Sarah Brown
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Introduction
People are surrounded by color every day and often do not give it much thought beyond the color wheel. With 12 main hues, or color families, that lie perfectly spaced in an organized circular form, the color wheel introduces the concept of color harmony. For example, hues that are opposite from one another on the color wheel are “complementary,” and three evenly separated hues (such as red, blue, and yellow) create a “triadic” harmony. However, colors have properties besides hue alone, including color value (how dark or light a color is) and color chroma (more commonly known as saturation, or the intensity of the color). Color scholar Albert Munsell theorized those three properties as multidimensional spirals that spin through all colors as a three-dimensional color solid, or color model.1 By doing so, Munsell created color harmonies that no one had seen before. Focused on hue, value, and chroma working together, I similarly visualized previously unexplored color harmonies by creating a computer program that generates palettes using formulas that model those spirals inside Munsell’s three-dimensional color solid. These color solids essentially become multidimensional systems used to organize color by its properties. |
MUNSELL CREATED COLOR HARMONIES THAT NO ONE HAD SEEN BEFORE |
Materials and Methods
Creating a computer program to generate palettes in that way requires a source of information to calculate which colors go into the palette from Munsell’s color solid. Computers already calculate colors through certain sets of properties, but do not use Munsell’s hue, value, and chroma. A bridge is required between the way a computer interprets color and the way Munsell does. Algorithms for the paths of the spirals then determine the values used in each swatch, with user inputs to guide them. Finally, some code is needed to generate the final image. Using the programming language Python, the program first refers to a database (found on Wallkill Color’s website) of Munsell color values to provide a source to the swatches in his color solid. That database contains nearly 2,400 colors organized by Munsell’s color properties and includes color values a computer can use to generate them visually.2 A few user inputs guide the creation of the spiral, such as altering the size of the palette and how many loops the spiral contains. The program spaces each swatch by distributing it evenly along the path of the spiral by each of the three dimensions in Munsell’s color solid. The swatches are then composed into a straight line with a Munsell color notation beneath each one (Figure 1). The format for those notations is hue value/chroma.
Creating a computer program to generate palettes in that way requires a source of information to calculate which colors go into the palette from Munsell’s color solid. Computers already calculate colors through certain sets of properties, but do not use Munsell’s hue, value, and chroma. A bridge is required between the way a computer interprets color and the way Munsell does. Algorithms for the paths of the spirals then determine the values used in each swatch, with user inputs to guide them. Finally, some code is needed to generate the final image. Using the programming language Python, the program first refers to a database (found on Wallkill Color’s website) of Munsell color values to provide a source to the swatches in his color solid. That database contains nearly 2,400 colors organized by Munsell’s color properties and includes color values a computer can use to generate them visually.2 A few user inputs guide the creation of the spiral, such as altering the size of the palette and how many loops the spiral contains. The program spaces each swatch by distributing it evenly along the path of the spiral by each of the three dimensions in Munsell’s color solid. The swatches are then composed into a straight line with a Munsell color notation beneath each one (Figure 1). The format for those notations is hue value/chroma.
FIGURE 1. Examples of the two-dimensional spiral palettes
FIGURE 2. Examples of the three-dimensional spiral palettes
FIGURE 3. Examples of the conical spiral palettes
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Munsell envisioned three spirals to create those color harmonies: the two-dimensional spiral, the three-dimensional spiral, and the conical spiral. In Munsell’s color solid, height corresponds to value, distance from the center (or radius) to chroma, and angle from the center to hue. In my program, the user can select the number of swatches desired in a palette for any of the spirals, each boasting its own variables, or sometimes user-defined constants that more directly affect the math that creates the palette itself.
For example, the two-dimensional spiral lies horizontally across the Munsell color solid, which causes all its swatches to be the same value (Figure 1). Starting from the middle, it increases in chroma while hues vary as they are selected along the spiral itself. This spiral’s constants are angular frequency (how many revolutions the spiral makes) and height (which corresponds to value in Munsell’s color system). The three-dimensional spiral twists upward through the Munsell color solid (Figure 2). Because it maintains a constant radius, its chroma remains the same while value increases from bottom to top and hues vary as they are selected along the spiral itself. Its constants are angular frequency and radius (which determine the chroma for the spiral). Similarly, the conical spiral also twists upward through the Munsell color solid (Figure 3). Its sole constant is angular frequency; both the radius and height change, causing both its value and its chroma to rise as it spins in a tornado-like fashion. |
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Results
My computer program allows a user to visualize thousands of new color harmonies. But after looking more closely at the resulting palettes, patterns began to emerge. When I divided the number of swatches by the number of loops in a spiral, the resulting number can be interpreted to depict the type of color pattern that will emerge in the palette. If the resulting number is a whole number, the user can find preexisting color harmonies. |
FIGURE 4. Example of palettes showing hues alternating while simultaneously changing regardless of spiral type
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If the resulting number is not a whole number, the user will experience a more dynamic pattern with alternating, yet simultaneously changing, hues (Figure 4). For instance, one color incrementally becoming another, alongside an opposite color doing the exact same thing. Instead of red, green, red, green, you have red, green, red-orange, green-blue, and so on. Because more fractions exist than whole numbers, the number of varied palettes my computer program can create is significant. Also, my computer program interprets how hues spin along a continuous spiral path when selected evenly by their angle, arguably a sophisticated way to visualize those palettes.
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Discussion
Whether or not a particular combination of colors is visually appealing is subjective, but this computer program offers a new perspective on how value and chroma can tie a palette together. Some colors in palettes that my program generated would not necessarily belong together in regular color harmonies (an artist doesn’t typically want the entire color wheel on the same palette). Yet, in the 2-D and 3-D spiral palettes from my program, the entire palette is tied together by the consistency of either the value or the chroma. In the conical spiral, the consistent increasing of both ties the palette together. That is harmonizing on new dimensions of color. |
MY COMPUTER PROGRAM ALLOWS A USER TO VISUALIZE THOUSANDS OF NEW COLOR HARMONIES. |
Thus far, I’ve received positive feedback from my peers on the visual appearance of those palettes, as well as from my color theory professor. One classmate has even asked to use one of the palettes for a class project. Significantly, the palette he chose was one fitting the example above, with 15 swatches and 7 loops, the two simultaneously changing hues. As an artist, he didn’t choose a palette that matched one of the better-known color harmonies he found visual beauty in this new pattern. That could mean that the color harmonies Munsell envisioned through this program have even more harmonies hiding within them. It could be something new to unveil in color theory and the creation of art itself.
This project is significant because it is a previously unexplored leap of thinking from our universally accepted one-dimensional color harmonies. It urges artists to consider balancing and using math and patterns in more than just their colors’ hues to truly get the most from all the dimensions in which color comes. The approach could even have a use in data visualization or graphic design, in which visually balancing colors in precise ways is important. In film, the progressive nature of the palettes could lend a hand to the progressive nature of plots as a color scheme. And who says the swatches need to be selected evenly apart from one another along the spiral? The golden ratio (a special number in the world of art composition) could be used to pick swatches along the spiral in a pattern instead of evenly selecting them. The possibilities are endless. Soon, I intend to create a website available to people interested in creating their own spiral palettes, to satiate any other curious minds.
This project is significant because it is a previously unexplored leap of thinking from our universally accepted one-dimensional color harmonies. It urges artists to consider balancing and using math and patterns in more than just their colors’ hues to truly get the most from all the dimensions in which color comes. The approach could even have a use in data visualization or graphic design, in which visually balancing colors in precise ways is important. In film, the progressive nature of the palettes could lend a hand to the progressive nature of plots as a color scheme. And who says the swatches need to be selected evenly apart from one another along the spiral? The golden ratio (a special number in the world of art composition) could be used to pick swatches along the spiral in a pattern instead of evenly selecting them. The possibilities are endless. Soon, I intend to create a website available to people interested in creating their own spiral palettes, to satiate any other curious minds.
Acknowledgements
I thank Prof. Laurie Lisonbee for her unwavering guidance and support as I pursued this project. I also thank the owner of Wallkill Color, whose free database of Munsell swatches I used in my program, as well as Anthony Hoagland, who debugged a line of code and guided me on how to approach the formulas for the spirals early in the program’s development.
I thank Prof. Laurie Lisonbee for her unwavering guidance and support as I pursued this project. I also thank the owner of Wallkill Color, whose free database of Munsell swatches I used in my program, as well as Anthony Hoagland, who debugged a line of code and guided me on how to approach the formulas for the spirals early in the program’s development.
Sarah Brown '18Sarah Brown is a senior visualization major from Fort Hood, Texas, with a passion for visual media. Brown’s research was inspired by color theorist Albert Munsell and the absence of resources highlighting Munsell’s work. Brown hopes to combine her interests in art theory and computer science to create visual narratives.
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References
1. Long, James Thomas. 2015. The New Munsell Student Color Set. 4th ed. New York, NY: Fairchild Books. 2. Van Aken, Harold. 2006. “Munsell.” WallkillColor.com. http://wallkillcolor.com/. Accessed October 1, 2016. 
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