For many the colour theory was something we all had learned in depth at school or within our free time but for myself, it was Sixth form that I really went into a lot of detail about how the colour theory works and what colour do and do not go together. I also looked into if the colour was the right choice for the message I was conveying within my design. Within the colour wheel, we can split these colours into the analogous and complementary collection.
The Analogous collection would contain a a group colour that are various shades of the same tone, example of this would be red and pink. This is the most used collection of colours as it mainly everywhere and gives a sense of calmness with the family of colours.
The Complementary collections of colour are not the same tones, the are a mixture within the colour wheel. This effect is to help the colours compliment each other while being very visually pleasing towards the eye. 
Our first task was to created our collection of colours under these rules and I chose the colour purple as it is a comfort colour I like to choose.
The Analogous collection.
The Complementary collection.
After experimenting with the divisions within colour, we moved on to how these exacts colours were viewed in the eye of someone who is coloured blind. With coloured blindness effecting a large amount of the population, it can come in many for forms, with many seeing now colour to other colours appearing to another. To view this we used a converter and picked a website to see how this site would look to someone who is colour blind. For my web site I chose ASOS as it is a website I would consider to be a favourite
There is a clear contrast with the orange tones within the group picture and it is interesting to see how the final outcome bas such different shades of green.
Colour in Culture
While looking into the colour theory, I started looking at colour that translates into different cultures. Studying the wheel of colour designed by Alwayswithhonour.com, it was interesting to see what colours communicate in different countries. Examples would be purple in Japan means insightful; orange in the Native American community learning and green in Africa means jealousy. It’s very intriguing of how colours have impact on how we communicate visually. I first was introduced to this form of communication in an English language class as we did the analysis of marketing companies posters. I learned what each colour represented and have still used this knowledge today.
The Interaction of colour
looking at how colour can communicate, I wanted to look at the artist Josef Albers. Joseph Albers was an artist that didn’t look to give the instructions on how to design, he focused on four key elements that most students should be aware off in the process of design. The elements were: Line, shape, colour and texture, however the element to focus on is colour. In the ‘Interaction Of Colour’ book, there is a quote that Josef Albers says, “In Visual perception a colour is almost never seen as it really is- as it physically is.” The quote is really what the book is trying to express as colour is never truly sought the way it is portrayed to be as colour can be manipulative through adding different tones. Looking through the Josef Albers website, it is there that I can grasp the context he is showing and what he truly means to convey. The website quotes, “Encouraging you to think for yourself, to think in colour.” This is a interesting statement as what does it mean to think in colour? Does it mean to manipulate your mind and deepen your look into how you see colour? The website compares that of Josef Albers work with the viral dress that everyone questioned the colour not what it could be. The dress image was a clear example of how our minds can be ‘unreliable’ when it comes to colour. Albers though wanted to expand his students limitations of colour, with his multiple exercises in colour.
Another interesting source I found on colour was the thesis on ‘The Pink and Blue Project’ made by JeongMee Yoon as it explores the colours we associate for boys and for girls. It also shows how this stereotype can live on once the child becomes older.
Jeong Mee Yoon Thesis: The Pink and Blue Project
The pink and blue project shows to the reader how we as a society put so much emphasis on the femininity of pink and the masculinity for blue. These colours still resonate with gender either that be three colours, accessories and events. JeongMee Yoon’s project into why gender is divided by colour is very fascinating due to how the colour pink was subconsciously embedded into my own childhood as well I always saw blue as a boys colour and pink as a girls colour. It is very refreshing to see a project that challenges this conception. From starting with her daughters love for pink, Jeong eye Yoon looked into the gender politics within children and this then created the 14 year project of blue and pink. Jeong Mee Yoon visually captured this over a timeline of gender focused bedrooms from childhood to teenager. The photographs showed these children involved with pink or blue one from the first glances the photos are visually pleasing as the pinks or the blues Are so consistent along of different variations of that colour. However, the more I look the more disturbing began to appear to me as the children are so consumed by this one colour and it’s all down to how promoting these goods to the children are putting these stereotypes onto these children. These colours in the photo start to be obsessive almost.
“Colour is fundamentally drilled into us.”
Jeong Mee Yoon also compared how different cultures still have the same marketing messages as these colours created an understanding to how we grew up, these associations are taught to us by marketing and our own parents; both very influencing sources. Our parents grew up with the same stereotype in that implies a colour by gender this influence would ultimately Past down to younger generations. However, with society being slowly picked apart and colour becoming more acceptable to we can now find a lot of parents being neutral with their colour choice for their child. Seeing the photos of the children during, but still seeing the resonating terms of either blue or pink in the rooms does show impact of these colours, however these colours as well impact or emotions as we decide whether we like certain things and how we can react as well. It is heavily emphasised that these colours can indicate either our masculinity or feminist, but with the more of society’s change, the more these colours will slowly dimmish from gender politics.
Links
https://www.itsnicethat.com/features/jeongmee-yoon-the-pink-and-blue-project-photography-040319
https://www.informationisbeautiful.net/visualizations/colours-in-cultures/
https://albersfoundation.org/teaching/josef-albers/interaction-of-color/publications/