About
The RGB/CMY Digital Color Atlas is an ongoing project by Petronio Bendito and has its origin on the assumption that If visual artists and designers, working with digital color, are able to comprehend the RGB color model and its framework and access different perceptual geometric organizations of the model, and if those organizations help with the process of making color design decisions, then the configuration of the RGB color cube would serve not only as a mathematical structure that generates computer colors, it would also serve as a design tool. This prompted me to investigate the potential of the RGB|CMY Digital Color Atlas based on the RGB and HSB color models as a tool for art and design practices and teaching, especially those related to graphic design and media arts education.
From the ACM Journal on Computing and Cultural Heritage Vol. 16, No. 01. "Algorithmic Color Methods of Media Arts". Fig. 5: RGB to CMYK: Test Patterns (2012) by Petronio Bendito. Algorithm, paper, ink. Size and shape variable. Purdue University's Rueff Gallery.
The digital color wheel is the foundation of digital color literacy. Based on this view, the RGB/CMY Digital Color Wheel was designed as a teaching tool to serve as an "interface" to introduce color theory concepts relevant to 21st-century color design education, such as human vision and RGB color mixing theory, digital color models, and color combinations methods correlated to RGB and HSM color systems. The RGB/CMY Digital Color wheel became instrumental in broadening one's understanding of digital color design methodologies. This approach to digital color literacy has been implemented by the author in his teaching and his art and design practices.
Art and Science: Teaching and Learning With Color and About Color
A main component of this project is the exploration of the RGB|CMY Digital Color Wheel as a cognitive artifact. This project focuses on the design and implementation of new approaches and methodologies that incorporate computer-based instruction, knowledge of the geometry and perceptual organization of the RGB color cube, the HSB color system and creative experimentation in the teaching of color design. Recent explorations involve using Augmented Reality (A.R.).
This project started at the School of Art at Northern Illinois University (1998-2001), where the author, Petronio Bendito, taught color design and a hybrid online/face-to-face summer color theory course. At Purdue University, supported by the Dean's Incentive Grant (2003), the project grew and digital color design methods based on this research were incorporated in foundation design classes (2003-2006) under the guidance of Foundation Design Coordinator Linda Vanderkolk.
The explanation of an early version of the RGB|CMY Digital Color System was presented in 2005 at the 10th Congress of the International Colour Association in Granada, Spain, and was published in the proceedings under the title RGB Colour Palette Based on Hue Relationships [proceedings]. This research has also been cited by a U.S. patent filed for an artists color display system (2002). Methodologies based on this project have been implemented in the following universities, among others:
Note to educators
We would love to include your school to the list above! Please let the author know if you have used or developed materials in your teachings based on the RGB/CMY Digital Color Wheel or the RGB Cube Visualization Methods. Thank you!
About the author
Petronio Bendito (Ed.D., M.F.A.) is an Associate Professor of Visual Communication Design in the Rueff School of Design, Art, and Performance at Purdue University (profile). His primary research areas include digital color design, color algorithms, RGB/HSB color systems, the intersection of art, science and technology, and visual literacy. Bendito served on the Editorial Board of Media-N: Journal of the New Media Caucus and currently serves on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Visual Literacy. He has worked on a variety of interdisciplinary and collaborative art and design projects, including interactive and participatory media (performance technology, computer vision), neurofeedback art, projection mapping, visual music, videodance, and live performance. He exhibits and presents his work internationally. A monograph (print and electronic) titled o Petronio Bendito: Digital Color, Algorithm, Expression was published by the Art Museum of Greater Lafayette.
Bendito's article on the RGB color cube visualization and computer-based color design methods can be found at the Journal of Design Communications/Spring 2000 and the Journal on Computing and Cultural Heritage/Spring 2023. His work has appeared in several mathematical art exhibition of the annual conferences of The Bridges Organization and the American Mathematical Society and Mathematical Association of America.
You can learn more about Bendito's work through these websites:
Art and Science: Teaching and Learning With Color and About Color
A main component of this project is the exploration of the RGB|CMY Digital Color Wheel as a cognitive artifact. This project focuses on the design and implementation of new approaches and methodologies that incorporate computer-based instruction, knowledge of the geometry and perceptual organization of the RGB color cube, the HSB color system and creative experimentation in the teaching of color design. Recent explorations involve using Augmented Reality (A.R.).
This project started at the School of Art at Northern Illinois University (1998-2001), where the author, Petronio Bendito, taught color design and a hybrid online/face-to-face summer color theory course. At Purdue University, supported by the Dean's Incentive Grant (2003), the project grew and digital color design methods based on this research were incorporated in foundation design classes (2003-2006) under the guidance of Foundation Design Coordinator Linda Vanderkolk.
The explanation of an early version of the RGB|CMY Digital Color System was presented in 2005 at the 10th Congress of the International Colour Association in Granada, Spain, and was published in the proceedings under the title RGB Colour Palette Based on Hue Relationships [proceedings]. This research has also been cited by a U.S. patent filed for an artists color display system (2002). Methodologies based on this project have been implemented in the following universities, among others:
- Northern Illinois University (USA)
- Purdue University (USA)
- Federal University of Paraná (Brazil)
- Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (Brazil)
- Positivo University-Curitiba (Brazil)
- American University of Paris (France)
- Iowa State University (USA) (*not the author)
Note to educators
We would love to include your school to the list above! Please let the author know if you have used or developed materials in your teachings based on the RGB/CMY Digital Color Wheel or the RGB Cube Visualization Methods. Thank you!
About the author
Petronio Bendito (Ed.D., M.F.A.) is an Associate Professor of Visual Communication Design in the Rueff School of Design, Art, and Performance at Purdue University (profile). His primary research areas include digital color design, color algorithms, RGB/HSB color systems, the intersection of art, science and technology, and visual literacy. Bendito served on the Editorial Board of Media-N: Journal of the New Media Caucus and currently serves on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Visual Literacy. He has worked on a variety of interdisciplinary and collaborative art and design projects, including interactive and participatory media (performance technology, computer vision), neurofeedback art, projection mapping, visual music, videodance, and live performance. He exhibits and presents his work internationally. A monograph (print and electronic) titled o Petronio Bendito: Digital Color, Algorithm, Expression was published by the Art Museum of Greater Lafayette.
Bendito's article on the RGB color cube visualization and computer-based color design methods can be found at the Journal of Design Communications/Spring 2000 and the Journal on Computing and Cultural Heritage/Spring 2023. His work has appeared in several mathematical art exhibition of the annual conferences of The Bridges Organization and the American Mathematical Society and Mathematical Association of America.
You can learn more about Bendito's work through these websites:
Artist's monograph: Art Museum of Greater Lafayette