The hottest Color Theory Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
Category
Top Design Topics

New colors without shooting lasers into your eyes

DYNOMIGHT INTERNET NEWSLETTER • 750 implied HN points • 17 Jul 25
🔬 Science Color Theory
  1. Our eyes have different cells that help us see color, but they sometimes overlap, making it hard to see some colors clearly. This overlapping means we usually never activate only one type of color cell at a time.
  2. Some researchers are using lasers to stimulate specific color cells in our eyes, allowing people to see colors they typically wouldn't be able to experience. This can create unique visual experiences that challenge our understanding of color.
  3. Optical illusions might help us see new colors too, without lasers. However, whether these illusions can truly take us beyond what we usually see with our eyes is still an open question.

Using ChatGPT-4 to Decorate My Living Room

Scott's Substack • 825 implied HN points • 13 Jan 24
🪑 Design Color Theory
  1. Embraced the help of ChatGPT-4 for designing the living area and getting advice on furniture placements.
  2. Received suggestions from the AI on optimizing the space, enhancing lighting, and creating a cohesive design.
  3. Utilized existing furniture like sofas and chairs to create a functional and balanced layout for the room.

#145 Hidden colours

Design Lobster • 499 implied HN points • 22 Jan 24
🪑 Design Color Theory
  1. The HSB color model provides an intuitive way to choose colors, focusing on hue, saturation, and brightness, which can help create cohesive color palettes.
  2. Disney uses colors like 'Go-Away Green' to de-emphasize necessary yet unsightly elements in their parks, demonstrating how color can direct attention and create specific atmospheres.
  3. Color in design is a powerful tool for communication, allowing designers to convey messages and emotions without using words.

GM Shaders Mini: OkLab

GM Shaders Mini Tuts • 235 implied HN points • 02 Dec 23
🕹 Technology Color Theory
  1. Color blending in OkLab offers a more natural transition compared to regular RGB blending
  2. Understanding color spaces like sRGB and linear RGB is important for accurate color manipulation
  3. OkLab is a color space that approximates human perception of lightness and chroma, offering perceptually consistent color balancing
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Please let your readers read?

Disaffected Newsletter • 779 implied HN points • 13 Jan 23
🪑 Design Color Theory
  1. Use high-contrast colors for your text and background to make reading easier. Low contrast can make it hard to read and push people away from your content.
  2. Many readers won't tell you your text is hard to read, and they might leave without saying anything. It's better to get feedback than to lose potential readers.
  3. Remember that your main goal is to share words that people want to read. Avoid trendy designs that harm readability, as they can hurt your audience and support.

Kahneman's System 1 and 2 Thinking for Data Storytelling: An Example

Data at Depth • 79 implied HN points • 08 Apr 24
🕹 Technology Color Theory
  1. Create impactful data stories by hitting your audience's senses first, then backing it up with solid data and an interesting narrative
  2. Understand Kahneman's System 1 (intuitive) and System 2 (thoughtful) thinking to effectively engage your audience by appealing to both ways of thinking
  3. Utilize color effectively in data visualization to enhance communication, emphasize key points, and leverage pre-attentive attributes to grab and direct viewer attention

#128 Feeling blue 💙

Design Lobster • 259 implied HN points • 20 Feb 23
🎨 Art & Illustration Color Theory
  1. The cyanometer is a historical scientific device used to measure the blueness of the sky, providing insights about the atmosphere and light behavior.
  2. Spode "Blue Italian" porcelain is a classic design that mixes Chinese Imari elements with a pastoral scene, showcasing a blend of themes to create something unique and commercially successful.
  3. Creativity in design involves seeing things through one's own perspective, as artist Paul Gauguin emphasized in the quote about making a tree blue if one sees it that way, highlighting the importance of authenticity and personal interpretation in design.

The Shades of the Gothic Sublime

To Asra • 117 implied HN points • 17 Apr 23
📚 Literature Color Theory
  1. Both Poe and Dickinson explored themes of death and loss in their poetry, embodying the Gothic genre.
  2. The poets paid particular attention to color in their poems, inspired by Burke's concept of the sublime evoked by certain colors.
  3. Colors like purple, black, and white were used by both poets to represent the sublime and mystery, reflecting the Gothic tradition in their work.

How To See Impossible Colours

Everything Is Amazing • 733 implied HN points • 21 Feb 23
🔬 Science Color Theory
  1. By focusing your eyes in a certain way, you can see impossible colors like red-green or blue-yellow.
  2. Seeing colors like Stygian Blue or Hyperbolic Orange challenges our understanding, as they seem darker or brighter than physically possible.
  3. Experimenting with how you view colors can lead to unique perceptual experiences, expanding the boundaries of human vision.

What If We Could Change The Colour Of *Everything*?

Everything Is Amazing • 488 implied HN points • 24 Mar 23
🔬 Science Color Theory
  1. The way chameleons change color can inspire future color-changing technology for surfaces and fabrics.
  2. Current advancements in color-changing materials like Fabrican and PhotoChromeleon show promise for future fashion and architectural applications.
  3. The deep meanings and social implications of colors in fashion and pigmentation mean that changing color technology may have complex impacts on society.

The Devil and the Cerulean Sweater

Maximum Effort, Minimum Reward • 127 implied HN points • 21 Oct 23
🔬 Science Color Theory
  1. The color cerulean comes from the Latin word for sky and should represent the color of the sky.
  2. Rayleigh scattering explains why the sky appears blue - shorter wavelengths scatter more.
  3. Calculating the color of Anne Hathaway's cerulean sweater using physics resulted in a color close to the original, proving Meryl Streep's character in 'The Devil Wears Prada' was correct.

Let's stop keeping Pantone relevant. Adobe can disappear along with it.

The 21st Century Proletarian • 19 implied HN points • 04 Nov 22
🪑 Design Color Theory
  1. Question the necessity of traditional industry standards like Pantone and Adobe in the digital age. Consider alternatives and challenge the status quo.
  2. Empower individuals to create their own color systems and liberate design from corporate influence. Encourage innovation and free access to color.
  3. Advocate for a design revolution by rejecting outdated, overpriced software, and working towards a more inclusive and progressive design community.

The Color of Silence

Critic at Large • 1 HN point • 31 Mar 24
🎨 Art & Illustration Color Theory
  1. John Cage's composition '4'33"' challenges the audience to listen to hidden sounds and the contribution of the environment, sparking discussions about the perception of silence in music.
  2. Yves Klein's 'Monotone Silence Symphony' is a unique musical creation with one continuous sound and a segment of profound silence, evoking mystical and meditative experiences for performers and audiences.
  3. The use of color and sound in artistic compositions like those of John Cage and Yves Klein present thought-provoking approaches to exploring the dynamics of silence, music, and perception.

This aged well: 12 – The crayola-fication of the world: How we gave colors names, and it messed with our brains

This Aged Well • 0 implied HN points • 11 Feb 24
🎭️ Culture Color Theory
  1. Different languages have various concepts of color which can affect our perception - some people cannot distinguish colors not due to colorblindness but because their language doesn't differentiate them.
  2. Language shapes how we think and perceive the world, impacting concepts like gender, nationality, and time.
  3. The way we name colors has had a significant impact on the human brain and cognition, highlighting the crayola-fication of the world.

Yes, Carrots Really Are Orange Because of Orangists

Outlandish Claims • 0 implied HN points • 08 Jun 24
🍲 Food & Drink Color Theory
  1. Carrots have a long history and were mostly cultivated for their leaves and seeds initially, with their roots later being consumed by the Roman Empire.
  2. Genomic studies have shown that orange carrots were likely deliberately bred and cultivated in the 16th century, possibly in honor of the House of Orange.
  3. It's important to be aware of overconfidence and skepticism, as historical beliefs can be supported or refuted by emerging evidence, like in the case of the orange carrot's origins.

Understanding Colors for AI Artists

Erik Explores • 0 implied HN points • 18 Apr 23
🎨 Art & Illustration Color Theory
  1. To excel in AI art, mastering traditional color models like RGB, CMYK, and HSL is crucial.
  2. Adjusting colors optimally involves steps like tweaking brightness, contrast, hue, saturation, and luminosity.
  3. Different color adjustment layers like Color Balance, HSL, and Selective Color serve specific purposes in photo editing and AI art.