The colorDNA system has been created to scientifically classify human colouring and provide a unique colour profile that includes a personal colour description and identity.
colorDNA calls this colour description a ‘colour expression’.
It’s an abstract term used to describe the dynamic interaction and organic relationship between the genetic pigmentation and colour qualities of a person’s skin, hair and eyes.
It is a simplified description of a person’s look.
The unique colour expression identity is something each person can embrace and be proud of.
A personalised colour expression and colour profile will help people understand who they are and how their colouring works in the environment in which they live.
It will provide for most what the few already have: their own colour sense, and the opportunity to create balance and harmony with clothing, make-up and juxtaposed colour.
The colour expression title may not include all of the unique colour qualities present in a person’s skin, hair and eyes, given it’s a general description. A colour profile will provide a complete description.
A person’s colour expression is animate and in a constant state of natural change, therefore it will need to be updated as colour characteristic qualities change.
The organic nature of human beings and chronic changes that occur on a daily basis, means a person’s colour expression can change in an instant or over many years. These changes can have a short or long-term effect.
The organic nature of human beings and chronic changes that occur on a daily basis, means a person’s colour expression can change in an instant or over many years. These changes can have a short or long-term effect.
A person’s colour expression changes internally through the aging process, health conditions and lifestyle choices, and externally through artificial changes and lifestyle choices.
A person’s colour expression can be affected positively or negatively by the environment they are in and the reflection of colour, especially when it’s close to the face.
It is the same elements of reflecting colours that find balance and harmony or discord, with the same colour qualities of a person’s colour expression.
If a person’s colour expression changes naturally or superficially, the elements of juxtaposed colours that find balance and harmony will also need to change.
The changing face of humanity has seen an increase in genetic diversity of mixed-race people across the globe that has created an exponential rate of various human colour expressions.
Human colour diversity requires a colour system that provides everyone with a unique colour expression.
The colorDNA system achieves this by processing each colour quality from each colour characteristic through a series of algorithms to determine the relationship between the dominant, moderate and recessive colour qualities.
The phenomenon of one colour characteristic quality masking or overriding the effect of another colour quality is termed dominant.
The second, third or fourth qualities are either co-dominate, moderate or recessive.
All four colour characteristic qualities, which includes contrast, are able to dominate or co-dominate a person’s colour expression.
A person’s colour expression title is determined by the colour qualities that dominate their colour characteristics.
However, it is worth noting that each person’s colour expression title includes the hue of their natural foundation pigmentation and any significant highlight or lowlight qualities.
Dominant colour qualities
Within each characteristic there is usually one of the three qualities that dominates or trumps the others.
Most often the same quality dominates across all three human colour characteristics.
A combination of different dominant qualities across the skin, hair and eyes is known as co-dominant qualities.
One or all three of an individual’s colour characteristics may have co-dominant qualities.
The combination of the three dominant skin, hair and eye colour qualities, plus the contrast between them, will determine which colour quality has overall dominance or co-dominance of a person’s colour expression.
This is most often defined by skin colouring, because it is most often the largest block of colour, is the centrepiece of a person’s head and frames the focal point of the face – the eyes.
However, the larger the block of hair the greater the influence the hair has on a person’s colour expression and on reflecting colours and tones.
Tone is the quality that dominates most people’s skin, hair, eyes and overall colour expression.
The dominant tone may be light through medium to dark.
People with one dark and one light colour characteristic – usually light skin and dark hair – will most likely have co-dominant contrast (depending on the size of the block of dark hair).
Facial tattooing creates contrast on the skin which can be dominant.
Dominant medium tone qualities can be difficult to determine.
Medium tone qualities usually occur across all three colour characteristics and are often co-dominant with variable saturation and/or hue and contrast.
The hue colour quality can be dominant within the skin, hair or eyes.
Eyes are the most obvious colour characteristic with a range of natural dominant hues, such as blue, green, olive or hazel eyes.
Naturally occurring hue can also be dominant within the hair, such as auburn, ginger and strawberry blonde-coloured hair.
Naturally occurring hue, can dominate a person’s skin. However, the skin needs to be light enough for the hue to be able to express itself.
An overall caramel coloured skin (orange-based hue) has a natural medium tone (around 6 on the human skin tone scale) that remains distinguishable.
If the skin is light the neutral tone will most likely dominate the colour expression, not the hue; however, hue may co-dominate.
Freckles are cells of colour/pigment, and if there are enough of them their hue and tone can be the skin’s dominant colour quality. Freckles create their own variable saturation that needs to be considered.
Generally, if the freckles and base skin tone are combined and perceived as a single colour, the resultant colour will determine if the hue is expressing itself in a dominant way – technically called optical mixing.
Another hue, which may dominate or co-dominate a person’s skin is redness.
Red skin may be permanent or temporary and be caused by such things as blushing, menopause, heat, sunburn, alcohol, acne, rosacea and a number of allergies, infections or health issues.
Dominant colour qualities vary in their levels of dominance. The most obvious colour quality with a range of different dominant levels is skin pigmentation.
For example, the darker the skin pigmentation the more dominant the dark tone quality will be.
As the level of human skin pigmentation becomes darker and more dominant, so do the hair and eyes.
In most cases, the darker the skin is the easier it is for the skin to mask both the hue and variable saturation. This results in lower contrast between all three colour characteristics and a dominant dark low contrast colour expression.
Light colour quality dominance within a person’s eyes is not able to mask the hue or variable saturation qualities to the same extent as a dark tone colour quality.
The lighter the skin pigmentation is, the more obvious blemishes, acne and scars are.
As people age and the intensity of pigment in their colour characteristics changes, so do some of the dominant colour qualities in their skin, hair and eyes.
As the dominance of a single colour quality reduces, the influence of the two other qualities increases.
Contrast between co-dominant colour characteristics can change, such as the colour of a person’s hair, or if they lose hair.
