COLOUR ATLASA field guide to seeing differently
Explore the atlas
The study of colour, in living colourVOL. 04 / RELATIONSHIPS

A little
changes
everything.

The colours stay the same. Their proportions change the conversation.

Explore the experiment
PLATE 004 / RELATIONSHIPSAn original colour study
Look closely. Then look again.ART × SCIENCE × PERCEPTIONVOLUME 04 OF 06
04 / RELATIONSHIPS

The weight of a colour.

A palette is a set of possibilities. A composition decides how much space each colour occupies, what touches what, and where the eye may travel.

Change the balance of three fixed colours. Then change the arrangement. Treat harmony as a question to explore, rather than a universal rule delivered by a colour wheel.

Experiment 004 / Your turn to look

The same three colours.
A different conversation.

Give the coral accent more room. Change the supporting field, then compare bands with a nested composition.

What the percentages mean +

The controls specify visible areas, not brightness or perceptual weight. In the nested arrangement, rectangle dimensions are calculated from the square roots of their area fractions. The colours stay fixed. No ratio here is claimed to be a universal law of harmony.

THE PRINCIPLE

Proportion is part of the palette.

A small accent and an expansive field can use the same pigment and play entirely different roles. There is no single numerical recipe for a beautiful balance.

Sources & further looking

Follow the
colour further.

The ideas behind this volume.

← All six volumesContinue to volume 05Seeing & adapting ↗