Colour Studies: Clarification and Alpha-Numeric Adaptation of Notation Systems for Artists and Designers

Abstract

Colour studies have generated much confusion in art and design education, particularly among students of the discipline in Nigeria. This is due to the complexity of the subject matter itself, wide-range of available materials and a variety of concepts developed in its multi-disciplinarity that is not kept distinct. Therefore, this paper utilizes a qualitative approach that employs the critical, historical, and analytic examination to provide clarification on the constructive and expressive aspects of colour studies. The paper introduces the reader to the pivotal role of colour and its multi-disciplinary interest. Also, it adequately clarifies paradigms and theories in the physical, psychophysical and psychological domains with particular emphasis on areas of practical value to art and design. Moreover, it considers the numeric adaptation of the colour wheel to a set of numbers for harmonic relationship. And it ends with the need for artists and designers to comprehensively grasp the contextual behaviour of colour and develop colour originality through creative construction and effective use in order to successfully express themselves in colour.