ROSS. — DESIGN AS A SCIENCE. 



365 



and down towards darkness (black). Then, on a ground-tone of the 

 central neutral, alongside of the values and in the values, set the colors 

 in spots of paint, all in the same intensity: if you can. You will imme- 

 diately discover that you cannot do this. The colors in the light values 

 are inevitably neutralized by white, and colors in the dark values are 

 inevitably neutralized by black or some equivalent dark neutral. It 

 is only towards the centre of the scale of values that you can get to 

 any considerable intensity of color. If you consider the matter you 

 will understand that this neutralization of the colors in light and in 

 darkness is as it should be. It is exactly what happens to the colors 

 in nature as they occur between light and darkness. Color is observed 

 in its greatest intensity at the half-point between the light, whatever it is, 

 and the darkness, whatever that is. It is evident that the form in which 

 I have described the relation of the color and value scales needs to be 

 modified. The colors as they approach the half-point between light and 

 darkness must become more and more intense, the greatest possible inten- 

 sity being reached at the half-point, exactly. We have seen how the 

 measure of intensity can be indicated, diagramatically, by increasing or 

 diminishing the space between the complementary colors in any value 

 and the intermediate neutral ; so all we have to do in order to describe 

 the law of increasing and decreasing intensities is to pull the color scales 

 apart at the half-point between the extremes of light and of darkness. 

 This has been done in the diagram which follows : — 



V 



B 



G 



Intensity R 



Light 

 White 



8 



Y7 V 



ROB 



P 5 G 



4 



3 



2 



1 







1 



2 



R 



V 

 G 



r> Complementary 

 Intensity 



B 



G 



R 



4 



5 



R 6 B 



P7 G 



8 



Black 

 Darkness 



V 



