Colour is most versatile and visible element of design; refers to an experience that is attained as a result of two phenomena- physical and physiological. It begins with physical phenomenon that occurs when a surface absorb or reflect light selectively from the incident light rays and completes with the physiological phenomenon which occurs on stimulation of brain receptors by the reflected light rays.
Physiologically colour experience depends on an array of vibrations resulting from visual perception and mental interpretation of wavelengths that reach the eye. As such it is the concern of the physiologist, who studies the body’s physical reaction to light stimulus, and of the psychologist, who studies emotional and psychological reactions. The clothing designer must control the external colour stimulus to elicit the desired internal response.
The study of colour may be approached from any one of five angles:
Physiologist: concerned with the way in which the eye receives the sensation of colour.
Chemist: studies the chemical properties of the natural and the artificial colouring materials used for the manufacture of dyes and paints.
Physicist: deals with the wavelengths of colour and its intensities.
Psychologist: how a person is affected by the colours and how colours are affected by one another.
The person who works with pigments: those who mix paints and dyes, find that mixtures of coloured pigment behave differently from mixtures of coloured light.
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