Physik der Farbe. Eine praktische Farbenlehre für Architektur, Design und Handwerk

Not just a color ...

Ulrich Binder provides a brave new theory of color: away from tonal values, primary colors and mixing ratios, he focusses on the topic of color by looking at its qualities and how the material is perceived.

Anyone who has painted or varnished knows that there are additional characteristics beyond the “objective” color values, which are not to be found in the literature, but are significant for the way the color is experienced: How smooth is the color, does its shine remain after it has been painted on? Is it easy to stir or to mix? Can you add several layers or does the color remain slick or even become bitty?

Physik der Farbe [Physics of Color] looks at co­lor from the perspective of its tactility—at what you can feel between thumb and forefinger, what is transferred from paintbrush to canvas.

The book does not use new terminology, but sharpens everyday language used to describe color, as this points to experiences had and jour­neys made with the material.

In addition to chromaticity, there is always a consistency, a degree of gloss, a rigidity or per­meability that can be felt. There is also a surface coverage or texture under the layer of color which “forces” itself to be perceived by the viewer – color rarely acts alone.

The publication is divided into three parts: “Appearance of Color” focusses on its charac­teristics of being shiny, matt, raw, fine, smooth, dark or light; “Visual Haptics” draws attention to color phenomena such as warmth, distance, density, time, gravitation; the final section focus­ses on practical application, on which options of applying paint exist: with a brush, rolled on, combed, sprayed, with a knife, glazed, etc...