The key principles of primary and secondary colorsīuilding on Albers’ principles, the following two experiments aim to teach children these understandings: The video below summarizes this idea and shares a design activity based on Albers’ ‘Homage to the Square’ exercises. For example, he proposed that all colors can only be understood in relation to other colors around them.⁠ This means that how someone perceives a color can change depending on the colors that surround it. In this, he laid out a set of principles for understanding color. ⁠⠀Īlbers had a life-long love of color and wrote one of the most influential books on the topic, ‘Interaction of Color’ (1963).

He then taught at the revolutionary Black Mountain College before becoming the head of design at Yale, a position he remained in until the end of his career. Albers then worked as a professor at the Bauhaus (Germany), before fleeing Nazi Germany for the United States. He originally trained as a primary school teacher before studying painting at the Royal Academy of Arts. Josef Albers (1888-1976) was a German-born artist, designer, and educator. Once children are familiar with the basic concepts of color-mixing, they can apply this learning to different art mediums including painting, plastics, and textiles.

Users can conduct their own color studies with a palette of over 250 swatches, and once completed, the studies and color pairings can be exported to software like Illustrator or Photoshop.Primary and Secondary Color Shade Printout Download The full version, which is available as an in-app purchase for $9.99, offers the full text, 125 plates, 60 interactive studies, and over two hours of video commentary.

The free version of the Interaction of Color iPad app allows you to access Chapter 10 of Albers' book, as well as text, video commentary, two interactive plates, and the palette tool. Full of Albers' texts, color studies, as well as 125 color plates, videos, interviews, and studies for users to complete, this free interactive app offers an engaging way to learn Albers essential color theories not only for filmmakers, but all creatives whose understanding of color is integral to their work. Josef Albers basically rewrote the book on color theory with his 1963 Interaction of Color, and now Yale University Press has made his invaluable teachings available in an iPad app. One of my absolute favorite aspects of aesthetic theory is color - their 'meanings', their composition and pairing, and how their aesthetic energy effects a human brain.

Albers colour theory