Course - Colour - IDI2000
Colour
New from the academic year 2025/2026
About
About the course
Course content
• Colour and colour vision (Normal colour vision, reduced colour vision, photoreceptors, visual phenomena)
• Colour theory (Colour spaces, colour order systems, colour mixing systems, additive and subtractive colour mixing, perceptual colour systems, colour matching and CIE systems)
• Colour-related aspects of universal design (Colour's use and meaning, colour semantics, use of colour and colour contrast to improve user experience)
• Color management (Factors that affect colour reproduction, principles and components within colour management and colour models)
Learning outcome
Upon completing the course, students are expected to have achieved the following:
1. Knowledge
- A foundational understanding of colour from both physical and psychological perspectives, along with insights into human colour perception.
- Familiarity with key colour theories, colour models, and colour systems.
- Awareness of the principles of universal design in relation to colour, including the impact of colour choices on accessibility for diverse user groups.
2. Skills
- Proficiency in identifying and addressing challenges in colour reproduction across multiple media and technologies.
- The capability to apply colour models effectively to achieve consistent and accurate colour outcomes in design projects.
- The ability to apply knowledge of colour scheme principles and colour semantics to create colour palettes
3. General Competence
-The ability to critically evaluate colour use in universal design and understand its role in promoting inclusion and accessibility.
- The ability to evaluate the correspondance of a colour palette towards a desired expression.
- An informed perspective on the technological and design-related complexities of colour reproduction across various contexts and media.
Learning methods and activities
- Lectures
- Group work
- Lab exercises and demonstrations
Further on evaluation
Further on evaluation
The course evaluation consists of two parts:
1: 1-hour written exam (40/100) individual multiple-choice, where no external materials are allowed.
2: Written group report (60/100) is a collaborative project that requires a mandatory group assignment.
The mandatory group assignment will be evaluated according to predefined criteria. The specific requirements and evaluation standards for the assignment will be communicated to students via the Learning Management System (LMS), such as Blackboard.
Both the written exam and group report is graded A-F, according to the NTNU grading scale:
https://i.ntnu.no/wiki/-/wiki/English/Grading+scale.
The written exam accounts for 40% of the final grade, while the group report accounts for 60%. To pass and get an overall grade for the course, you need to obtain a grade of E or higher in both parts.
Re-sit examination
• Ordinary re-sit examination for the written exam (1 hour) is in August. The examination form may be changed from written to oral.
• No re-sit examination for the group report. Group work is only possible the next time the course is running.
If a student does not pass some or all of the course components, such as the written exam or group report, they must re-take those components.
Students wishing to improve their course grade can re-take the written exam. However, for the group report component, students must participate in the group work again as a whole the next time the course is running.
Specific conditions
Admission to a programme of study is required:
Graphic Design (BMED)
Interaction Design (BIXD)
Course materials
Lecture notes
Sharma, Abhay (2018). Understanding color management. 2. utg. New York: Wiley.
Thyne Theresa-Marie, Applying Color Theory to Digital Media and Visualization, CRC Press; 1 edition (2016)
Additional literature
Teigen Tom, Farger en visuell innføring, Gyldendal Norsk Forlag AS 2004
Valberg Arne, Fargenes verden, Tapir Akademisk Forlag, 2009
Chisholm, W. and May, M. (2008) Universal Design for Web Applications: Web Applications That Reach Everyone, O'Reilly Media
Berns, R. (2019) Billmeyer and Saltzman’s principles of colour technology, Fourth edition, Wiley
Subject areas
- Computer Science