My Colour Theory

Don't worry—this blog won't be a Cole's Notes version of colour theory. Instead, it will be a moment to explain how my unique training utilizes colour theory differently across many mediums. By combining these lessons, I have gained an understanding of how colour is leveraged to create and achieve various outcomes in art, advertising, and media.

Basic Colour Wheel

At the beginning of my schooling, we learned about colour theory and what colour is. With Advanced Art training, we learn the colour wheel quite early on. During my collective education across multiple artistic fields, I merged the colour theories of Hairdressing, Makeup Artistry, Graphic Design, Advanced Art, and Art History. This got me thinking about colour in many different ways.

Complementary Colour Selections

The terms used to describe colour were similar in some ways and very different in others. How we used these terms was closely aligned, but executed differently. In the art world, we use the term complementary colour to describe colours that are opposites on the colour wheel. In visual art and design, we use these opposites to stand out next to each other and play off each other. They create a vibration effect for the brain. Colours appear more vibrant when their opposites are placed directly next to one another. In the beauty industry, we use these opposites to neutralize harsh and unwanted colours and shapes. Let's use makeup as an example. When we want to hide blemishes on the skin, we use complementary colours on top of the area we want to hide or mask. It's funny how, through a different lens of WHY colours work with or against each other, we create eye-pleasing effects with two very different strategies. One gives you a vibrating eye dance that tickles your brain and catches your attention. The other subdues and neutralizes unwanted colours and shapes that we don't want you to notice.

Combining these different schools of thought has allowed me to see colour and the blending of colours in ways that many would not. Because of my collective experiences with using colour, I am better equipped to assess where and when to use colours for desired effects and how to create colour pallets for customized, eye-catching brand kits.

An AI-suggested colour palette versus my custom selection has caused many discussions in meetings surrounding colour. In one instance in particular, John (my husband and business partner), equipped with his Tech skills, took me on about how to create a unique AI-generated colour palette. He then researched articles from all over the internet and plugged that information into an AI-generated system to produce an AI version of a palette. Long story short, my palette was much more appealing than the AI one. (Yes, colour can be subjective, and not everyone will see colour the same way. Remember the infamous internet dress from the early 2000s) This proves that sometimes, theory falls short when we try to apply a formulaic code of numbers and letters to colour theory. My takeaway from this experiment was that humans are still smarter than machines where art is concerned.

The first image above shows the AI-generated colour selections; the second is my custom colour selections. They are both built off the same base colour.

Melle