Color Theory: Part 2

We're back with Part 2 of my color theory series, and I'm so excited to branch out of the basics, but all of that information is essential for going deeper into understanding just how to make color work at home.

So, for any references -including hex codes for all the key colors- Part 1 is a great place to start.  This round, I'm going into a little more about lighting and how lighting affects different colors. This goes way back for me, all the way into working in theater and understanding how light can make or break everything.  I went over the basics of understanding lighting -specifically LEDs- a while back too.

Color Temperature: The Kelvin Scale

The scale of colors in light bulbs has only become more apparent in recent years, as LED lighting has become more accessible and variable in color. Without getting too far into the weeds, the color temperature chosen matters a lot for both how we experience a space and how different colors appear in different light conditions. Going a little deeper into color temperature selection, the warm end of the spectrum is immediately recognizable.

2100 kelvins: Amber White
​​This light most closely resembles candlelight and fire light. It leaves its surroundings with an amber cast, and psychologically provides light that does not illuminate detail well. It is a good accent for promoting restfulness.

2700 kelvins: Warm White
​This is most easily identifiable as the color temperature of an incandescent lightbulb. It has a golden undertone that is warm, cozy, and inviting. It is not an intense light, and is often used in areas that promote relaxation.

3000 kelvins: Soft White
​This is just a little brighter and offers more clarity than the warm white, and is often the color temperature listed in the "warm white" label (particularly with string lights). It is ideal for task lighting and overhead lighting in a home for its broad appeal as a color temperature that fills in most detail while maintaining a warm setting. Personally, this is a favorite. It's a color temperature that plays well with others.

3500 kelvins: Neutral White
​While not as intense as daylight, this color temperature is both easy on the eyes and good for places that require focus.  It’s used often in task and accent lighting for art and displays.

4000 kelvins: Florescent White
​While this may be the most hated color temperature in homes, it is incredibly useful for places that require focus on details.  This is often a color temperature used in garages and grocery stores.  It is the color most associated with florescent tube lighting.

5000 kelvins: Bright White
​This color temperature is as close as technology can get to the feel of bright sunlight.  It is used in places that require ultimate clarity or have a lot of mixing with natural light.  This color is used in sports facilities and hospitals.

6500 kelvins: Cool White
​While this color temperature has a cool tone, it -along with cooler bulbs all the way to 10,000 kelvins- mimics sunlight outside the visible light spectrum, so these are most often color temperatures used in agriculture.

Why This Matters

Just as different light sources change how light moves through a space, the color has a dramatic effect on the surrounding area as well.  As most of the bulbs used in homes are warm with a red base, these cast light onto pigments in a lot of different ways.

As visible light is refracted through the light spectrum, different colors are filtered out of it.  This is what makes bodies of water look bluer the deeper they are: wavelengths of color penetrate to different depths.  So, while pigments don’t necessarily loose their vibrance in different lights, they can interact in odd ways based on the lights and shadows in a space.  This is also why best practice is to standardize color temperatures in each room.

​Smart Bulbs

Technology has vastly improved the way we can use light to our advantage!  Since bright light is helpful for focus, and warm light promotes relaxation and sleep, using smart bulbs can give us the light we need at different times of day.

Since light can affect our energy levels through our circadian rhythm, it is possible to use it in a way that helps our sleep and, ultimately, our overall health.  This is why night-shift and blue-light blocking screen settings and glasses filters can help with maintaining a healthy sleep cycle.

Using dusk-to-dawn or similar settings on smart bulbs (I’m a fan of GE Cync, or Feit makes manually-adjustable bulbs) or a similar set up, light can start at 5000k in the morning and during the day, moving into 3000k in the evening, and 2500-2700k later at night.  This better mimics the way sunlight interacts with the atmosphere to give our brains a sense of rhythm.  This series of color temperatures can also help folks who work during nights and evenings better set their schedule.

​There is a bit more for color theory coming!  It’ll be a little more about actual color selection defining color schemes, and using what you have to determine what you need.  Stay tuned!