Soft color. How to determine the shade?

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

A wonderful gift we received from nature - to see the world in color. Each has its own colors. We divide shades into warm and cold, soft and … Are there colors that are called hard?

Color theory explains that any object that we see as a colored object has no color. And it has physical properties that allow it to reflect and absorb light. The retina of the human eye perceives reflected light waves - this is how color appears. It depends on the length of the reflected wave, on the source and strength of the light radiation, and on the individual capabilities and characteristics of perception. Therefore, one really sees 50 shades of gray, and the other only sees black and white films.

Color specifications

Without delving into physics, let's remember that there are achromatic colors: white, black and, as a transition from one extreme to another, gray. These are "off-color" colors, we will not find them in the spectrum. Chromatic colors are present in the spectrum. We all know the order of their placement, thanks to a children's rhyme about a hunter and pheasants, or, remembering what a rainbow looks like. The range of the spectrum visible to most people is small, but the combination of 7 maincolors gives an unlimited number of shades.

To describe color and shades, we use generally accepted characteristics:

1. Color tone. Base paint. Its place in the color spectrum depends on the wavelength. We can distinguish waves from 380nm to 780nm.
2. Undertone. An admixture of a different color, a pigment. It is he who determines the temperature and softness of the color.
3. Saturation. Approaching black. The more light absorption and less reflection, the richer, deeper the color.
4. Lightness. approach to white. Pale, faint, transparent colors.
5. Intensity. An admixture of gray in the undertone. Highlight pure or muted colors. Bright or soft.

Which colors are soft?

Color characteristics make it possible to structure shades.

1. Warm (yellow undertone) – cool (blue undertone).
2. Dark (saturated) - light (desaturated).
3. Soft color (muted gray) - bright color (clear).

Any color in the visible spectrum can be made soft. The degree of softness is controlled by the intensity of the gray in the subtone.

All shades are placed in the three definition systems above at the same time. One of the characteristics is the main one - the other two are additional. A light purple shade can be warm or cold, bright, clean or muted, soft. The main characteristic in it is lightness, lack of saturation. And soft pink - light or saturated (deep), cold or warm. The main thing is that itsoft color - "Ash Rose". Now let's move on to the next question.

Hard and soft colors

The antonym of the term "soft" is considered to be the definition of "hard". This is not the case with the color palette. Softness is opposed to brightness. And only subjective perception, a rich imagination and the gift of a poet can make a solid color.

Understanding all the characteristics of shades, knowing how they will manifest themselves in different lighting conditions is a mandatory competence of designers of any direction and specialization. And, if you set a task for an interior designer, saying: “I want a soft color in the bedroom,” it would be nice to understand what this means in the language of professionals.