Concept
Colour Temperature
The classification of colours as warm or cool based on their position on the colour wheel and their spatial behaviour within a composition.
“Colour temperature creates spatial movement without any change of physical position - warm colours advance and cool colours recede automatically, before the viewer consciously processes the design.”
Warm colours - red, orange, and yellow - are advancing colours: they appear to come toward the viewer. Cool colours - green, blue, and violet - are receding colours: they appear to move away. This spatial behaviour means that colour placement is not merely an aesthetic decision - it directly affects the perceived depth and balance of a composition. The advancing quality of warm colours makes them effective in focal areas; the receding quality of cool colours helps establish distance and depth. Source: Pampling (105).
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