In his article, Munsell proposed a spherical system to notate colors
on three dimensions – hue, value and chroma. He draws a lot of similarities
between the musical scale and his system, which classifies color accordingly to
hue (5 colors), chroma (1 to 10) and value (1 to 10).
A color system such as the one proposed could be a very
useful tool in the design process.
By using a systematic way to describe color, the information can be
communicated clearly and interpreted accurately during the design and production
process. The systematic classification of color is also a very useful reference
guide to color selection, especially when you are looking for the different
variations of a hue.
However, while I agree that using a system such as the one
proposed would be useful in the communication and apprehension of color, I
believe that such a mathematical system disregard that the perception of color
is highly influenced by the viewer’s emotional, cultural, and cognitive
preconceptions. Color carries a
lot more information then just the hue, value and chroma, and isolating the
colors from these attachments would remove the social and personal context to
fully appreciate a color and would limit the imagination and creatively of a
designer.
There are also some potential limitations to the application
of the color system proposed. Firstly, the range of colors is actually
infinite, so although the classification system will help in describing the
quality of the colors, it will not be sufficient to notate all the color
variations. Secondly, the suggestion that we can use the standard intervals to
determine the triads or combinations that would result in harmony is a good
guideline, but combining colors is a lot more complex than combining musical
notes, and depends on many other factors such as the arrangement of colors in a
space, the lighting, and the surrounding environment.
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