| Course on Cartographic Techniques | Cartography Working Group | The Virtual Geography Department |
Required Reading
About Color Theory
In this module the student will learn how color is created, evaluate colors by their peceptual aspects, assess various color specification or color modelling systems, and from there, create colors that are appropriate for specified map data types or themes. Since computers and software are now available for producing color and color separations, the emphasis in studying color is on color selection and creation, not on separation artwork production and darkroom reproduction. Color theory encompasses several topics that require the student to spend careful time critically reading the materials and experimenting with color mixing for various purposes. It is important to remember that map colors are selected based upon the data type as well as perceptual aspects of color, and marginal, or background colors are chosen so as to accentuate the map colors. Selection of an inappropriate color scheme can mislead the map reader as to the map purpose, and data characteristics. Color selection involves an understanding of the locational nature (point, line, area, volume) and measurement level (qualitative/nominal, ranked/ordinal, or quantitative/interval-ratio) of the data, the effects of color contrast, and subjective reactions to color.
Techniques for Studying Color Theory
1. Read through the material in the textbook, and the on-line Color Guidelines by Cynthia Brewer. It provides useful information on map projection selection by land area and map type or theme. You should also review the introductory materials on the Geographer's Craft site on Cartographic Communication.
2. Pay particular attention to any class demonstrations or videos that provide visual explanation of
3. Become very familiar with color theory terminology and concepts, including the electromagnetic spectrum, colors of light vs. pigment, additive and subtractive primary colors, color dimensions (hue, value, chroma), color mixing, color selection by color specification/color modelling systems (CIE, Munsell, Pantone, CMYK), and creation of qualitative vs quantitative color schemes (e.g., hue series vs graded color series). Regarding the color modelling systems, keep in mind that many systems exist and the same or very similar colors can be created in each system. The student should be able to see how to manipulate the color dimensions to create, and specify a multitude of colors on the selected systems, keeping in mind that most of the systems are not directly used in practical cartography. Students will be creating color on Adobe Illustrator using the CMYK process color system.
4. Discuss color contrasts, color combinations, and color formation with classmates.
5. Be sure to refer to all information sources while doing the exercises. Once complete, you should have an excellent grasp of color theory and its application to cartography.
What to Turn In
Submit answers to each exercise using the "Submit" Button, unless otherwise indicated (e.g., you may be required to print hard copy for some parts of the exercises.
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Created 2/21/98 by Laurie A. B. Garo. Last updated 1/11/99 by lg. The URL for this page is http://www.uncc.edu/lagaro/cwg/color/student.html