Saturation

Saturation can be defined as being the intensity and the chroma of a colour, which refers to the dominance of a hue in a colour where on the outer edge of the colour wheel the hue can be considered to be more pure. White, black and grey are used to reduce the colour's intensity and saturation. 

As one goes to the centre of the colour wheel the hue of the selected colour is less dominant meaning that the colours directly on the central axis are considered to be desaturated.

Now the image below shows the opposite of the image above, the fact that the outer colours of the colour wheel have more saturation.

Colour Values and Hues

Hues are basically the different colours which have a different wavelengths. Few examples of hues can be Blue, orange, green and red.

The value of the colours indicates how bright a colour is. meaning that the higher the value the brighter the colour is or the more light it displays. For example if one were to take a bright yellow it would have a higher value, whereas the darker the colour the lower its colour value is.

Tints, Tones and Shades

Tints, tones and shades are basically different 'shades' of a pure colour. A tint is achieved by adding white to the selected pure colour, shade is when black is added to the colour and tone is when grey is added to the colour.

this meaning that a tint is lighter than the original colour, shade is darker than the original colour and a tone is softer than the original colour.

Print Vs Screen

When a user decides whether they are designing something which is going to remain on screen or is going to be printed, they have to take into consideration every possible factor which can range from the types of media, the audience targeted, the colours that are to be used, the layout desired and the technology that is going to be used.

There are various types of media:

• magazines
• product packaging
• business cards
• logos
• HTML websites
• animations\

The types of media that i mentioned above are all different media in which the designer can transmit his or her audience the desired message.

It is important that the designer keeps in mind the targeted audience that is going to see this design, if elderly people are targeted it would be a grave mistake not to create the design to be printed.

The content has to be interesting enough to entice the viewer to stay on the page or to look at the design.

In print everything has to be taken into consideration as the design can be used for various uses. Make sure that the design is not clustered and gets the desired space. Also, the designer must make sure to have bleed when creating the design to ensure a good outcome.

On the other hand for screen, the designer hast to make sure that the 'app' or advert would look good on various screen sizes, as now a days there are a lot of variations from one screen to another. 

The colour is also affected as print uses CMYK and screen uses RGB. Screen can also deceive the user on the desired outcome therefore it is always important to request a print preview so that the designer would know more or less how the outcome is going to be.

Obviously it always depends on what the company is trying to pursue for their product and for their adverts.

International Color Consortium better known as ICC Profiles

ICC profiles are used to describe colour whether if its light, dark, its range and even the distribution level of the colour itself. The International Color Consortium or better yet the ICC is used to analyse distinct colours in digital media. Basically the ICC creates the correct colours of inputted images either from cameras or scanners in order to present the image on a monitor or for print.

There are two fundamental types which are the input and the destination output, which originally consist of data which can be related to the devices co-ordinates that is the standardized colour space defined by the ICC.

Colour Depth

Colour depth refers to the number of bits per pixels a computer monitor can display to represent a specific colour. The more bits per pixel, the more colours can be displayed by the monitor, thus meaning that the higher the bit per pixel the better quality the monitor has.

The first graphic cards only supported 1-bit colour which means that the colour was monochrome. But now a days due to our technological advancements computers can store at least 32-bits of colour which displays about 16 million colours

Down below I am going to show the difference between;  24 bpp, 16 bpp, 12 bpp, 10bpp, and 8 bpp.
(bpp- Bits per pixel)

24 Bits Per Pixel - it is the most clear out of all

16 Bits per Pixel - as one can see there is a  minimal change from the 24 Bpp

12 Bits per Pixel - the change is now more visible from the 16bpp

10 Bits Per Pixel - The change is now becoming more visible, the lower the bits per pixel is.

8 Bits Per Pixel - now the change is clearly evident from the other BPP's as there are now less colours which are being used when 8 bpp are being used.

Printing types

There are various printing types, and each print is used for a specific purpose. If one were to use any type of printing on a product, they would most probably be disappointed in the final result as what one sees on screen it is not always what one gets.

The main reason why we don't always get the desired result when we print is because the human eye is capable to detect millions of colours, but the computer monitor is only able to display selected colours.

The CMYK colour model is used in offset printing, which uses individual plates for each colour; cyan, magenta, yellow and black. The four plates are aligned with great precision to create the final product.

The pantone colour model can also be used, so that the product would be the same colour universally. For example the HSBC logo has the same red world wide, these generally follow the brand guidelines in order to be the same.

Offset Printing

Offset printing is one of the mist common type of printing, it can either be sheet-fed or be web offsets.The difference between the two is that sheet-fed is fed individual paper, whereas web offsets have a continuous roll of paper, which is fed through the printing press.

In offset printing the design is transferred from  a printing plate to a rubber blanket. The image is crated with use of water and oil, where there is the oil the image is supposed to be there,

Sheet-fed offset printing is generally used for small, medium or high works.

Gravure Printing Method

In this type of printing cylinders are used to produce the print, In order for the print to be made, one need a cylinder for every colour; cyan, magenta, yellow and black. Each cylinder is etched so that it can collect ink to be transferred on to paper. The gravure printing method has one of the highest quality of printing.

Flexo Printing Method

Flexography is generally used for the printing of packaging materials, it is used for corrugated containers, folding cartons, multi-wall sacks, plastic bags, milk and beverage cartons etc...

A typical flexo printing machine  is similar to a Gravure printing machine as it uses cylinders for each colour.

Vector vs Raster

The main difference between raster and vector is that a raster image is made up of pixels, whereas vectors are made up of mathematical calculations, meaning that it creates geometric shapes. Thus meaning that when a raster image is zoomed in, one is able to see each individual pixel of the image. On the other hand if one where to zoom in on a vector image it would still be visible and consist of smooth lines.

The pros and cons of a vector images:

Pros

• The images can be scaled indefinitely, as the image is never going to lose its quality.
• The file size is going to be smaller as a vector files only needs 4 points to create a square.

Cons

• Detail is limited, as it is not efficient enough for complex images that need exact colours. Basic gradients are possible, but its very difficult to include the detail a raster image would have.
• Effects are limited, as vectors are created from simple points and lines.

Moreover the pros and cons of a raster image are the following:

 

Pros

• Detail is unlimited, as a raster image is able to comprehend various effects, such as blurring and drop shadows.
• Detail is also unlimited as each pixel is able to have its own gradient, meaning that it can leave open endless gradients and hues.

Cons

• once an image is zoomed in it loses all of its sharpness, as a  raster image would try to guess the missing pixels.
• it takes a lot more data, as each pixel has an individual colour. Eg. if someone where to create a square, it would need 300 individual pixels of colour

Pantones

The Pantone system is a regulated colour system, by using the Pantone colour system to identify colours. By standardizing colour one can have the desired colour even though the user would go to different printers, as the colour would match through the Pantone numbering system.

For example if one where to take turquoise where its number is 15-5519 it would be the same colour, around the world.

The Pantone solid colour palette is made up of 1,114 colours, each of which are identified by three or four digit numbers followed by a suffix  which is either C, U or M. The three suffixed refer to the type of paper the Pantone is on

• M = Matte paper
• C = Coated paper
• U = Uncoated paper

The Pantone colour system was created to help out printers and designers, so that they would have control on printing projects. The Pantone colour system is sometimes called as 'PMS' (Pantone Matching System) or 'spot colours' it is widely used in print graphics and publishing industry.

A typical Pantone colour swatch can be seen in the picture below, as one swatch contains various hues of one colour range included with the colour a Hex number (so that the colour can be viewed digitally) is provided as well as the Pantone colour itself.

RGB Vs.CMYK

The RGB colour mode is made up of red green and blue, these colours added together to create a great cluster of colours. The name of the model itself comes from the initials of the colours,

The main purpose of the RGB colour model is that it is used in electronic equipment such as laptops and computers. RGB and CMYK are both used to create colour, the difference between the two is that RGB is an additive colour model meaning that the colour system is created light whereas CMYK is subtractive meaning that the colour is reflected light.

RGB colour model is generally used in devices which project light and anything that has to do with web (Since CMYK is used only in printing). The picture below shows what happens when the 3 colours are mixed together: Magenta, Yellow and Cyan are created, with white final created colour, since RGB colours are additive colours.

If one where to invert the colours to, magenta, yellow and cyan one would get the RGB colours with black in the center of it, instead of white. This happens because CMYK colours absorb light.

This means that if a piece is going to be printed it should be in CMYK since it's usually the standard and it is also the best option, but if something is going to remain digital it's best to keep it in RGB since it would look better on web and LCD screens,

References:
http://graphicdesign.stackexchange.com/questions/60/what-is-the-difference-between-cmyk-and-rgb-are-there-other-color-spaces-i-shou
http://cruxcreative.com/rgb-vs-cmyk-when-to-use-which-and-why/
http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/RGB-red-green-and-blue
http://www.printernational.org/rgb-versus-cmyk.php

The Colour Psychlogy

Colours have a huge impact on our lives, which is why each colour agitates the human senses. These senses could be less noticeable as these could affect our taste in food, colours could also be responsible as if these were a placebo. As the colours affect the human psychology thus helping the persons process. Generally red and orange pills are used as stimulants.

The positive connotations associated with the colour red are those of love, energy, power, strength, passion and heat. But the colour red can have negative connotations such as danger, hate and it also give a warning.

   

On the other hand yellow is associated with happiness, joy, energy and intellect. Yellow is supposed to bring joy to people as it generates a warming effect along with cheerfulness, yellow is also supposed to generate mental activity along with muscle energy. Thus meaning that yellow is generally used to elicit happiness to the surrounding

people.

Orange is supposed to connect together the colour psychology of yellow and red, meaning that it includes the energy of red and the cheerfulness of yellow. Orange is generally associated with tropical locations, meaning that sunshine is also con-notates to the colour orange. Creativity, determination and success are also associated with the colour orange.

Green obviously is associated with nature, growth and harmony. Green can be considered as a conflicting colour against red, as green also symbolizes safety which is why we see green with safety adverts. Green is also the most tranquil colour for the human eye.

On the other hand blue is also associated with natural features, as it is associated with the sky and the sea. blue supposedly slows down humans metabolism as it is a harmonious colour. Blue is also associated with loyalty, wisdom, trust, intelligence, faith, and truth.

Purple is generally associated with royalty, it is also a combination of red and blue. As purple enhances the characteristics of blue such as stability and it also enhances the energy red gives. Purple symbolizes power, nobility, luxury, and also ambition.

White symbolizes purity, innocence, goodness and virginity. It is also treated to be the colour of perfection. White generally means safety, purity and sanitation. Opposing the colour black, with he is generally associated with alacrity, meaning something positive. 

The colour black on the other hand is associated with power, elegance, death, evil, mystery and formality. Black is mainly associated with fear, as it brings fear to the unknown. Black usually shows authority, the classical suit and tie attire, shows some form of power, as well as agony.

Most of the products around us have some sort of colour associated with it, as shown in the below picture many companies to have a psychological impact on their consumers and users. This this shoes the power colour has on us humans as we generally decide what to do depending on colour.

Reference :  http://www.color-wheel-pro.com/color-meaning.html  

The Colour Wheel

The colour wheel is made up of various colours, in the middle, one can find the 3 primary colours; red, blue and yellow, these 3 colours are the only ones that cannot be created by mixing other colours together, therefore we call them the primary colours.

Through the primary colours one is able to create the other colours in the spectrum, thus creating the secondary colours.

In the colour wheel below one can see that there are more colours available, these are called the tertiary colours which are created by mixing the primary colours with the secondary colours.

The opposite colours in the colour wheel are in fact complementary colours, meaning that these colours contrast each other making them more aesthetically pleasing.

Analogous colours on the three colours which are represented next to each other, where one colour more dominant over the other two colours. 

The colour wheel can also be split up in warm and cool colours meaning that the warmer colours have a tendency to remind us of heat, such as red, orange and yellow whereas the cooler colours have a tendency to remind us of cooler environments such as purple, blue and green.