a secondary source we can have a variation of color, but the variations of cesia only occur in secondary sources, that is to say, in objects that produce changes in the spatial distribution of light that they receive. These changes are mainly due to micro-textural variations on the surface or in the volume of the object. If these textural variations are of a rather small size, then the texture itself is not perceived, but the effect produced on light is, and we see cesias.
Paints are one of the most versatile
materials to produce these kinds of variations. A paint may cover a surface,
working as an opaque coating, and in that case the stimulus for cesia is due to
the surface finishing. A rough surface produces a matte effect, while a
polished surface produces gloss. But if the paint is more or less transparent,
then, in addition to the surface finishing, the internal composition, working
in the whole thickness of the layer, is important. In these cases, the stimuli
for cesia are of a more complex nature.
An atlas of cesia made with pieces
of glass was presented in AIC 1997, Kyoto. The aim of this paper is to present
and explain a new atlas of cesia produced with painted samples. The atlas
consists of 5 pages with 25 samples each, that is to say, a total of 125
samples. The samples in every page have a different degree of perceived permeability
to light, from the opaque samples (1st page) to the transparent ones
(5th page), passing through samples with different degree of
perceived turbidity. Furthermore, in each page, the variation of lightness
(from very light to very dark) and the variation of diffusivity (from
matte or translucent to glossy or crystalline) occur. Figure 1 shows a scheme
with the development of the first and last pages, and the indication of the
three intermediate ones.
Figure 1. Scheme of the 1st and 5th
pages of the atlas of cesia made with paints. The first page (opaque) has
perceived permeability 0, while the last one (transparent) has perceived
permeability 1. The numbers inside the tables indicate the perceived degree of
lightness (varying in vertical, from 1 to 0) and diffusivity (varying in
horizontal from 1 to 0): lightness/diffusivity.
_________________________________________________________________________
AGAINST COLOUR
GLOBALISATION:
COLOUR TRENDS AND COLOUR COLLECTIONS: THEIR USE AS A VOCABULARY AND THEIR
CULTURAL SIGNIFICATION
Michel CLER
Atelier Cler, Paris, France
This presentation shows for the first time previously unpublished material on colour trends as indicated by colour collections for industrial building materials. A colour collection is far more than just a simple commercial tool. It acts as a colour vocabulary intended or implying a particular use and also imbued with concrete meaning, associations and evocations. Collectively these influence, control and manipulate the representation of contemporary colour culture. Colour collections are key elements in the process of creating our environmental, urban and habitat space.
In Hong Kong, the West Indies,
Mexico, France, Sweden, Moscow… colour is bound up with local cultures that
pose dramatic resistance to the sweeping homogenisation of globalisation.
Re-defining a colour palette plays therefore a specific role in re-presenting
or enhancing the expressive complexity of indigenous colour cultures on a
local, regional or national scale. The concept and creation of colour
collections are the result of diverse confluences or constraints that are
simultaneously and dialectically launched into action: commercial, technical
and construction regulations interact with the specific demands of
professionals and the general public. Essential elements of a vital colour
collection are its legibility and the capacity to inspire the sense and
experience of colour.
One project of the Atelier F&M
Cler is a series of colour collections or nuanciers de couleurs, as they
are called in French, which has been conceived for different building material
companies. The most important creations were for such diverse companies as
Zolpan (2003, paint exterior/interior), Saint Gobain Weber (2002, thick
coating), IPA-Weber&Broutin (2001, thick coating), Haironville Metal Profil
Belgium (2000, aluminium cladding), Ferrari Manufacturer of Membranes and
Composite Textiles (1998, fabrics), Peintures Gauthier (1988, paint
exterior/interior), Griesser (1983, fabrics), and Buchtal (1980, ceramics).
Each material has its own qualities and characteristics. Light plays an
important part as it serves to reveal the tactile aspects of any surface,
texture and colour. As well, shadow must also be considered because the
interplay between shadow and light is one of the most powerful determinants of
visual effect. Therefore, light is always an important consideration in the
creation of a colour collection. That is, while iridescent colours enhance the
light and reflective qualities of aluminium, intense colours strengthen the
quality of fabrics that filter light and alter shades. Paint, originally an
ephemeral material, generally used in religious and festive events, is the best
way to evoke a variety of associations, the means used most often individually,
culturally and historically to create atmosphere and define space.
As any other special kind of vocabulary belonging to a particular
geographical, histori-cal, cultural, economic and social context, colour
collections play a dominant part in defin-ing our world. Palettes change.
Evolving as new aspects of colour are introduced and others discarded, some
colours seem eternal or unchanging, while others seem to be more ephemeral.
_________________________________________________________________________
COLOUR APPEARANCE OF FRUIT JUICE AFFECTED BY VITAMIN C
Kiattisak DUANGMAL,* Sekson WONGSIRI,* and Suchitra SUEEPRASAN†
* Department of Food Technology, Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand
† Department of Imaging and Printing Technology, Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand
The role of healthy diet is becoming important and is of great interest in the food industry. Consumers tend to choose food products that are rich in nutrition. To meet consumers’ needs, many food products have added some minerals/vitamins to improve their nutritional value. In fruit juice, vitamin C is always added. However, the addition of vitamin C may affect the colour of fruit juice and this may lead to unacceptability by consumers, as colour is also one of major parameters influencing the quality of fruit juice. Thus, the purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of vitamin C on colour appearance and colour stability of fruit juice. Mao juice was chosen in this study. Mao (Antidesma sp.) is a tropical shrub widely grown in the northeastern part of Thailand. In the juice processing, mao juice was extracted from frozen mao. The juice, pH 3.5 ± 0.1, contained 17.6 ± 0.3o Brix total soluble solid, 17.62 ± 2.23 mg anthocyanins/100 ml juice, 311 ± 0.36 mg total phenolic compounds/100 ml juice. The study of the effects of vitamin C on the change of 25% mao juice quality was carried out. Vitamin C was added to the juice at various levels to yield 0, 10, 25, 50 and 100% of vitamin C daily intake per bottle after pasteurisation. Juice that had vitamin C added was filled in 190-ml tinted glass bottles with 4.5-ml headspace and stored 24 weeks at 30oC. The result showed that degradation of anthocyanins in each treatment of mao juice was first order at rates of 8.00 × 10-3, 8.20 × 10-3, 9.30 × 10-3, 1.02 × 10-2 and 1.09 × 10-2 / day, respectively. The half-life values of anthocyanins were 88, 84, 74, 68 and 63 days, respectively. The lightness values (L*) of all treatments tended to increase over the storage period. On the contrary, the a* values of all treatments decreased over time, indicating the decrease of redness in the juice colour. During storage, microbiological assay (total plate count, yeast and mould) showed negative results. Sensory evaluation for the preference in redness and the overall colour preference of the treatments was also studied. The results showed that the preference in redness and in overall colour ranged from “like slightly” to “like moderately” during the period of storage in every treatment. The change of colour appearance of mao juice due to the addition of vitamin C was negligible.
_________________________________________________________________________
Helen H. EPPS and Naz KAYA
Department of Textiles, Merchandising, and Interiors, University of Georgia, USA
Satisfaction with color
and paints in consumer products and in the environment may be related to color
sensitivity and ability to remember color. Color memory has been described as
successive color matching, a category of matching in which time elapses between
presentation of a color stimulus and the attempt to select a matching color. In
this research, 40 university students, all having normal color vision and at
least average color discrimination ability as determined by the
Farnsworth-Munsell 100 Hue test, participated in a color memory experiment. The
participants were divided into two groups: 20 with prior color coursework, and
20 with no color-related training. Short-term color memory of the participants
was evaluated in four hue categories: yellow, yellow-red, green, and purple.
Munsell dimensions of hue, value, and chroma were used to select the
four target colors and nine distractor colors for each of the targets. For each
target color, four of the distractor colors differed from the target in hue
only, four were of the same hue as the target, but differed in both value and
chroma, and one was identical to the target in both hue and value, but differed
in chroma.
In each test, the subject was presented the target color chip and
asked to look at it in a light booth for 5 seconds, with the intent of
remembering it. After removal of the target color, and an additional period of
5 seconds during which the subject focused on a white card, the subject was
given a stack of ten randomly arranged color chips, including the target and
the nine distractors, and asked to choose the target color. On completion of
the four color tests, subjects were asked to explain what cues, if any, they
used in recalling the targets.
Of the four target colors, yellow was the most accurately
remembered, and green was the least accurately remembered color. Effects of
hue, value and chroma differences of the distractors on color selections,
differences among the participants with respect to the use of cues, and effects
of prior color-related training will be presented.
_________________________________________________________________________
Katrin FAGERSTRÖM
School of Architecture, Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden
In the western world architecture has favored
materiality and permanence whereas immaterial and temporary qualities are set
aside of the norm. By focusing on color as part of architecture various
conflicts can be illustrated, as the relation of materiality and immateriality,
and the hierarchical order of the building elements.
The German architect Gottfried Semper’s (1803-1879)
theories of “dressing” and “material transformation” have been interpreted in
many different ways, as his notion of the mask. Semper considered color “the
subtlest, most bodiless coating … the most perfect means to do away with
reality, for while it dressed the material it was itself immaterial” (English translation in Four
elements of architecture and
other writings, Cambridge, 1989). He described
the enclosure as one of four elements generating architectural form. Woven
material, colored carpets, formed the wall, and hanging carpets remained the true
walls, when later they were transformed into clay tile, brick, or stone walls.
In Learning from Las Vegas (1972),
the American architects Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown argued for
architecture as “shelter with symbols on it”. The book defines the “decorated
shed” where systems of space and structure are directly at the service of
program, and ornament is applied independently of them.
The separation of buildings into “structure” and “skin”,
or “shed” and “decoration”, makes it possible to stress on one of them, and to
leave one of them outside architecture. “Architecture is colorless”, the
Italian architect Gio Ponti stated about 1960; “A building made of bricks is a
building of bricks, not red architecture …” In the 1950’s and 60’s Swedish
architecture (projects presented in the architectural press) got rid of all
painted surfaces. It started about 1950, when the architect Hans Asplund called
Bengt Edman and Lennart Holm “neo-brutalists”, provoked by their design for
Villa Göth. As to be read in New
Brutalism by Reyner Banham (1966), the term was dropped into an English
context, where brutalism among other things means that the structural materials
of the building are exposed, without plaster and paint.
The color of bricks appears from and is subordinated
to a manufacturing process. In Von
Material zu Architektur (1929), László Moholy-Nagy, artist and teacher at
Bauhaus, set up a terminology for the different aspects of materials. The term
“structure” describes the unalterable manner in which the material is built up.
“Surface treatment” means the perceptible result of a working process. By means
of the terms structure and surface treatment, it is possible to separate the
making process from the later treatment by external force, and to see that
bricks, already at the place of production, are buildings in a way that color
will never be. Color is almost all surface treatment. Paint is a material, but
more than brick it is a product disconnected from a certain place, and the
colors of paint both appear later, in
the perception, after the building is completed, and disappear, because it is an impermanent material. The paper
examines the color of brick in relation to the color of paint by using the
theories of Semper, Moholy-Nagy, Banham, and others, in the analysis of a brick
wall from the Swedish brutalism.
_________________________________________________________________________
THE COLOUR-SYSTEM OF ARCHITECTURAL STRUCTURALISM: THE OFFICE COMPLEX GARNISONEN, STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN
Mari FERRING
Architectural History, School of Architecture, Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden
A complicated three-dimensional system of
communication
runs through the building like water flowing in a tree.
(The artist Gösta Wallmark commenting the colour-system in Garnisonen)
The Swedish architectural structuralism is closely connected to the golden years of Swedish economy when modular thinking, standardisation and rational prefabrication were prerequisite. The ideological and practical foundation was Anglo-Saxon post-war architectural theory as well as English and Dutch practice (for instance the work by Alison and Peter Smithson and Aldo van Eyck). Distinct Swedish examples are the Huddinge hospital (1967-1972), The Arrhenius laboratory at the University of Stockholm (1971-1973) and Hans Borgström’s student housing in Rinkeby in the outskirts of Stockholm (1969). Maybe the most typical example from this period, and the richest from a colour point of view, is the object of this investigation: The giant office complex of Garnisonen on Karlavägen in Stockholm (1969-1972, Tage Herzell, A4/ELLT architects). The building consists of a uniform facade which stretches along the entire block (347 meters) covered in plates of dark aluminium. The pedestrian arcade opens up to a system of inner courtyards of a more intimate scale and character. The interior, as well as windows and doors, were given manifest strong colours according to an organised system. The building was divided into colour-zones of blue, red, yellow and green, combined with unpainted concrete.
Since colour is the main focus of this study, I have chosen to, along-side of other sources, interview the person responsible for the original colouring and art-program of the building: the artist Gösta Wallmark. Which motives and influences can be found in the choices of unpainted concrete and strong, pure colours within the architectural structuralism? The investigation shows that colours are used as a contrast to the super-rational system of modular building, an element of rebellion associated with play (a kind of lego or meccano) as well as the contemporary strife for an informal, relaxed and more democratic working life. The colours are organised in a system which resembles a drawing (a picture) of a technical flow-chart —a frozen three-dimensional flow of energy, water and air.
The study is also attempting to discuss the modernistic roots of architectural structuralism through the concept of addition. Addition (to add part by part) as a working-method in the creation of architecture was already present in 19th century neo-classicism. The use of the concept returns in 20th century architectural theory, in the description of architectural structuralism as well as in the organisation of the practical work in creating Garnisonen, which consists of standardised and modularised “office-boxes” added piece by piece. Theory and method is one thing however, final results another. The final result in this case cannot be characterised as a simple addition of parts. Instead the building appears, one could say, as time-less; its architecture has “classical” features such as well-balanced spatial proportions, legibility and other qualities. The colour-system, and the art in general, plays an important role for the entirety in being integrated in the general architectural picture.
_________________________________________________________________________
COLOR AND PATRIMONY IN LA PLATA CITY, ARGENTINA
Ana María FONTANA and Nora MATÍAS
Faculty of Fine Arts, National University of La Plata,
Argentina
Color in the urban space fulfils an essential function
for the identification of place. It reaffirms its significance and it is a
referent for the valuation of the urban patrimony. The important role that
color plays and the search for a chromatic identity has motivated our map of
color for the city of La Plata.
La Plata city was
founded in 1882 and designated as the capital city of the province of Buenos Aires,
in Argentina, as a result of a political decision. It was especially designed
and planned. Its singularity lies in the modern urban model, which combines
neoclassic urban art and the new theories of hygiene of that time.
Together with this map of color we present the first chromatic palette in harmony with La Plata’s environment and identity. This palette takes into consideration environmental, historical and cultural aspects of this particular place and its inhabitants.
These color charts result from a thorough and systematic data collection on the color of the building materials used in the place.
Two systems are applied to the map of color:
·
Environmental Identity
Range (as a general use referent)
· Historical Identity Range (to be used in buildings considered of patrimonial interest)
The historical chromatic documentation helps in recovering and preserving the architectural patrimony of La Plata city.
_________________________________________________________________________
PAINTED WALLS FROM PICTURES AND IMITATIONS TO COLOURED
SPACE
Karin FRIDELL ANTER
School of
Architecture, Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden
Why do people paint their rooms and buildings?
Certainly there is a technical aspect, especially for outdoor painting. But, just
as certainly, the technical aspect has seldom or never been the primary reason
for painting. The effort to paint has risen from an urge to satisfy both human
and divine needs, and from a desire to create beauty, status, illusion…
In my presentation I will show and analyse different
ways that the material paint has been
used throughout architectural history, in order to create suitable space for
varying human activities. Most of my examples will be taken from Swedish
building tradition, but there will also be broader comparisons, including
Pompeian frescoes as well as the colourful spatial modelling in the Dessau
Bauhaus School.
Painted surfaces have often been used as surrogates
for other materials that have been too expensive or simply not available. See,
for example, the elaborated imitated marble surfaces in 17th century
palaces, and their simpler followers in later workshops and farmhouses. But
also the colours themselves have been a symbol of status and wealth. For
example, there is a thread of influence from northern gothic red brick churches
to the red distemper painted farmhouses still dominating the Swedish
countryside.
Much wall painting consists of pictures. Religious motives
have been common, not only in churches or temples but also in the homes of
those who could afford to paint. Pictures can tell something about the room’s
functions and activities, or the social status of the owner. They can also
convey the illusion of a place somewhere else —such as the garden paintings
that turned Pompeian town houses into countryside villas, or the numerous
“Italian piazzas” painted on the walls of recent pizza restaurants all over the
world.
A third principle for wall painting is to rely on
colour in itself to create space and atmosphere. The early modernists
juxtaposed evenly coloured surfaces of contrasting colours, and in
structuralist architecture colour could be used as a signal, differentiating
building parts according to their functional or structural role in the system.
The use of large monochrome surfaces has eventually
led to a growing interest in the material aspects of paint itself. Apart from
the quality of colour a surface has
qualities such as gloss, transparency, texture… all of which can be chosen with
care, in order to obtain a certain totality. The last few decades have brought
a number of new or renewed paint materials and painting techniques, and once
more inspiration is gathered from what has been painted throughout history.
_________________________________________________________________________
INSTRUMENTAL WHITENESS EVALUATION
PRACTICAL RESULTS OF INTER-INSTRUMENT AGREEMENT TESTS
Jennifer Kathrin GAY, Cássia Cristina MELO, and Robert
HIRSCHLER
SENAI/CETIQT, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
The instrumental evaluation of white objects treated
with fluorescent whitening agents, such as commonly found on substrates like
textiles, plastics and paper, is a task not as straightforward as it might
seem. One of the main reasons is the fluorescence of the optical brightening
agents that is influenced by the amount of UV radiation in relation to the
amount of radiation in the visible range of the spectrum. This makes it
necessary to perform a UV adjustment on the light source in reflectance
spectrophotometers to establish the adequate ratio of UV and visible radiation,
as defined by the CIE. There are different ways of doing the calibration and
adjustment and there are several standards available for this task.
This paper compares whiteness measurements of textile
samples treated with fluorescent whitening agents made on 4 different
industrial reflectance spectrophotometers, some using a traditional method of
adjusting a filter position for UV control and others performing a numerical
and virtual UV control. Comparisons are made between instruments of the same
model and of varying models, also using differently sized measurement
apertures. Two sets of standards are used for the calibration and the
measurement results obtained after the different calibrations are compared.
The same samples were also measured on a bi-spectral
spectrophotometer and results are compared to the ones obtained with the
industrial instruments that only have a single monochromator. The double
monochromator measurements allow the calculation of the spectral radiance
factor for a standard D65 spectral power distribution, as defined numerically
by CIE, and the subsequent calculation of whiteness values.
_________________________________________________________________________
THE ROLE OF COLOR IN THE INSTITUTIONAL LANGUAGE
María Inés GIRELLI, Mariela MARCHISIO, and Joaquín PERALTA
Faculty of Architecture, Urbanism and Design, National University of Córdoba, Argentina
The city, as a social complex manifestation, answers not only to different cultural aspects, but to political interests and economic projects as well. The official institutional head offices contribute, as a matter of fact, to the consolidation and transmission of a desired scenery and landscape that stand for an explicit city and society project.
Public work is characterized for being the visible expression of the governmental action and has been used as advertising manifest by different political actors.
From the middle of the 19th century, education is present in the city and is one of the typologies —as well as health— more used as a manifest of the governmental action. From this period on many schools have been built in Córdoba city, some of them display the monumental classic architecture, others exhibit the modern movement tendency, and the rest of them reveal the need for massive public education which forces to choose technologies of low rate cost and quick building.
The Faculty of Architecture has evolved through history according to didactic contents and the development of teacher-student relationship in class. Technical advances and cultural currents have impacted in the formulation of classroom design, but the pedagogic innovation has been the actual engine of the deepest transformations in the configuration of school space; between these transformations the study of color and the incorporation of chromatic systems happened to be quite determinative of school places and also influential in human beings’ behavior (this according to some psychological currents). Nevertheless, these deep innovations in the use of color with a renovator pedagogical purpose and the use of education as the engine of cultural affirmation and social leveling are absent in public works in Córdoba city; though they incorporate color, were designed more with the intention of leaving the stamp of a governmental action than with the goal to consolidate future generations’ identity.
This work proposes to analyze the relationship between color as a typical element of the architectural language and the communicational purposes in the official architecture of Córdoba.
It has been taken into consideration as consulting material of study institutional works carried out by the State in different historical periods and under different administrative and political systems in the province of Córdoba, Argentine Republic.
_________________________________________________________________________
Faculty of Textile Technology, University of Zagreb, Croatia
Beside the vital and powerful role of sun in
our everyday lives, the overdose of UV radiation on skin can lead to potential
skin damage from exposure to the sun’s ray. Compare with visible light that
interacts with dyes UV radiation interacts with ultraviolet absorbers and
fluorescent whitening agents. Middle UV-rays (UV-B region, l = 280-315 nm) causes acute and chronic
reactions and damages, such as skin reddening or increased risk for other
diseases. For such reason it is important to protect the people from the
ultraviolet radiation falling on garments and sun-screening textiles such as
tends. The level of such protection of fabric depends of a large number of
factors as the type of fiber, porosity, density, moisture, color and FWA in the
case of white textiles.
In this paper, we report an
experiment in which cationized cotton fabric was treated with UV reactive
apsorber on the base of oxalanilide, Tinofast CEL, to improve the UPF of
fabric. Exacust method was applied following peroxide bleaching and optical
bleaching procedure. For optical bleaching three stilben derivates as optical
brightness agents were used in wide concentration range. The UV protection
factor (UPF) measurements were done using Varian Carry-50 AnAs UV-Vis
spectrophotometer, the whiteness degree and yellowness by Datacolor
Spectraflash 600 plus-CT and relative intensity of fluorescence by Carl-Zeiss
Fluorometer. The aim of the paper was to study the FWA’s fluorescence changes
of sunprotected white cotton fabric.
_________________________________________________________________________
A MODEL FOR THE APPLICATION AND ANALYSIS OF COLORS IN THE MEDIA
Luciano Guimarães
Faculty of Architecture, Arts and Communication, Paulista State University, Bauru - SP, Brazil
This
article deals with the intentions in the use of colors as information and
creates a theoretical instrument to analyze and develop journalistic products
that use color images.
Color
is definitely one of the most instantaneously received medias in journalistic
communication. The expression of colors, as other codes used by the media, is a
result of the technological development and the cultural relationships of
different periods, different societies, and different ways journalism is seen,
produced and perceived.
This
article presents and justifies a function to color, focused on the information
produced by the journalistic media, the color-as-information. In this
perspective, a critical and descriptive analysis is made on how the use of the
color, instead of contributing to the consuming of media products, has
determined adhesions to ideas and goals that are out of the common intentions
of the information and the communication, not to speak of some distortions,
exaggerations, prejudices and other anomalies in the published news.
Regarding
all the problems caused by the interference of reality operated by the visual
medias, this research presents color as an element able to go against the
reduction of the information to the two-dimension plane.
After
analyzing and describing a series of color-as-information positive uses
(actions that perform the informative and communicative functions in
responsible, ethic and transparent ways) and negative uses (actions that cause
miscomprehension or information distortions), this research presents an
ontogenic instrumental model of color, with applications both at analysis as
well as at production of media texts in which color is an important element of
meaning. It is an orientation structure to the comprehension and use of color
as information, indicating ways to the wise and responsible use or to the
objective analysis of the color-as-information texts.
_________________________________________________________________________
BACKGROUND: AN
ESSENTIAL FACTOR IN COLOUR HARMONY
Helen GURURA,* Lindsay W. MACDONALD,* and Hilary
DALKE†
* Colour and Imaging Institute, University of Derby
† Faculty of Art, Design and Music, Kingston
University
Colour
harmony is typically assessed using a neutral (e.g. grey) background, but
little is known about the effect that background colour has on the perception
of saliency and harmony. A series of experiments has been conducted to assess
the effects of lightness, hue angle and chroma difference on observer
perceptions of saliency and harmony for an array of single and dual foreground
colour patches viewed against numerous backgrounds.
Experiments enabled observers to cluster perceptions of saliency and harmony as a function of variable background colour based on a 5 point semantic-differential scale running from a strongly harmonious to strongly disharmonious continuum. Results indicate that each background colour has the potential to create either high or low saliency and harmony ratings depending on the specific foreground colour/s viewed against it. This suggests that background colour is intimately linked with observer perceptions of saliency and harmony and should be seriously considered in future work as a further dimension and determinant of colour harmony.
Results seem to raise questions on already existing “harmonious” colour combinations that have been proposed to date. With a simple change in background colour, the possibility of creating a “disharmonious” from a formerly termed “harmonious” combination seems highly likely. The reverse holds true.
_________________________________________________________________________
Susan HABIB
Faculty of Architecture, Department of Architecture, Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey
For a while, environmental designers and colorists were widely complaining of grayness of cities and how people were suffering problems because of the lack of color in townscapes. Modern districts of many cities in Turkey were not exceptions as well. However, nowadays we witness an explosion of polychrome effect, either in new districts or in facade renovations of relatively older ones. While this effect is being observed in many areas, the most widespread ones are seen in housing areas. The chaotic effect of this explosion has brought some reactions like color restrictions in some areas, which is far away from ideal solutions. Meanwhile the reaction is understandable because of the poor visual quality of the polychrome facades. Architects who have had no color education do not welcome them, but at the same time they do not address to colorists or those who have been familiar with color in any kind. In fact, I am not sure if it is possible to call those facades “colorful” or the layers on them “architectural colors”. Tons of paints are applied on buildings’ exterior surfaces.
This happens while these cities have rich colorful vernacular architectures and tradition of creating colorful products. Being aware of those colorful backgrounds brings the question of how the grandchildren of the ancestors who had so sensitive color applications can come to such an awful point with color. Is this case similar to Slovakian shawl makers that brought Christopher Alexander to talk about “unselfconscious and self-conscious processes of making color decisions”? That the master ancestors with their colorful vernacular products “were not artists but craftspeople able to make well-considered judgments only within the limitations of their craft and its range of available colors. Once they were presented with more complicated choices, their apparent mastery and judgment deserted them”?
Although the range of today’s available colors is an important factor, yet I believe that the case is more complicated in architectural facades. Too many things are changed in our times. This paper is going to discuss cultural changes and reflection of those to architectural facade colors in Turkey. How the squatter areas, which in some ways follow the traditional/vernacular architectural rules, are changed to “luxurious” housing areas and the “adventure” of color with such cultural changes.
_________________________________________________________________________
COLOUR EMOTIONS IN FULL-SCALE ROOMS
Maud HÅRLEMAN
School of Architecture, Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden
The aim of this investigation is to study colour emotions due to light and colour. As colour appearance differs depending on light conditions, the question is: does colour emotion also change?
An investigation was made where two full-scale rooms in different compass orientations were observed in daylight. The rooms were painted in 12 reddish and greenish hues in two nuances, NCS 1010 and NCS 1030, and observed one by one. One yellow and one blue hue in nuance NCS 1030 were added. Ninety subjects individually evaluated emotions evoked in the two rooms, using semantic scaling. To classify emotions, a method by R. Plutchik was used. This consists of eight terms of emotions classed by Plutchik as primary emotions. The emotions are: expectation, disgust, sadness, fear, surprise, joy, anger and surprise.
The study shows a complex mixture of both “positive” and “negative” emotions. The unitary hues evoked the strongest emotional expressions. Evaluations in rooms in greenish hues showed different emotional expressions to rooms in reddish hues. The latter caused complex emotional expressions with distinct differences between the hues involved. The nuances were described with clear difference from each other, with different emotions and weaker emotional expressions.
_________________________________________________________________________
ASSESSING COLOUR
DIFFERENCES WITH DIFFERENT MAGNITUDES
K. M. HO, G. H. CUI, R. LUO, and B. RIGG
University of Leeds, UK
The CIEDE2000 colour difference formula, which was recommended by the CIE in 2000, is mainly used for evaluating small size colour-differences (less than 5 DE*ab units). It is also known that the most widely used colour space, CIELAB, performs well for large colour differences (over 5 DE*ab units). This study is intended to address colour-differences ranging between them, medium sizes.
The grey scale technique was used to assess colour difference of each pair by a panel of 20 observers. Sixty-two pairs of textile samples surrounding 5 colour centres were assessed against a middle-grey background under a D65 simulator. The average DE*ab of these pairs was about 5 units. These samples were then colorimetrically reproduced onto a CRT. These colour differences of CRT stimuli were then enlarged by 150% and 200% respectively. In total, four data sets were accumulated: surface, CRT-small, CRT-medium and CRT-large. The results were used to understand the colour difference size effect and media effect (surface and CRT). Finally, the performances of 4 colour difference formulae (CIELAB, CIE94, CMC and CIEDE2000) were evaluated for colour-differences covering from small to large colour-differences.
_________________________________________________________________________
WHAT HAS MADE THE USE OF NCS SO WIDESPREAD IN THE AREA OF PAINT?
Kristina
HOLMBERG and Anders NILSSON
Scandinavian
Colour Institute AB, Stockholm, Sweden
NCS-Natural
Color System is scientifically based with more than 100 man-years of research
behind it. The research was carried out in a very open-minded environment with
researchers coming from architecture, physics, psychology, education, and
technology, always keeping the focus on the different user groups. The NCS is a
neutral —product independent— colour system describing the colours the way we
perceive them. This makes the NCS colour system a valuable tool for many
different needs. A given colour selection, for example in a geographical
region, can be visually defined and analysed (examples from Brazil, India and
Portugal) and can become the base for further colour development and colour
planning in that area.
Paint as well as any other manufacturer of coloured
products need to communicate in a visual way what they can offer to their
customers. By use of the NCS colour notation system they have an instrument for
visual colour selection that is recognized as independent by the global
architect and design community and could be used for any coloured material, not
just paint, facilitating the work of their professional customers. The point of
sales dealer has a complete system at his hands to help customers locate the
colour closest to the desired colour and visually helping them find their way
through the colour space.
The
manufacturers of paint and other products must be able to trust the quality of
the colour samples and this is equally important for the end users. This will
save time and money for both groups. Therefore, the authorized NCS colour
samples are subject to a very strict and publicly available quality control,
i.e., the NCS Quality Management.
During 2004 200 new NCS Standard Colours were
released. The colours are located in the, for designers, extremely important
area of off-whites. To be able to produce these colours accurately enough to
satisfy the professional customers, very high demands are put on colour
accuracy in the production. The basis is high quality standards; NCS Calibrated
Matching Standards satisfies these high quality needs.
Each year the now 1950 standardized NCS colours
are produced. More than 800 hours are invested in this annual quality control
project. The colour samples are divided into different quality levels depending
on their future use, each quality level with clearly stated quality goals. The
results for the different groups are published after each production round and
a comparison over the years shows that a consistent and extremely high quality
is being maintained for the best of the users.
The NCS Quality Management was created in 1995
together with global paint manufacturers. It secures the accurate colour
communication from design to laboratory standards for matching. Calibrated
matching standards are manufactured and calibrated and guarantied a maximum
tolerance of DE from
a primary standard.
_________________________________________________________________________
COLOR-EMOTION
ASSOCIATIONS: PAST EXPERIENCE AND PERSONAL
PREFERENCE
Naz KAYA and Helen H. EPPS
Department of Textiles, Merchandising, and Interiors, University of Georgia, USA
Some colors are associated with several
moods and some moods are associated with more than one color. Despite a rapidly
growing literature on the impact of color on our emotions and considerable
interest in this research area, many studies have failed to use color stimuli
from a standardized system (e.g., Munsell Color System), while others elicited
individuals’ responses to verbal labels of color instead of using actual color
stimuli. The purpose of this study was to examine the color-emotion
associations among college students, referencing color stimuli from the
standardized Munsell Color System and to investigate the reasons for emotional
reactions given to each color. Ninety-eight volunteered students were asked to
indicate their emotional responses to five principle hues (i.e., red, yellow,
green, blue, purple), five intermediate hues (i.e., yellow-red, green-yellow, blue-green,
purple-blue, and red-purple), and three achromatic colors (white, gray, and
black) and the reasons for their choices. The color samples were prepared by
using Freehand 10.0 software. Each color sample (10 cm × 12 cm) was displayed
in the middle of the computer screen one at a time on a neutral gray
background, Munsell N/7. Order of presentation of the color samples was
randomized across participants. Students were allowed to state only one
emotional response for each color.
Based on the
results obtained from the student’s responses, a total of twenty-two emotions
were gathered. Green and blue elicited positive emotional responses, including
the feelings of relaxation and happiness, comfort, peace, and hope. Reasons
given for positive responses to green showed that green was associated with
nature and reminds someone of outdoors and springtime. Blue was associated with
the ocean or the sky and thus inducing relaxing and calming effect.
Color symbolism
can be apparent in how an individual associates colors with things, objects or
physical space. Red-purple, for instance, was associated with the color of red
wine, plum, bridesmaid dress, or the color of a bedroom.
A color-related
emotion seems to be highly dependent on personal preference and one’s past
experience with that particular color. Reasons given to each color based on
previous knowledge and experience will be discussed and future research areas
will be suggested.
_________________________________________________________________________
LOCAL COLOURING AND REGIONAL IDENTITY. COLOURS ON BUILDINGS EXTERIOR
Richard KJELLSTRÖM
Architectural Conservation & Restoration, Lund University, Sweden
What is meant by the term “local colouring”, with relation to a buildings exterior and why is it important for a regions identity? Every day, with or without knowledge, we are presented with “local colours”. You see them covering facades surrounding town squares or on farm dwellings passed in rural landscapes. Facade details are painted in relation to each part with regional varieties. Colouring has a local order. We all love areas with strong traditional or local characteristics. We visit them during holidays or form deep relations to them in our home districts. Among a range of identifying factors, colours are defining these areas. The local colours and colouring are important pieces in the description of the identity of a region, and part of its tradition and history.
Today it is possible to paint a building exterior in any colour. How does this affect the exterior colours and our identification of a region? In Sweden it is clear that the tradition of using local colours and colouring has become less common. This process is increasing. The systems for local colouring are quickly becoming weaker. With increasing globalisation it may appear important to strengthen the regional characteristics and make the public conscious about their region’s identity.
How is it possible to make the public more conscious about there regions? Perhaps it is necessary to focus on the regional characteristics of colouring in further research projects. The research project I am concerned with seeks to describe the local colours in Sweden. The project is delimited to rural dwellings in southern Sweden during the 19th century. It appears that in rural parts of Sweden, different districts in the 19th century started to have local combinations of colours. These colours had a local connection. The research project indicates that local colours are visible on the facades or remains of 19th century’s buildings.
The project’s main idea is that exterior architectural colours during the 19th century contain local variations and even various locally produced pigments. It is interesting to notice that the only production today of pigment in Sweden is a red oxide pigment. The first step in the research project was making short interviews with building archaeologists to highlight districts in southern Sweden with adequate dwellings from the 19th century. Then interviews were made with the house owners, archive studies were examined and a series of ocular investigations were carried out. Finally, colour sections at the building objects facades were taken.
The results show interesting varieties in the choice of colours that have been forgotten today. They show the complexity of exterior building colouring and a need of further research to understand the local architectural colouring and identity of regions. A strong connection between (for example) local colour and locally produced pigments is difficult to reproduce but the knowledge about it can be enough to strengthen the identity of a region. The project shows many local ways to combine colours and choices of colours that have been forgotten. To apply this knowledge in new project constructions and building conservation, can make the local differences in architecture more pertinent and obvious. A possibility to sharpen the architectural language at a local level is not only an aim of locally possession but a national and international interest.
It is also desirable to create comprehension of not only the local colours from the 19th century but also to create an understanding of the local colouring and the combinations of colours today. To be conscious about how the colours describe the architectural language. Not to choose the “right” colours but to understand how the colours perform together at the facade. Therefore, the results take focus on the structures of local colours.
The aim is that the results will be applicable in other situations as a model and inspiration to further investigations in other communities, regions and countries. We plan to consolidate this data to understand local colours within a global perspective.
_________________________________________________________________________
A BETTER ARTISTIC EXPRESSION OF GOETHE’S LITERARY WORLD, BASED ON THE CORRECT CHOICE AND COMBINATION OF PAINTS, COLORS, AND
TEXTS
Hee Sook LEE-NIINIOJA
Helsinki,
Finland
The right application of paints and colors on
artworks, in the case of literature, can enhance the better understanding of
texts and enforce their creativity, while the wrong use of paints can decrease
their imagination and lead to misunderstand their concepts. It means that the
real artwork consists of a correct combination of paints, colors, and texts, in
order to get a maximum result.
My paper seeks to find out the best way to express artworks by using paints. For that aim, I am going to illustrate different experiments of combining paints (oil/ acrylic/ pastel/ watercolor), colors (the prime/ secondary), and literary texts (spring/ summer/ autumn/ winter) of Goethe’s The sorrow of young Werther, whose book is the most suitable for this presentation.
_________________________________________________________________________
COLOUR, PAINTING AND COMPUTING
Garth LEWIS
School of Fashion and Textiles, Central St. Martins, London Institute, England
Discussing the
relationship of digital colour to analogue colour, through the physical and
perceptual experience of making paintings. In my recent work I am using
Chromafile,1 a software program that ‘simulates paint colour mixing
on the computer monitor’ in the creation of painted, screen printed and
digitally printed pictures. Chromafile relates virtual with material by
providing a common colour language for the painted and printed images.
Digital printing, a system in its relative infancy and
painting with its history and materiality are combined to set new pictorial
problems and create a shared pictorial language. There is extensive use and
influence of digital media in art, however my project is to create paintings
using original and specific research. The technical problems are such that
issues of style, identity or artistic precedent are initially, less relevant
than the consistent application and observation of the research material.
The practical solutions and experimental data could have
broad relevance wherever there is an established or potential use of digital
printing, or where varied printed substrates are part of the output.
I will describe the Chromafile Colour System, its use in the development of a computer based colour course, and its role in my own painting.
1. Co-designed
with Dr. Ferdy Carabott, see www.chromafile.com.
_________________________________________________________________________
Lia
LUZZATTO* and Renata POMPAS†
* Accademia
di Comunicazione, Milan, Italy
† Istituto
Europeo di Design, Milan, Italy
“Colour and
Paint”, the title of this year’s AIC meeting, covers a transversal area that
embraces philosophy, research and plans. Our contribution to the meeting will
be to present the planning, development and results of the first Italian
“Fashion Colour Consultant” course which will finish at the end of June 2004. The
course, lasting one year with 680 hours of lessons and a 320-hour internship,
is made up of short, intensive theme-based didactic modules:
·
Basic
chromatology: Colour, as the
first element of the product’s identity, and its interaction with the product’s
covering, material and surface as it is perceived and experienced.
·
History: Analysis of colour shades and “range qualities”
predominant throughout different historical periods.
·
Colour and
production: Colours and
painting products —oil, tempera, acrylic, watercolours— from raw material to
production. The natural and synthetic colours of vanish and paint for
interiors. The natural and synthetic colorants for textile dying and printing.
·
People and
colours: The relationship between personal
colouring, make-up and clothing.
·
Colour and
communication: Methodology for
the analysis of chromatic communication, applied to a product type and a
specific medium
·
Colour and
fashion: Research methods, discovery and
colour proposals for consumer trends, colour charts and shades.
·
Colour used in
exhibits: Colours used in display:
communication, emotion and memorisation.
_________________________________________________________________________
WHEN COLOR ORGANIZES
THE ENVIRONMENT
Cristina MANGANIELLO
Faculty of Fine Arts, National University of La Plata, Argentina
The first environmental impact that we have
when entering into a space is the one produced by the light and color of the
surroundings. After a few seconds, the shapes become evident, and we perceive
their identities. Meanwhile, the identity of the environmental color does not
fade, it continues accompanying the situation.
In previous papers, I have made reference to a possible methodology to apply color in the environment, and to the parameters and technology to be considered (for instance, in Bolcolor 2001, newspaper El Día of La Plata, etc.).
In this paper I will face the problem of how color organizes the environment, whether by creating a certain atmosphere, by signaling to different sectors, among other aspects, but particularly in the situation where the presence of an artistic painting accompanies the environment or modifies it with its color. Furthermore, this painting may produce an environmental conflict. Thus, I will show the cases in which the color focalized in a relatively small object in a certain environment, accompanies, contradicts, or imposes a direction into the environmental atmosphere.
_________________________________________________________________________
COLOUR & LIGHT IN ARCHITECTURE
National
Council for Research (Conicet), Buenos Aires, Argentina
By failing
to recognise that light and colour in architecture are two different aspects of
the same problem, and therefore indivisible, research into the two areas has generally
followed different paths. In the field of luminotechnics it has mostly aimed to
solve aspects of visibility and comfort, while in the field of colour attempts
have been made to solve the needs of design, style and fashion, but have not
always been based on verifiable data or criteria. This has led some to believe
that “everything is possible”, while others take the view that it is a “topic
for specialists”. However, both views are mistaken. Thanks to the labour of
qualified architects and designers, and with the evidence of their work all
around us, no doubt remains today as to the importance of their research.
In particular, psychophysical methodology applied to the analysis of individual or multiple variables, has allowed certain criteria to be established and basic aspects to be resolved both in the field of colour and in luminotechnics. Although few persons are interested in colour and light per se, the importance of these investigations in solving basic aspects that contribute to human comfort is today widely recognised. Therefore, it appears that these investigations have a prosperous future ahead of them in helping us to understand and improve fundamental aspects of life such as health, the economy, security and even emotion and feeling.
Where does research stand today? How do light and colour behave in each of us? It seems that there are three paths: the visual system, the perceptive system made possible by the cognitive system, and the circadian system. To date we have sufficient knowledge on the visual and cognitive system on which to base valid research in the area. However, until the present day, research in luminotechnics has only been carried out in connection with problems of visual comfort or discomfort, and in the field of colour in aspects that have to do with reproduction, constance, memory, ranges or simply the study of its variables. In both cases, it is still necessary to investigate the general state of the observers in specific situations that may influence good daily performance. For this reason we believe that a holistic vision of the way in which colour and light are applied in design is still some way off. Finally, the circadian system is still the subject of study, despite that fact that it is our body clock. Recent research has shown that in addition to the system of cones and rods there is another photoreceptor system in the eye that relies on a chemical called melanopsin, which operates particularly under bright light conditions by controlling pupil size and visual activity. A better understanding of this melanopsin may lead to a deeper insight into many of man’s biological responses to colour and light, and help in the treatment of disabilities like jet lag and SAD.
This paper discusses these areas with the object of opening doors to new questions and research that might develop aspects which together make up the bases of our daily perception of light and colour in architecture.
_________________________________________________________________________
COLOUR AND EMOTION: AN INTERCULTURAL APPROACH AND FURTHER ASPECTS
Leonhard
OBERASCHER, Fatumata OBERASCHER, and Michael GALLMETZER
Salzburg,
Austria
At the
AIC-Congress in Bangkok 2003 we focused on emotion and related concepts as well
as on some relevant aspects (evolutionary biology, physiology, psychology…) of
emotions. Evolutionary biology sees emotions as phylogenetically developed,
intraspecifically inherited and universal specific adaptations of the organism
to typical recurrent situations. Ekman’s “neurocultural” theory of emotion
postulates seven basic —i.e. universal (intercultural) in physiological and
psychological aspects as well as in mimic expression— emotions (happiness,
surprise, anger, fear, disgust, sadness and contempt).
The crucial
question for us at present is how far this postulated universality of emotions
could be applied to the relationship between emotion and colour.
Our first
empirical approach used a variety of methods to test a total of more than 70
Europeans on how they would represent in colour (single colours, colour
combinations or free colour designs) these seven basic emotions. The results of
these emotion/colour-coding tests showed (also when compared with other
studies) a high concurrence. The following trend in colour/emotion coding emerges,
and may be taken as applying also in the reverse, emotion/colour-combination
coding: black = sadness, yellow = happiness, red = anger, brown = disgust;
happiness = yellow/orange, fear = black/red.
Under the
universality hypothesis, do these classifications hold good for, say, West
Africa? Six of those questioned for last year’s study come from West Africa.
This group showed a tendency (though of course not yet statistically
significant) towards green/blue, rather than yellow, for pleasure —possibly expressing
a different valuation of geographically differing available resources such as
light/sun or water/vegetation green— and thus an indication of the
(colour-psychological) effect of contextual influences. In the meantime, we
have collected data from 30 persons from West African countries. The evaluation
and analysis of these data should provide further material for examining
whether the universality of emotions is also valid for the
emotion-colour-relationship.
We expect to
learn more from the following areas and methods of investigation:
1) According to
the emotional context of the situation represented, does a typical choice of
colours appear in the visual arts and disciplines, or even in cartoons (e.g.
red faces or shaded outlines for rage)? Further exploration of the link between
emotion and colour might profitably be undertaken through intercultural
comparison, for instance between Japanese mangas and European or American
products.
2) Do patients
in psychotherapy characterise emotion —e.g. in their paintings— by the use of
colour in a specific way?
3) Do people
differentiate in colour when “articulating” their moods or emotional states —by
their choice of clothing, jewellery and make-up, for instance, or by the
furnishings in their environment?
4) Is our natural language in its
various forms of expression (everyday, [mass] media and advertising,
literature) suitable for finding a way to articulate in terms of colour and to
characterise emotional messages?
_________________________________________________________________________
COLOR RATINGS FOR SAFETY SIGNS BY YOUNG AND ELDERLY PEOPLE
Haruyo OHNO
Faculty of Socio-cultural
Studies, Otemae University, Hyogo, Japan
Visual perception of colors used for living
environments is affected by various factors, of which psychological
effects have conventionally been studied. However, it is difficult to predict
actual color visions and the psychological and physiological effects of color
targets applied to living environments based on
the results of past studies.
The author has considered even
if there are some results based on the evaluation of colors used for living
environment by many subjects, it should be more useful to predict the
perception of the same color plannings. Therefore, the author reports experiments
on the rating of colors used for the some safety signs.
The author had conducted
experiments using subjects on the color perception of chromatic color targets,
and had concluded that the concept of the perception of gray scale obtained from previous studies can be
partially applied to the evaluation of chromatic colors for living
environments.
However, the ratings of hues
widely scattered when compared with other attributes, suggested the necessity
of more data to conclude the qualitative tendencies. For this reason, the
author conducted experiments on the perception of chromatic colors commonly
used for safety signs and living environments by a larger number of subjects.
This paper describes the
perception of chromatic colors used for safety signs and living environments
using samples against an achromatic color background. The subjects consist of
217 university students with an average age of 19.6 and 228 people studying at
a college for the elderly with the age ranging between 58 and 80. For the experiments,
50 colors were used with high, medium Munsell chromas, safety colors, and
commonly used interior finishes. The subjects were requested to answer the
difference between the visual perception of the color targets and reference by
numerical values. The surfaces of the test rooms were all in achromatic colors.
The light source was fluorescent, and the horizontal illuminance on the
experimental table was approximately 500 lx.
The colors with high Munsell
chroma were rated highly by both age groups, with the ratings by the young
being higher. Some of the safety colors were perceived as not having the
intended effect of distinction by both young and elderly people, posing a
problem of safety color planning. The colors commonly used for interior finish
were approximately similarly rated by both age groups.
_________________________________________________________________________
PAUL SCHEERBART’S UTOPIA OF COLOURED GLASS
Gertrud
OLSSON
School of
Architecture, Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden
Points of
departure for my presentation of Paul Scheerbart and his architecture of
coloured glass are the concepts of utopia
and transparency. In regard of the
theme of the meeting, “Color and paints”, one might reflect on whether
transparency contains either colour or paint, or both of them.
The German poet Paul Scheerbart (1863-1915) was
also a visionary architectural writer and inventor engaged in avant-garde
circles. For more than twenty years he wrote about his speciality: glass
architecture.
His book Glasarchitektur
was published in Berlin in 1914. The book —a minimalist essay, a utopian text—
consists of 111 very short chapters, or rather pieces composed around a single
theme, aesthetically elaborated and mirroring Scheerbart’s ideological and technical
interest in coloured glass. He writes in the first chapter:
We live for the most part within enclosed
spaces. These form the environment from which our culture grows. Our culture is
in a sense a product of our architecture. If we wish to raise our culture to a
higher level, we are forced for better or for worse to transform our
architecture. And this will be possible only if we remove the enclosed quality
from the spaces within which we live. This can be done only through the
introduction of glass architecture that lets the sunlight and the light of the
moon and stars into our rooms not merely through a few windows, but
simultaneously through the greatest possible number of walls that are made
entirely of glass —coloured glass. The new environment that we shall thereby
create must bring with it a new culture.
Scheerbart’s
aim is to make civilization better, to reform mankind in a new-built society.
And the newborn, the future coming is an extensive and far-reaching transparency.
New construction technology connected with the decade’s metaphysical interest
and spiritual movements will grow to be the creative forces. This is the utopia
of Paul Scheerbart.
In the summer of
1913 the architect Bruno Taut (1880-1938) met Scheerbart in a workshop for
glass painting and mosaic. They became soul mates and the next summer they
collaborated on the Glass House at the Cologne Werkbund Exhibition. Taut made
the design and construction, and the ideas and visions of Scheerbart soared
over the building project. The dream became a reality, the Glass House was
realized. Scheerbart contributed maxims and verses on glass and colour to be
engraved on the facade: “COLOURED GLASS DESTROYS HATE”.
The presentation
deals with critical as well as positive aspects of Scheerbart’s utopia.
_________________________________________________________________________
TWELVE PERIODS OF SEASONAL COLOR TYPOLOGY
University of Maribor, Faculty for Mechanical Engineering, Maribor, Slovenia
We observed that there are no evident scientific explanations of the widespread four-seasonal methodology of color selections. Therefore, we tried to find some objectives to interpret the starting-point more precisely, in correlation with its natural origin. We completed the general classification of four-seasonal typology by adding intermediate periods. We proposed that each main period has an entering and closing part, regarding the previous or following period. Therefore, besides four main seasons, eight intermediate periods were added and finally twelve different periods of seasonal typology were classified. Such stratification is also in accordance with our meteorological calendar but not exactly with each month’s diversity.
Our
twelve-period seasonal typology is based upon astronomical and geometrical
correlations between the position of the Earth in relation to the Sun, where
the Sun is the main source of the light. For this purpose we developed a
special time-cycling system in which daily and yearly color-cycles are
included. This system gives us an opportunity to observe the variety of
correlations between antagonistic color-characteristics as well as other
aspects and relationships between colors and time-cycles. The system represents
a more objective basis for analysis, estimations and evaluations of trends in
color counseling.
_________________________________________________________________________
VERBAL AND CHROMATIC SEMIOSIS IN VISUAL IDENTITY
Carlos Esteban PRAUSE
Faculty of Architecture, Design and Urbanism, National University of Litoral, Santa Fe, Argentina
A primordial question is whether the immediate meaning of the graphic sign (plastic sign) and, particularly, of a color is able to directly substitute the symbolized reality, or the learning of a higher degree of conventionality is needed. That is to say, is the graphic sign similar to a linguistic sign of the symbolized reality?
If this theory is applied to color, is it possible to assimilate color to a linguistic sign? Would color have the semantic potential as to identify groups, individuals or things? If the principle for visual identification is the difference, the distinction, then, color semantics work as an identifier element in those relationships.
In the case of the distinctive shapes, on the contrary, we could say, for instance, that the entities associated to health (belonging to the same group) have attributes of their own and do not have relationships of semantic attributes with other groups or items, such as gastronomy, or some professional field. Therefore, the plastic representations of these groups should be different and signify in a different way, and also color, as an attribute of appearance, should have the same effect.
This is valid if we consider entities of the same species, but in the chain of identification it happens that “this entity” is distinguished from “another entity”, and this is the reason why the problem of visual identification leaves the field of collective and typo-logical entities to become individual and mono-logical.
The paper exposes a sensitive experience and a systematic approach to chromatic designations on the letter (the character) and the word as a principle in the design process, showing a diagram for the semiotic construction of shape and color, as a methodological proposal based on the configuration of the “semiotype” —a modality to access the forms of visual identification.
_________________________________________________________________________
COLOR AS A KEY FACTOR IN THE
CULTURAL INHERITANCE OF LA BOCA DISTRICT, BUENOS AIRES
Emilia RABUINI
Centro Pampa, School of Arts & Design, Olivos, Prov. de Buenos Aires, Argentina
The following presentation will show how the palette of the famous painter Benito Quinquela Martín (1890-1976) gave identity to a whole district many years ago, and how that identity was successfully rescued by carrying out strategic interventions in two of the most representative spots in the area.
That neighborhood, La Boca, was the first port for the city, because it was the only place in all Buenos Aires connected to the river. For this reason, for over a hundred years the color of the urban environment has been characterized by the use of the paint left over after painting boats and ships. Half a century ago, Quinquela Martín started a series of urban interventions in order to give La Boca a new identity, painting key spots in the neighborhood with the same colors he used in his paintings. As a result, the whole district acquired a stunning new aspect, which made La Boca famous worldwide. Finally, after years of decline and poor restorations, La Boca was sadly transformed into a display of brilliant, flashy colors with poor aesthetic value and no historical connection.
My first goal was to recover the palette of Quinquela to two emblematic areas of La Boca: the Museum of Fine Arts and Caminito, a world-famous short street where many open-air exhibitions take place. They were both originally painted by Quinquela. After his death they became severely damaged, due to years of partial and non-professional work that tried to restore the original colors used by Quinquela, although without technical support, which led to poor results.
After restoring the original Quinquela palette to those places, my second goal is to use that palette to strengthen the identity of some important urban icons of La Boca, such as Quinquela Martin square, and the sand storage silos of a traditional barging firm. I look forward to these emblematic and initial works as the first part of a master plan, aiming to revamp the urban landscape and highlight some picturesque corners of La Boca.
In order to make this possible, the palette was included in the future law to be passed by the Urban Planning Department of the Buenos Aires Government, to protect historically relevant districts. Once the law is passed, it will be possible to show people the possibilities of using color to enhance the identity, value and beauty of our city, such as the many successful interventions that have been carried out in European cities during the past twenty years.
_________________________________________________________________________
LE CORBUSIER’S COLOUR KEYBOARDS AND
THEIR REVERBERATIONS IN COMPARISON WITH LUIS BARRAGAN’S COLOUR COMBINATIONS
Verena M. SCHINDLER
Atelier Cler, Paris, France
This
presentation aims to analyse the “colour keyboards” of the 1931 and 1959 colour
collections for the wallpaper industry
Salubra SA, in Basel, in which the Swiss-born architect, painter and
theorist Le Corbusier (1887-1965) combined colours so that each “colour
keyboard” represented a colour mood. More specifically, we inquire into the
form and structure of a specific number of colour samples that were presented
by Le Corbusier.
These two colour collections will be used as
points of departure to inquire into Le Corbusier’s approach to developing
colour juxtapositions and colour combinations. One of the most important and
continuous stimuli for Le Corbusier in his development was nature. The
influence of nature is evident in his early art education in La Chaux-de-Fonds,
his engagement as a co-founder of the Parisian art movement “Purism”, and also
in his language of colour naming. As well, Le Corbusier was greatly inspired by
the notion of a correlation between structural ordering principles in Nature
and those in Art. In his second colour collection dramatic changes occurred.
These can be best understood when viewed in the context of the colour
collection’s creation. By 1959, Luis Barragan, who had been profoundly influenced
by Le Corbusier’s “white” architecture in the 1930s, was aiming to develop an
indigenous and authentic modern architecture in Mexico in keeping with his own
cultural roots there. As Le Corbusier, Barragan was searching for very specific
colours to apply in his architecture. Barragan’s buildings became icons of
twentieth century architecture because of colour combinations he applied
through simple geometric volumes.
More generally, my presentation will address
the following issues:
·
How do
Le Corbusier’s and Barragan’s theoretical inquiries into colour combination
relate to the practical application of colour combinations in interior design?
·
How
did Le Corbusier and Barragan integrate colour into processes of realising
architectural and urban design projects?
·
Are
the colour ranges of the wallpaper industry Salubra SA keyboards a kind of theoretical colour leitmotiv of
Le Corbusier?
·
Arising
in the context of Mexican culture at the beginning of the twentieth century,
how did Barragan’s colour palette differ from those of the European Le
Corbusier who was working during a similar time period?
The historical inquiry above will be considered as a bridge between
past, present, and future developments in a larger reflection addressing these
questions:
·
Why
would an enterprise’s goal today be to reproduce and sell the well-defined
colour ranges of Le Corbusier?
·
Why
wouldn’t the colours of Barragan be reproduced as well?
In
comparing the colour approaches of two significant twentieth-century architects,
the presentation aims to reflect on the general cultural significance,
expression and effects of colour in architecture.
_________________________________________________________________________
COLOUR EMOTIONS
IN LARGER AND SMALLER SCALE
Beata STAHRE,* Maud HÅRLEMAN,† and Monica BILLGER*
* Design
and Media, Architecture, Chalmers University of Technology, Göteborg, Sweden
† School of
Architecture, Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden
How does the context affect our associations towards colours? It is well
known that colour appearance can differ between a small colour chip and the
same colour applied to a real room. The impression of the colour changes
between these circumstances; e.g. on the chip it can be subdued, while it is
perceived as striking in the room. In this paper, we compare the results of a
colour chip study, Colour Emotion,1 to Hårleman’s a full-scale room
study. We will discuss the significance of scale, method and expectations.
In
the first study, 114 chips were viewed against a grey background in a viewing
cabinet. In the other study, two rooms were painted in 12 hues in two different
nuances: NCS 1010 and NCS 1030. They correspond well to the hue areas and to
two of the nuance categories used in the chip study. Semantic scaling was used
in both studies.
The
two studies show a distinct difference between words associated to colours of
the same nuance and colour category. A clear pattern could be seen. In the
room, the colours were perceived as more distinct, stronger and they arouse
much stronger emotions. Generally, a colour chip had to be much more colourful
to give comparable associations. Moreover, when seen on a chip, none of the
colours in these two nuance areas were assessed as “heavy”, which they were in
the room. “Heavy” and “light” were associated to hue in the room study; in the
colour chip study it was associated to blackness.
1. We here refer to the Swedish part of the international project Colour Emotion, which was carried out at Chalmers. The international project leader is Dr. Tetsuya Sato, KIT, Japan.
_________________________________________________________________________
FOOD FOR THOUGHT: THE USE OF COLOR IN SCULPTURE
Claudia STERN
Porto Alegre, Brazil
Claudia Stern, Brazilian sculptor, approaches the use of color in her work as an artist. Being responsible for the execution of 36 public works in many different countries, Claudia’s artistic experience exemplifies the power of art in the process of transculturation —to transmit, to exchange values between different cultures.
When examining the artist’s path through some of her public works, we see that there are changes in course: color in the representative form; color in an implicit, abstract way; color as result. Claudia poses comprehensive questions as food for thought:
·
No
longer one works with speeches but with flashes and images.
·
The
process of direct interaction creates, like this, a new relationship type with
the space and the social time.
·
Art,
as a tool, affects the emotion and helps in the translation of ethic- and
citizenship-related values.
Presentation proposal: The
presentation of Food for thought, concerning what should be regarded as
a real progress, includes examples of experiences in different communities, not
only in the process of building the public work but also in the experience
along with the Fellows III Leadership International Developing Program,
Kellogg’s Foundation. During the talk, slides, a video, or CD of the public
works will be used to illustrate the topics.
_________________________________________________________________________
COLOR IN ARCHITECTURE AND ITS RELATION TO MANKIND
Hanns-Peter STRUCK
Associação Brasileira da Cor, Porto Alegre, Brazil
Like constructions in Greece, Italian-Etruscan temples with their tulles and mosaics were colorful and attractive to the eye, as is the case today in India and Thailand.
One could discuss that through some ancient cultural periods, the attractiveness of color was muffled. Unquestionably the Gothic style also used little coloring in its interiors, but it knew how to take advantage, as in no other architectural period, of the effects of colored light itself on the surroundings. In the present day, however, we often see buildings with free-acting color effects which, however, have nothing to do with the building itself. Certainly we exclude certain individuals as Frank Lloyd Wright, Walter Gropius and Oscar Niemeyer.
Whoever deals with color in architecture and has the misfortune to deal with overlaid color without sufficient knowledge about color and its meaning and action, should at least seek the help of color specialists.
Starting from knowledge of the essence of color and its influence on human life, not by the intuition inspired in the religiousness of bygone centuries, but by conscious responsibility of self-criticism, the use of color is justified. This naturally also means considering the psychological effect of color in the discussion of its application. If we work with color it is obvious that aesthetics have to be considered also.
But along with these aspects other problems and factors arose: color became “applied, overlaid”, and had nothing to do with the work itself, and paint left natural pigments behind and began to be extracted from coal and its by-products. A discussion arose regarding the matter of how construction should be considered, and two main lines of opinion developed: formalism and functionalism. The problem involves various alternatives. Is the form a visible expression of the function? And where is man with his soul (only with his function)?
Neither
formalism or functionalism, nor psychologism —the mission that architectural
work requires of the color adviser is far easier to circumscribe. “To relate color in its influence on
thought, feeling and wanting, to the environment, and in this manner cause it
to help, provide and correct emotional and organic aspects by its
psychoaesthetic effects on the human organism.”
_________________________________________________________________________
QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS OF THAI SENSATION ON COLOUR COMBINATION
Suchitra SUEEPRASAN,* Pisut SRIMORK,* Aran HANSUEBSAI,* Tetsuya SATO,† Pontawee PUNGRASSAMEE*
* Department of Imaging and Printing Technology, Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand
† Department of Design Engineering and Management, Kyoto Institute of Technology, Japan
Colour is a phenomenon of sensation, involving three basic components: light sources, stimuli and human eyes. The eye records information without understanding, unless the brain interprets it based on previous experience such as culture, knowledge, personal preference and so on. The sensation induced by a single colour is generally different from that by a combination of colours. In everyday life, we often see various colours appearing together, rather than single colours. The use of colour combination is thus important in product design, as colour is one of the critical factors influencing customers’ satisfactory. This study aimed to investigate the sensation of two colour combinations and quantitatively define colour sensation of Thai observers using equations derived based on experimental results. The colour sensation of Thai observers was examined for 253 colour pairs generated from a set of 23 single colours selected from PCCS colour samples. Each patch had a size of 3” × 3”. The colour samples included five colour hues (red, yellow, green, blue and purple) varied in four different tones (vivid, dull, light and dark) and three achromatic samples (white, medium grey and black). Colorimetric values of the colour samples were measured in terms of lightness (L*), chroma (C*ab) and hue (hab). Colour difference (DE*ab), lightness difference (DL*), chroma difference (DC*ab) and hue difference (DH*ab) were calculated for each colour pair. The colour pairs were assessed in a standard light cabinet under D65 light sources. Observers identified colour sensation induced by each colour pair using fourteen opponent word pairs (e.g. Dark-Light, Dislike-Like, and Cool-Warm), whereby the magnitude of each sensation scale was divided into 7 categories. Thirty-four observers ranging in the age from 20-27 took part in the experiment. The experimental raw data were analysed statistically to obtain the visual score for all of fourteen sensation scales. These sensation scales were then divided into three groups with respect to chroma, lightness and hue. A three dimensional colour sensation space could therefore be constructed. The relationship of the colour sensation between colour pairs and single colours was established to derive twelve colour-combination equations. The correlation coefficient values were in the range of 0.74 to 0.86 when the visual scores from observers were compared with those values predicted from the equations. In addition, it was found that “Disharmony-Harmony” correlated with “Dislike-Like” colour sensation through the model based on the hue difference and the chroma difference.
_________________________________________________________________________
EVALUATION OF THE COLOR
IMPRESSION OF COLORED TEXTURE PATTERNS BY A
COLOR NAMING METHOD
Shoji SUNAGA and Yukio YAMASHITA
Department of Visual Communication Design, Faculty of Design, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan
Colored texture patterns consisting of multiple colors often give a single color impression of the whole pattern. We have shown so far that for two-color texture patterns made of an identical hue with different saturation, the apparent hue of the color impression was maintained. We have also discussed that the color appearance of the texture’s elements became important information in the determination of the whole color impression. In this study, we examined the color impression of colored dot textures consisting of two colors that have the same Munsell value and chroma, except for hue, by a color naming method.
We used random-dot texture patterns occupied by points of two colors with different Munsell hue and equal Munsell value (V = 5/) and chroma (C = /6). One of the two colors was chosen from 10 colors of the major hues: 5R, 5YR, 5Y, 6GY, 5G, 5BG, 5B, 5PB, 5P, 5RP. The other color was chosen from 20 hues of every 5-hue radii. The size of the textured stimuli was 4.0 × 4.0 degrees square, and that of the element dot was 4.0 minutes, which was sufficient size in order to be resolved. The stimuli were presented for 1.0 second duration on a CRT display controlled by a personal computer. The observers reported whether a single color impression was perceived as a whole in or not. Then, if a single color impression was perceived, they gave the name of the impressed color by a color naming method.
The results show that the single color impression could be perceived for the color combinations with the difference in the hue angle from about 90 to +90 degrees, and the impressed color shifted according to the hues combined with the major hue. In addition, in the case of the combination of 5GY and 5P, a single color impression of gray was obtained, even though those were complementary to each other, which suggests that the visual resolution may affect the determination of the single color impression, because 5GY and 5P of value 5/ and chroma /6 are located on an identical tritanopic confusion line.
_________________________________________________________________________
INNOVATIVE TOOL FOR COLOURIMETRIC DATA
PREDICTION OF
ORGANIC PIGMENTS
Lalchand B.
TIWARI
R&D, Pidilite Industries Limited, Vijay Silk Mill Compound, Mumbai, India
Recent
developments in colour science and technology provided suitable means to derive
information about tone, depth, saturation, etc. of the colorants in various
media. In the current study, an attempt is made to predict the colourimetric data
of organic pigments in various media for different applications like ink,
paint, plastic and textile with the aid of reflectance data of Muller draw down
in the visible region (400 nm - 700 nm). Correction factors are applied
depending upon the test procedures employed. Using various substrates like
paper, polyamide film and polyethylene terepthalate film for making draw downs,
an empirical relationship is established between the reflectance data of Muller
drawdown and ink application. With the aid of such relationship, the user can
get an idea of the colourimetric behaviour of organic pigments for a given
application directly from the Muller drawdown.
_________________________________________________________________________
INDUSTRIAL COLOUR DIFFERENCE EVALUATION - LCAM
TEXTILE DATA
Michal VIK
Department of Textile Materials, Technical
University of Liberec, Czech
Republic
This paper aims to give a brief review of
problems occurring in the development of colour-difference formulae. Most of
the problems mentioned are well known, but are often forgotten. Numerous
studies on colour-difference evaluation have been performed and
colour-difference formulae are being modified again and again towards practical
applications. The basic issue is how to make the colorimetric magnitude
represent the visual one. One of the most important aspects is the relationship
between measured colour differences and perceived scales, which is usually
assumed to be linear for practical use in industry.
The work in the area colour differences has concentrated on collecting
reliable data and developing equations that describe the perceived
colour-difference results. Newer equations have been developed based on the
CIELAB (CIELCH) colour space with application of weights to difference
components such as DL*, DC* and DH*. Weighting functions SL, SC, SH are
computed from regression analysis using linear (CIE1994) or hyperbolic models
(CMC(l:c)).
In this paper, based on the psychophysical method of paired comparison, an
experiment for testing the visual colour difference in relation to colorimetric
scales is presented to analyse the relationship between colour discrimination
threshold and supra-threshold colour-difference perception and its use in
industry. Primarily, actual colour-difference formulae CMC(l:c), DCI1995,
DIN99, CIE2000 and MV-1 are discussed.
_________________________________________________________________________
VISUAL ASSESSMENT OF UV RADIATION BY COLOUR CHANGEABLE TEXTILE SENSORS
Martina VIKOVÁ
Department of Textile Materials, Technical University of Liberec, Czech Republic
Sunburn, skin cancer,
premature aging, and suppression of the immune system are some of the harmful
effects of acute and cumulative exposure to ultraviolet radiation (UVR). A decrease
of 1% in ozone would lead to increases in solar UVR at the earth’s surface and
may eventually lead to a 2.3% increase in skin cancer. Wearing clothing, hats, and other
protective apparel during sun exposure may reduce risks associated with
overexposure. However, fabrics used in summer time apparel often provide poor
protection against solar UVR, because they are usually made from light to
medium weight fabrics.
Our contribution is not to develop new UV protective materials, but refer to the advantages of using well-known photochromic dyes or pigments for the construction of new textile-based sensors as integrated parts of summer clothes. In our study we wanted to detect not only UV radiation with sensors as indicators, but also the quantity of the UV radiation dose. We have prepared for this study a concentration scale of different UV absorbers and different photochromic dyes. We will show the comparison of sensitivity modulation of our UV textile-based sensors with measuring units (spectroradiometers) and reproducibility.
_________________________________________________________________________
Jesús ZOIDO,* Fernando CARREÑO,* and Eusebio BERNABEU†
* School of Optics, Complutense University of Madrid,
Spain
† Faculty of Physical Sciences, Complutense University
of Madrid, Spain
In this contribution a theoretical model
interpretation of the color perception process is proposed. This interpretation
is based in a general theory of the measurement process. It is assumed that any
spectral power distribution, n(l), belongs to the Hilbert space of continuous
functions over the visible spectrum, 
. This space is endowed with the natural inner product in order
to introduce a topology that allows us to generalize all the concepts of the
Euclidean geometry. The concept of orthogonality plays a major role in the
proposed model. The subspace 
spanned by the color
matching functions will be called detection
space. The subset 
containing all the
possible tristimulus values is the representation
system. The color perception process can be mathematically described by the
detection application 
. From this, the concept of metamerism can be interpreted as
an equivalence relation associated with this application. By using the previous
mathematical tools the action of the detection application can be decomposed in
two steps: discrimination and processing. The first of them is described by the
discrimination operator 
. The processing step is described by the processing application 
. Thus, the detection application can be rewritten as the
composition 
.
A matrix, T, characterizing the colorimetric behavior
of a given observer (characteristic matrix) is defined. The property of
invariance associated with the inverse matrix, T-1, suggests us that
the trichromatic equation should be expressed in the detection space, instead
to do it, as usual, in the representation system. Matrix T-1
provides a change of basis that allows us to introduce a generalization of the
trichromatic equation. The results obtained suggest a possible relation between
the concept of angle between spectral distributions and the color-difference
thresholds. This relation is analyzed.
The previous definition of the inner product will
allow us to propose a re-definition of the concepts of radiant flux and
luminous efficiency. From these definitions, we derive a clear physical
interpretation of the proposed formalism. This interpretation points out how
the visual system only processes in the last instance the more efficient spectral distributions. These distributions are
those minimizing the entropy and, in the context of the information theory,
they are associated with a minimal loss of information. It is shown how the
behavior of the visual system is that of a dissipative physical system: from an
irreversible dissipation of energy, the system tends to minimize the entropy of
the spectral distribution that is processed.
_________________________________________________________________________