Colour Lesson II

Hue , Value , Chroma : The Three Axes of Seeing

A colour has three lives: its name, its lightness, and its purity.

If colour is the echo of light, then hue , value , and chroma are how we describe the shape of that echo. They form the architecture of perception, not just what colour you see, but how you see it.

These three traits are not artistic jargon. They are defined most precisely in the Munsell Colour System , which treats colour like a coordinate in three-dimensional space.

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Hue : The Family Name

Hue is what we typically think of as “colour” when we speak of red, blue, yellow or green. It corresponds to position on the visible light spectrum.

But hues are not rigid. They’re relational families .
A red can drift toward orange or violet. A blue might veer into green or grey.

Hues are like musical notes. You can tell they’re different, even if they’re both 'C.'

In Munsell, hue is organized in 10 segments (Red, Yellow-Red, Yellow, etc.), subdivided into 100 smaller steps. Unlike the simplified artist’s wheel (RYB), this system allows finer nuance.

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Value : The Lightness of Being

Value refers to how light or dark a colour is, independent of hue. It’s a vertical axis from black (value = 0) to white (value = 10). Every colour has a built-in value:

• Lemon yellow = high value
• Navy blue = low value
• Mid-grey = neutral value (~5)

Value is how colour holds light. It’s what lets us see shape and form in shadow.

Value controls visual hierarchy, mood, and contrast. In both digital design and traditional art, understanding value is essential for depth and clarity.

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Chroma : The Intensity of Voice

Chroma (or saturation) measures how pure or muted a colour is.

• High chroma = vivid, bold, intense
• Low chroma = soft, faded, dusty

Two reds can share hue and value, but one may be electric, the other like dried clay.

Chroma is the emotional charge of a colour. The difference between a cherry and a bruise.

This axis helps define tone and complexity. Muted tones often carry more emotional ambiguity than vivid ones.

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Comparison Table

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Thoughts moving on

Next week to try out. Focusing on everyday colours and describing them using:

• Hue . Does it lean warm or cool?
• Value . Is it light, dark, or in-between?
• Chroma . Does it feel vivid, faded, or somewhere between?

Then write it down:

A grey-green jacket, low in chroma, just dark enough to hold secrets.

The curtain’s blue has no doubt in it.

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Summary

• Hue : the type of colour (its “family”)
• Value : the lightness or darkness
• Chroma : the purity or muteness

These three traits form a coordinate system for any colour. This lets you see not just what it is, but how it feels, behaves, and relates.

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Further Reading & References

• Albert H. Munsell, A Color Notation (1905)
• CIE L*a*b* and CIELCh Color Spaces
• Josef Albers, Interaction of Color (1963)
• Adobe Color Theory Documentation
• Wyszecki & Stiles, Color Science: Concepts and Methods
• Paul Zelanski & Mary Pat Fisher, Color
• Munsell Color Science Laboratory, Rochester Institute of Technology
• Bruce MacEvoy

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