The dynamics of colour: effects of size and distance

Our experience of colour is a dynamic in which any final impression of a hue will result from the modifying effect of a whole series of variables. These include the size of a colour, its distance from the viewer, its surface quality and the conditions under which it is viewed which, in turn, will involve the quality of light and any adjacent colours in its setting. To a lesser or greater degree each variable will have an effect on the appearance of each colour or combination of colours that we place in the environment. For example, a small area of colour such as a colour chip seen on the HPS200 colour card would appear darker than the same colour seen at the scale of a building. This dynamic also operates if we compare an actual sample with the same colour seen on a building in the near distance. But when the same building is viewed in the middle-distance, the image of the hue is reduced upon the eye and the colour appears to darken as it moves away.

This effect can be seen on three images each showing Poppy Red as

• a colour sample,
• on a building in the near distance and
• the same building in the middle distance.

When seen over greater distances buildings and objects tend to become increasingly lighter and more bluish due to the increasing density of dust particles in the atmosphere - atmospheric haze.

With increasing distance the same building would appear lighter and greyer; from several miles away, the colour would turn slightly bluish. The effect of this colour-shift over distance is due to a depth cue known as atmospheric haze, a visual phenomenon first noted by Leonardo da Vinci in the fifteenth century. He correctly determined that a progressively distant colour is modified by tiny particles of dust in the atmosphere - the greater the distance, the greater the diffusion of colour. A building can often be seen from many vantage points. Therefore, when you choose colours for architecture, consider the effects of size and distance.