The 3 Dimensions of Colour

Hue, tone (value) and chroma are the most important aspects of colour and feature prominently in the planning and decision-making process when it comes to design and the built environment.

Think about when you shop for food, clothing, homewares, bedlinen,  accessories, technology etc the question of colour arises once you’ve decided that a particular type of product or model matches your requirements.

We use ‘hue’ (the family a colour belongs to e.g. red) to determine how fresh or ripe food may be.

The dimension of ‘tone’, or ‘value’ as it may sometimes be known, is the lightness or darkness of a colour. It helps designers describe a hue. A colour can be compared to the 9 step black and white grey scale to help determine the tone of a colour and group a set of colours by tone.

The 3rd dimension used is ‘chroma’ which refers to the intensity or saturation of a colour. Highly chromatic colours are those that are rich and vibrant.

Photo Source: Nelson Salcedo