LAPEL The Colour

The Colour

A glass prism refracting white light into a soft rainbow on a cream surface.

Colour is the thread that runs through every wardrobe decision. Before talking about palettes and combinations, it helps to know what colour actually is — and that turns out to be a surprisingly deep question, with answers from five different fields that all have to agree.

The five pages below walk the topic end-to-end. Read in order, or skip to whichever piece you're curious about.

  1. 01 Physics of Light Where colour comes from: wavelengths, photons, the visible spectrum.
  2. 02 Biology & Vision How the eye and brain turn light into colour perception.
  3. 03 Psychology & Perception Context, contrast, adaptation — why the same swatch looks different.
  4. 04 Cultural History Pigments, dyes, and the social meaning of colour across centuries.
  5. 05 Colour Systems RGB, CMYK, HSL, CIE Lab — how we name, measure, and communicate colour.