Munsell’s Crusade to Instruct the Masses

We often take for granted the past work done by pioneers such as Albert H. Munsell. Painter, teacher, and inventor, Munsell created the most influential color-modeling system for its time. His efforts devised a “rational way to describe color” through the of use clear decimal notation; using hue, value, and chroma into uniform yet independent dimensions within a three-dimensional space. This idea broke with the traditional approach of identifying colors through a naming scheme, which Munsell thought was “foolish” and “misleading”.

Munsell Color System, Atlas of Color Charts.

The color system Munsell built back in the 1900’s continues to serve educators, visual artists, and the industries who depend on color matching technologies to produce their products and services.

The Munsell Color Company website has a historical overview of Munsell’s legacy as well as examples of company projects that continue to advance the process of achieving accurate color.

To peer inside the thought process Munsell used to conceive his theories, Rochester Institute of Technology has digital copies of his color diaries online for the general public to review.

Archive.org also has a digital copy of Munsell’s A Color Notation. Originally published in 1905, this text details and illustrates the Munsell's hue, value and chroma formula.

Finally a recently published Boston Globe article reports on Munsell’s international influence on color theory education and the marketplace.

Another Pinboard to Follow

Having resisted Pinterest for about a year now, I finally dipped my toes into the virtual pool of pinboards. My apprehension was truly misdirected and I've come to find that the concept of organizing visual images/links onto a virtual board has become a great teaching tool. After covering the typical graphic design topics such as typography, and history it was a natural move to include color among the related topics. So here is a link to my All Color Matters pinboard .

Purple for the Privileged

Murex Brandaris For centuries, the color purple was both an elusive and exclusive hue. From the time of Ceasar till the conclusion of the Byzantine Empire, purple was worn by kings and those serving in a high office or positions of influence. Rulers like Nero would sentence anyone to death who dared to wear imperial purple. The Roman emperor Diocletain however, took a more economical approach by collecting taxes from anyone who was compelled to slip on the hue. Up until the 1850’s, the arduous process of acquiring this color was more involved then its close cousin—red. Not unlike red, purple was also derived from the animal kingdom. Farmed from the Mediterranean region by the Phonecians as far back as 1500 B.C., Tyrian Purple came from the mucous secretion of a predatory sea snail’s hypobranchial gland ( murex brandaris , murex trunculus , bolinus brandaris ). The sea snails were soaked and then boiled in large vats which allowed the “juice” to be removed from the gland. It t...

Color and Design

Not a book for light reading, Color and Design will satisfy any design practitioner, or scholar seeking to gain a more expanded view of how humans respond to color. Editors Marilyn DeLong and Barbara have curated a selection of essays which are organized into subjects ranging from color psychology to marketing and trend influences. Since these are essays, the reader should not expect this book to offer a cultural analysis of primary/secondary colors nor an explanation of basic color theory. What the text does offer is specific examinations on various topics that center around sociological approach of how color is assimilated within a culture, its art, folklore and consumerism. Outwardly this can seem to be a real bore. I did however find a pearl or two that can potentially be assigned as required reading for my students. For example in Part III: Markets and Trends , I found an informative essay by Alex Bitterman ( Color the World: Identifying Color Trends in Contemporary Ci...

All Color Matters

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