Discords and fluro colours can work well - but can also be an assault to the eyes. Somehow I think MIA's album cover 'Kala' is both an assault and a joy to my retinas. Good job MIA!
One example of a discord is when colours are taken out of their usual tonal range...for example using a light purple with a murky green....green is usually lighter in colour than purple, however once a tint of purple is compared with a shade of green they are taken away from their usual context and the result is spectacularly awful to the eyes. Add a bright red in the mix and you've got a powerful discord.
But why would anyone ever want to create such a monster? Well I suppose the colour combination makes you feel uncomfortable so perhaps designers could use discordant colour combos when they are doing political posters - making the opposition look gross? I don't think I would personally ever need to use them, making gross colour is never really an aim of mine!
I tried to make the discord combination look good by breaking it up into a pattern. I find patterns are a great application of colour and it does improve the colour combination slightly, but you can't really fix that green...
Discords are also when intense bright colours are used next to each other and they create a weird occurance in your eyes, where your brain is trying to balance out the competiting colours and you get sore eyes from looking at them. Andrea Innocents poster (above) delibreatelt uses discord colours to create a crazy and intense colour affect with this poster. I have the original poster on my wall and it actually hurts my eyes if i stare at it for too long! As her illustrations are often of weird and unsettleing imagery I think the discords work well in her art.
This is a discord I added into my Colour in the Commercial Environment assignment. I wanted to use a bright eye catching background colour that attracts the eye. It looks a lot brighter and more vibrant in the printed version and as I am appealing to children I think the clashing colours suit the design.
"Fluorescence is the emission of visible light by a substance that has absorbed light of a differing, usually invisible, wavelength. " (wikipedia)They are colours that project their own light source out, making them the brightest upon bright of colours. They can be used very well in makeup, highlighter pens, face zinc, street signs, safey vests and lift jackets, but I don't like fluros in clothing. At all.
Beautiful example of fluro colours in makeup. They give a new meaning to colour
ewwwwww...... please don't ever wear fluro clothing. Yuk. Does not match anyones skin tones, makes you look washed out and makes you look 5 years old.
