The course is explorative in nature and teaches the fundamentals of colour, relationship between colour and form, colour interactions, colour composition etc. The course is taught within the Design framework.

The topics covered under this course are outlined below:
• Colour Manipulation
• Colour Wheel
• Colour Contrast
• Colour Space
• Relationship between Colour and Culture
• The Psychology of Colour
• Colour Effects
• Colour Harmony

The course involves lectures, suggested reading, exercises and few small applied research assignments. The students will learn how to use colour and form in the context of design.

Colour Basic:
• The colour imparted by an object is produced by the mixture of wavelengths reflected from the surface.
• The perception of the colour of an object is dependent upon various factors as illumination, media, techniques, quantity, relationship to other colours present, memory and culture.

Colour Mixing and Colour Wheels:
Colour mixing happens according to three different systems:
• Subtractive colour is the process of mixing pigments together as is seen in paintings.
• Additive colour is the process of mixing coloured light as in theatrical lighting or television.
• The partitive colour system is based on the viewer’s reaction to colours when they are placed next to each other. Normally colours are seen in relation to other colours rather than in isolation.

Colour wheels are arrangements or structures that enable the viewer/perceiver to organize and predict colour reactions and interactions. Specific colour wheel choice depends on the effects of colour and imagery desired in the art medium employed. The painter uses both the subtractive and partitive wheels. The photographer uses the additive and partitive wheels.

Types:
• Pigment Wheel:
The mixing or pigment wheel is the basis for working with subtractive colour; it imparts information about the reactions colours have when they are actually mixed. In this system the primary colours are red, yellow, and blue, which are used in combination to form the oter hues.

• Process Wheel:
The process wheel provides us with three basic primaries- yellow, magenta, and cyan and when these are mixed purer hues are created.

• Partitive Colour System:
The partitive colour system (known as Munshell wheel) is based on five primary hues or as they are known as five principal colours - yellow, red, green, blue, and purple.

• Light Wheel:
The light wheel system is based on the additive colour system and provides information concerning light rays and transparent colour. In this system the primary colours are red, green, and blue. Other hues are created by combining the primary colours which are basically coloured light.

Hue:
The most important dimension of colour is hue. Hue is simply the kind or name of a colour. A hue without any white, black, gray, or any complementary colour in it is termed a pure hue. The hue name is the term used to describe a particular wavelength. A broken hue, or a broken colour, is a combination of unequal proportions of all the primary colours. Primary, secondary, and tertiary hues create different visual reactions when used. The primary hues attract the eyes; they are the most stable; most easily recognizable; and they offer the greatest contrast. Secondary hues are less stable than primary hues and are compatible with other colours. Tertiary colours are the least stable of the hues and they impart the least contrast. Hue dominance imparts tonality.

Value:
Value refers to the lightness or darkness of a hue. Value creates space, turns shape into form, and delineates objects. Value clarifies space and form through shading, creating pattern and texture, imparting emotion, and giving definition and emphasis. Different values create contrast.  A composition of few hues but with a wide range of values is always visually appealing.

Intensity:
Intensity, also known as saturation, defines the degree of purity of a hue, or, termed differently, how bright or how dull a hue is. All pure hues are fully saturated. Pure hues are the brightest possible. Intensity affects spatial feelings.

Temperature:
Temperature refers to the warmth or coolness of a colour/ hue. Warm hues are those hues related to red and cool hues are those which are related to blue. A colour or hue’s temperature changes depending on the warmth or coolness of the adjacent hues and colours.  The addition of black will warm a hue, white will cool a hue, and the addition of the hue’s complementary will reverse the temperature.