In our previous post we talked about a few basic terms and concepts in understanding basic color theory. Today we’ll address three of the more common terms you’ll see when color is discussed: hue, saturation, and chroma. Let’s talk about what these terms mean and how are they relevant when choosing colors for the exterior of your home.
Basic Color Theory: Hue
Hue simply references the designation of a color in accordance with standard naming conventions of colors. In other words, designating a color as “blue-green” is stating its hue falls within the portion of the color wheel where blue and green coincide. Colloquial terms used to identify colors such as chartreuse, puce, maroon, etc., don’t provide a descriptive of the actual hue, but nonetheless, they are referencing a color or blend of colors from the color wheel.
Basic Color Theory: Saturation
Saturation refers to the purity and intensity of a color. A color with high saturation is more pure; low saturation means the color is less pure although still identifiable as that particular color. Saturation is frequently used in conjunction with our next term, chroma.
Basic Color Theory: Chroma
Chroma is a term referencing the relative value of a color (light or dark) and it’s relative saturation level (pure or neutral). In general, colors on the color wheel are shown in their purest, most saturated tones. However, thousands of additional colors can be obtained, when mixing paint, by adding white to lighten a color and form a tint. Or, by adding black to darken a color to form a shade. Adding gray to a color (or mixing two complementary colors together) creates a neutral of the color. A neutral color is desaturated and functions as a mid-tone allowing colors of a lighter, darker, or more saturated value to become prominent. For example, taking a pure bright red and adding white will create a pink tone. By mixing in an additional amount of gray or green (red’s complementary color), the pink will take on a more subdued, neutral tone
Rules of Thumb
There are no hard and fast rules concerning which hue or hues are appropriate or best for house colors. Color preferences are somewhat dependent on contextual considerations such as other houses in a neighborhood or the overall climate in a given geographical area. A general rule of thumb for exterior paint color is to avoid using a highly saturated color for the main body of the house. While using a bright, saturated color will certainly make a house stand out in the crowd, bright, saturated colors are more prone to fading quickly and unevenly requiring repainting more frequently. It’s typically best to use a more neutral tint or shade of a hue (color) for the main body of a house and use a brighter saturated color for trim or accents. Greater contrasts in value (chroma) between colors allows for accents to be noticeable while colors kept in the same value range will tend to even everything out making features less prominent.