Visually Perceptive

In a previous post I talked about colour and the pitfalls associated with consistency and the various ways colours are viewed. 

Another area that often causes confusion is how colour and tone is perceived when viewed in different environments.

Most creatives have had the ‘perception’ conversation and it usually goes like this:

‘Are you sure it’s the approved colour?’ , ‘is that graphic darker than normal’, or ‘Is this the same as the rest of the document?’

The rules are fairly simple. Most colours will look darker on white than they will on black. It’s simply the perception of that colour in a specific environment.

The other area that can mislead is how other colours can ‘warm’ or ‘cool’ the feel of the image simply by their proximity to the thing being viewed.

It can be difficult to explain but is easy to show with some simple examples. Allow me to illustrate:

Photography is also an area where, what looks fine as an overall image can change completely in different scenarios. For example, if the subject is 'cut-out' to place on a plain background or added to a montage the whole feel of the image can change. Think of how dark that packshot looked when cut out and put on a white background. It is only when the image is viewed 'out of context' you'll start to see how dark (or light) the shadows appear or how colour cast the skin tones really were. It's never as simple as 'just cutting out' and needs to be planned and executed properly. (Perhaps I'll cover this with some examples in a future post). For now please enjoy the examples above!