Color Properties

150 Col or a n d L i gh t
Harald Küppers (1928– ) recognized that the additive and subtractive mixtures of light did not apply to paint or
opaque pigments and came up with a new law of mixtures called the “integrated mixture.” In his book Color:
Origin, Systems, Uses, published in 1972, Küppers identifies eight “integrated” primary colors: white, yellow,
magenta, cyan, blue, green, red, and black. He feels that these are “pure” colors and cannot be produced by any
other colors. His complete color system will be discussed later.
Color Properties
To describe a color with reasonable accuracy, three basic properties have been designated to identify the dimen-
sions, or qualities, of color: hue, the name of a color; value, the lightness or darkness of a color; and intensity, or
chroma, the degree of purity or strength of a color.
Hue
Hue is one of the primary properties of a color, its name, such as red, blue, or yellow, which is given to each color
to distinguish it from the other colors. It refers to the color in its purest form—that is, with no blacks or whites
added. The color (hue) is the function of light wavelengths as discernible by the human eye. For example, the color
red generally lies within the light wavelengths of 630–748 nanometers (nm). Green would be found within 520–
570 nm. See Figure 5.12 for all the visible colors and their related wavelengths.
Value
Value designates the darkness or lightness of a color. Figure 5.13 shows the values between black and white, that
is, all the gray values in between. This gray scale of values can be broken down into perhaps more than 100 grada-
tions. However, in most color systems, the gray scale is usually expressed in approximately nine steps, often called
the achromatic scale. This means it is free of any color, consisting of only black and white.
Values can be expressed by shades, tints, and tones (Figure 5.14). Shades are produced by the addition of black to
a color, which will darken the hue; tints are determined by how much white is added to a hue, which lightens the
color; and tones are produced by adding gray to a hue.
Chroma
The chroma of a color is the purity, saturation, or amount of pigment it exhibits. Colors that exhibit a high degree
of chroma are those that are not grayed, but rather are at their ultimate degree of vividness and seem more in-
tense. Adding black or white to a color can lower its intensity, or vividness, making it more muted and closer to
gray (Figure 5.15). Adding a complementary color can also lower the saturation of a color.
Color Systems
As Sir Isaac Newton continued his experiments with light and the color spectrum, he recognized that a relationship
formed between each color and its adjacent color. By joining the end colors, red and violet, to form a circle, he
found that the bands of color flowed together in a continuous spectrum. From these early experiments, the color
circle, or color wheel, was developed and further refined into color systems. Several color systems have evolved
since Newton’s early experiments, each one based on a different group of basic, or primary, colors. We will look
at some of the most commonly used systems.
12-Part Color System

The most familiar and simplest color system is based on the work of Johannes Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832).
His color circle (Figure 5.16) was made up of the three primary colors of red, yellow, and blue and the three sec-
ondary colors of orange, green, and purple. Goethe’s theory was expanded to the common 12-part color wheel
(Figure 5.17), often credited to Herbert E. Ives, David Brewster, and Louis Prang. It is often referred to as the RYB
color system or the “standard color wheel.” This system is based on paint-color mixing properties and the belief
that the three primary colors cannot be mixed from other colors or be broken down into component pigments.
RED ORANGE YELLOW GREEN BLUE INDIGO VIOLET
Figure 5.12 Colors of the visible light R O Y G B I V

spectrum as arranged from the lowest to the
highest energy. The order can be remembered 700 nm 650 nm 600 nm 550 nm 500 nm 450 nm 400 nm
using the mnemonic name “ROY G. BIV.” APPROXIMATE WAVELENGTH

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150 Col or a n d L i gh t

12-Part Color System

RED ORANGE YELLOW GREEN BLUE INDIGO VIOLET

Figure 5.12 Colors of the visible light R O Y G B I V

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