Colours are very powerful and can reduce or raise stress
levels,’ believes Lilian Verner-Bonds, author of Colour Healing (pg.229).
When approaching the
tools and techniques put into practice regarding colour, we distinguish two
types of affordance in colour, two sources for making meaning with colour. First there is association, or provenance –
the question of ‘where the colour comes from’, ‘where we have seen it
before’.(van Leeuwen, pg.232-233). This
is evident in advertising or the entertainment media. The second type of affordance is that of the
‘distinctive features’ of colour. Here
we want to show some aspects of the affordances of the materiality of colour,
and hence make a connection, not with the ‘grammar’, but with phonetics and
phonology (van Leeuwen, pg. 233).
Some of the Key Features of Color could by applied to
Green’s approach to literacy as below:
Operational
Value- The scale of value is the grey scale, the scale from
maximally light (white) to maximally dark (black).
Saturation- This is the scale from the most intensely
saturated or ‘pure’ manifestations of a colour to its softest, most ‘pale’ or
‘pastel’, or dull and dark manifestations, and, ultimately, to complete
desaturation, to black and white.
Cultural
Purity- this is the scale that runs from maximum ‘purity’ to
maximum ‘hybridity’, and it has been at the heart of colour theory as it
developed over the last few centuries.
Colours with commonly used single names, such as brown and green, would
be considered pure. The names of other
colours, like cyan, are mainly used by specialists, and non-specialists would
refer to them by means of a composite name, for instance, blue-green.
Modulation- this is the scale that runs from fully modulated
colour (for example, from a blue that is richly textured with different tints
and shades, as in paintings by Cezanne) to flat colour, (as in comic strips, or
paintings by Matisse).
Critical
Differentiation- is the scale that runs from monochrome to
the use of a maximally varied palette, and its very diversity or exuberance is
one of its key semiotic affordances, as is the restraint involved in its
opposite, lack of differentiation.
Hue- this is the scale from blue to red. In a distinctive feature theory of colour it
becomes only one of the factors constituting the complex and composite meanings
of colour, and maybe not even the most important one.
(van Leeuwen, pgs.233-235)
I am so interested in
this topic as it is a major part of my professional career in fashion. Color can influence the ambiance and consumer
behavior of a retail store. For example
blue is a color
that is attractive to the majority of people, including both genders and all
age groups, so it is a good choice for many retailers. Adding some red or blue
to the color scheme will add energy to the blue. Yellow is a happy and playful color but it
can create anxiety. Red should be used in small doses in
retail businesses. It can cause aggression and anger if used in large amounts
so it’s wise to use it as an accent color to add energy, passion and
excitement.
Also check out....http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/223799
References:
Kress, Gunther & van Leeuwen, Theo (2006). Reading Images: The Grammar of Visual Design. New York: Routledge.
