Terminology: Understanding the World of Colors
In the world of colors, there are several essential terms you should know to work with them effectively. Most color classification systems measure colors in three main dimensions.
The first, and foundational, is hue. Generally speaking, hue describes where on the rainbow we can find a color. This ranges from red to violet on the visible spectrum. In physics, color is measured as the frequency of the wave with which a light photon vibrates (in nanometers). In an applied context, we use general terms like red, blue, green, and blue-green to imagine the hue of a given color.
The second important dimension is the intensity, or chroma, of a given color. Sometimes called color purity, intensity refers to how strong a color is. If you look at the vibrant pink of a petunia, it likely has no admixtures of white, black, or gray, meaning the color has high intensity. If we look at the sunrise early in the morning, we'll see that it contains not only many different colors but also a lot of white and gray mixed into the landscape, which leads to more moderate colors. For those interested, when more than one color interacts on the way to our eye, the color waves activate our color cones simultaneously, leading to wave interference, which reduces intensity.
The third dimension is brightness. This shows us how light or dark a given color is. At the ends of this spectrum are white and black. For examples, I'll give the bright blue of the sky, which has a large dose of white, and the deep blue of the Black Sea, which contains more black, especially in its depths.
The last term, which is quite important to us, is contrast. This is the distance between two colors along a certain dimension. The easiest example of high contrast is black and white. They are at the extreme ends of brightness. In color analysis, we are interested in how well someone can wear contrasting colors, whether in a pattern or simply a color that contrasts with their skin. This often happens when skin and hair are contrasting with each other (e.g., milky white skin and black eyes and hair).
These four dimensions help us to group and understand colors better. For color analysis, we use these terms to more easily determine the "color type" of an individual client, in order to choose their harmonious colors. Most often, we choose colors that correspond to the client's intensity, brightness, and contrast. These create a harmonious look.
We choose individual hues based on how harmoniously they interact with the client's unique skin tone. We often divide them into warm and cool, because they have a common character and similar frequency and can affect the skin in a similar way.
In the next article, we will look in more detail at how a consultation proceeds.
To discover your colors in Sofia or online, contact me, and I'll be happy to help you discover your unique characteristics and which colors will bring out your radiance.
