Color palettes – Putting colors into context
Displaying palettes
Displaying palettes is a common challenge for every color professional. Even when the palette looks good for the eye, a seemingly random list of colors cannot help the client understand the rules and applicability. Putting the colors in context is necessary, because the human color memory is very weak and the variation between hues are commonly mistaken with an other shade of the same color. This often end up the client thinking that e.g. green is not working for them.
The traditional palette handed over to clients is on the left side, listing the colors without any context. The contextual palette we use can be seen on the right side. Our Human Centered Color System® is able to connect the dots between the color parameters and create the matching palette in context, explaining how far the shaded reach for that specific client.
One dimensional color wheels
The one-dimensional color wheel is the most common way to display colors. This wheel presents the hues in their full saturation. It does not show lightness or saturation variations. Most people are familiar with that view, and those who are not involved in the business of colors tend to view it as ‘the color system’. Regular work with colors quickly reveals that using the color wheel for harmony creation leads to parrot palettes. As it only offers the brightest colors, which are usually strongly competing for attention, the result is very noisy. For that reason, professional harmony creation requires the use of at least two dimensions (commonly hue and lightness), but preferably three dimensions (hue, lightness, and saturation) to achieve harmonious visual scenes.
The continuous color wheel on the left displays colors based on their frequency, as per the human eye’s perception. On the right, our color model (based on the Coloroid system) displays only the colors that are visually distinguishable for an average viewer, referring to them as basic hues. Hues that couldn’t be distinguished by an average viewer were eliminated from this model, resulting in a semi-continuous circle. This model makes the colors easier to manage for research and easier to comprehend for viewers.
Below are the 48 distinct colors and their codenames that make up our Human Centred Color System®:
- Basic yellow [BAYE]
- Chamomile yellow [CHYE]
- Canary yellow [CAYE]
- Mustard yellow [MUYE]
- Gold yellow [GOYE]
- Amber yellow [AMYE]
- Topaz yellow [TOYE]
- Indian orange [INOR]
- Pompei orange [POOR]
- Californian orange [CAOR]
- Rusty orange [RUOR]
- Etruscan orange [ETOR]
- Brick orange [BROR]
- Saturn orange/red [SAOR]
- Zinnober red [ZIRE]
- Basic red [BARE]
- Crimson red [CRRE]
- Turkish red [TURE]
- Scarlet red [SCRE]
- Magenta [MAGE]
- Primula purple [PRPU]
- Amethyst [AMET]
- Orchidea [ORCH]
- Basic purple [BAPU]
- Violet [VIOL]
- Victoria violet [VIVI]
- Indigo [INDI]
- Royal blue [ROBL]
- Prince blue [PRBL]
- Basic blue [BABL]
- Paris blue [PABL]
- Sea blue [SEBL]
- Sky blue [SKBL]
- Turquoise blue [TUBL]
- Turquoise green [TUGR]
- Opal green [OPGR]
- Kale green [KAGR]
- Emerald green [EMGR]
- Peacock green [PEGR]
- Pistachio green [PIGR]
- Cactus green [CAGR]
- Nile green [NIGR]
- Basic green [BAGR]
- Leaf green [LEGR]
- Poison green [POGR]
- Apple green [APGR]
- Spring green [SPGR]
- Banana green/yellow [BANA]
It’s interesting to note that the human eye can distinguish between many yellow and orange colors, hence the business of that area. While we struggle to distinguish many red and green shades. Also worth mentioning that almost 1/4 of the colors are green. The human eye is specifically receptive to green, due to our natural ancestral environment.
The primary problem with one-dimensional models is that any palette created with them would only contain full saturation colors. Any composition with more than three colors would looks like a child’s toy brand. Full saturation hues are visually intense, and the more they are used, the more noisy or irritating the composition feels. Accordingly, color wheels are commonly used as a first step in harmony creation, where the colors selected are then taken forward to create swatches of different lightness and saturation.
Two dimensional color charts
The two-dimensional color display is commonly referred to as a color swatch, and it displays either lightness or saturation variation of the principal color, aka hue. This display provides a deeper comprehension of colors, and is more suitable for creating harmonies. The two dimensions are usually hues and the lightness, as the human eyes struggle to recognise changes in saturation. The two-dimensional color display is usually well suited for color harmony creation and is commonly used to make swatches in web and graphic design.
We use charts to display color variations that are best suited for a client, both for personal brand creation or for personal styling purposes.
The swatches can be grouped as follows (based on the Coloroid system):
- Yellows (Basic yellow, Chamomile yellow, Canary yellow, Mustard yellow, Gold yellow, Amber yellow, Topaz yellow)
- Oranges (Indian orange, Pompei orange, Californian orange, Rusty orange, Etruscan orange, Brick orange, Saturn orange/red)
- Reds (Zinnober red, Basic red, Crimson red, Turkish red, Scarlet red, Magenta)
- Purples (Primula purple, Amethyst, Orchidea, Basic purple, Violet, Victoria Violet, Indigo)
- Blues (Royal blue, Prince blue, Basic blue, Paris blue, Sea blue, Sky blue, Turquoise blue)
- Turquoises (Turquoise green, Opal green, Kale green, Emerald green, Peacock green, Pistachio green, Cactus green)
- Greens (Nile green, Basic green, Leaf green, Poison green, Apple green, Spring green, Banana green/yellow)
Three dimensional color spaces
The 3D color space is what is traditionally understood as a color system. This display shows all the three parameters of colors, including hue, lightness, and saturation. Due to its quite technical nature, this display is mainly used in industrial contexts, commonly describing the mathematical measures that the color systems use. The base of our work is the Coloroid color system, which is an aesthetically uniform system that brings about harmony of hue, saturation and lightness, placing greater importance of the aesthetic evenness than on the technical equality of color differences. The Human Centered Color System® is a digitalized and optimized version of the Coloroid system, supporting its use in modern contexts and across a wide range of industries.
Our 3D color space is shown below, explaining the position and dimensions of the colors using the color Basic yellow. The model demonstrates how swatches can be created along both the axis and vertical dimension. 3D systems are rarely employed to create a personal palette, though, due to the large number of potentially matching swatches provided. The number of color options created would be unmanageable, as a result, this display is mainly intended for industrial use.
Other color spaces that commonly used in different industries: