Many people encounter Japanese traditional colors for the first time, often from Japanese movies, anime, or kimono patterns.
The soft and high-end tone is completely different from the common color cards.
The pink color of the cherry blossoms is not the usual pink color, it is mixed with a little gray color, as if it has been soaked by the mist that diffuses in the early morning; and the blue color of the sea water is not pure blue, there is a hint of green in it, as if it can make people smell the smell of the sea breeze.
These colors are here because there are stories hidden behind them, because there are plants hidden behind them, and because there is a cup of tea behind them.
A color matching website that collects Japanese culture
I accidentally discovered the website NIPPON COLORS, which was created by designer ONO TAKEHIKO. It contains 250 of the most classic Japanese traditional colors.
Turning the home page, the oncoming silence and exquisite atmosphere make people calm down instantly.
There is an existence full of poetic names, which is the presentation of each different color, such as the one called "Shanchui", the one called "Water Color", and the one called "Bohong".
These names don’t just describe colors, they describe a scene.
When you see the word "burnt tea", you can't help but think of the wooden tea sets placed in the old house; when you see the word "yingse", your eyes seem to immediately appear, in the bamboo forest, there are orioles with fluffy feathers.
There are two hundred and fifty colors here, and each individual block looks like a block of color carefully extracted from Japanese classical literature and traditional crafts.
Every color name is a haiku
What fascinates me most about this website is how the colors are named.
It does not simply rely on "dark red" and "light blue" to distinguish, but incorporates many subtleties in daily life into it.
For example, "berry color" is like the color of wild strawberries just picked from the branches, with a sweet and sour taste; and "peach color" is like a flower bud in bud in spring, so pink that people can't bear to touch it.
There are also colors associated with tea, such as Tang tea, Shanbuki tea, and Jiao tea. Just looking at these names, it seems that you can smell the aroma of the roasted tea leaves.
Not only that, there is the "fox color" named after the animal. The color is defined between yellow and brown, which reminds people of the fox squatting in front of the shrine in autumn.
Hidden among these names are the types of tea that people in ancient Japan drank, the types of flowers they planted, the types of ores they used, and even what kind of rats they encountered are described for you.
Scientific and artistic color indexing method
The website is very user-friendly.
When you open the page, a color will appear randomly, with its name written in a refreshing font on the right.
In the position closer to the middle, the data of the two color modes, CMYK and RGB, are listed separately.
If you move the mouse over the RGB value, the HEX color code will automatically appear. This is definitely a thoughtful efficiency tool for students engaged in web design or UI design.
The sidebar on the left arranges all 250 colors according to hue, making it clear at a glance.
What surprised me the most was the one on the right Munsell (Mansell color system) options.
After a click operation, the arrangement of color blocks that originally appeared in a flat state will be transformed into an object in the form of a 3D cylinder. The object appears to be slowly rotating and displays colors from the three dimensions of brightness, hue and saturation.
As you stare at this rotating column of color, inspiration will come to you.
How to make good use of these colors in actual creation
Now that you know color, how can you use it in your own works?
Many people may find it difficult to start.
In fact, it is very simple to operate.
The first method is to directly HEX color code Enter it into the design software.
For example, in Photoshop, create a new layer; then, open the color picker; then, paste the color number copied from the website; in this way, the color can be accurately restored.
Even though this method is more accurate, if you need to switch colors frequently, it may feel a little slow.
So I prefer the second method: turn the colors on the website into color cards.
I spent some time picking out these 250 colors one by one, numbering each one, and then stored it as a color card file.
When there is a need for color matching, use the eyedropper tool to point it towards the color card, so that you can easily get the color.
If you are also a designer or illustrator, then this color card can indeed save a lot of time in finding colors.
Find color inspiration from the artist’s works
With the color card, the next step is how to match it.
I especially like to go to pixiv or some Japanese illustration websites to see how mature painters use these traditional colors.
You will find that many excellent Japanese style illustrations often have no more than three main colors.
For example, if there is a painting depicting a summer festival, it may use "ultramarine" as the color of the night sky, "tamako" as the color of the lanterns, and "washed vermilion" for embellishment.
That lively yet tranquil feeling is created by the combination of these colors.
If you are planning to draw New Year greetings, or plan to draw some Japanese-style illustrations, you might as well go to this website to browse and find one or two main colors that can impress you, and then slowly expand.
Among many color matching tools, NIPPON COLORS gives people a unique feeling, which is particularly unusual and different from other similar tools.
It is not just a tool, but more like a picture album about Japanese aesthetics.
Every time you click on it, you can feel that behind those colors, there is the persistence of craftsmen for the nuances of the colors.
If you are also looking for color combinations that can calm people down and are full of story meaning, this website is worthy of your collection.
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