I believe they're following color blocking patterns in nature? I wish there was some more explanation into the why this might work (though I suppose it's all conjecture)
The dark green lower to the ground is similar to plants in the foreground that are close to you, above your head the green is more de-saturated as greenery would be in the distance on the horizon, and of course even higher is mimicking the color of where the sky would be.
This is why military camouflage is effective as well, though it's slightly different – with the speckled pattern of more and less saturated colors... we get the illusion of varied depth as if you're looking through grass or leaves... which makes it harder to see a single solid object (which humans are good at)
John Hench (widely considered the coiner of the "go away" colors as it relates to WDI) brings up the concept of "go away" colors in the color theory chapter of his book "Designing Disney" when discussing how colors establish the identity of a space (this is partially quoted in the Wikipedia article):
One particular challenge in designing the interior of the [American Adventure pavilion at EPCOT Center] was the metal safety railing we had to include by law, which, being out of place in the middle of a Colonial staircase, undermined the identity of the main entrance room. We chose a neutral gray-brown for the railing, a 'go away' color that did not call attention to itself, even though it was entirely unrelated to the Colonial color scheme. In this way ,we got a functional safety railing that satisfies legal requirements without conflicting visually with the Colonial theme
Given how he talks about color in the rest of the book, I think Hench and other early Imagineers were coming at it from film/scenic design perspectives rather than scientific "here's how camouflage and blocking patterns work" perspective. I agree though, I'd love to have someone connect this artist-minded explanation with a scientific one!
Yes I think the interesting part is that artists figure this stuff out through massive amounts of observation experience and might not know why they get a positive outcome, it's very feelings based... but the fact that these feelings are often applicable on a broader human level is worthy of further investigation beyond practical application
Comments
I believe they're following color blocking patterns in nature? I wish there was some more explanation into the why this might work (though I suppose it's all conjecture)
The dark green lower to the ground is similar to plants in the foreground that are close to you, above your head the green is more de-saturated as greenery would be in the distance on the horizon, and of course even higher is mimicking the color of where the sky would be.
This is why military camouflage is effective as well, though it's slightly different – with the speckled pattern of more and less saturated colors... we get the illusion of varied depth as if you're looking through grass or leaves... which makes it harder to see a single solid object (which humans are good at)
John Hench (widely considered the coiner of the "go away" colors as it relates to WDI) brings up the concept of "go away" colors in the color theory chapter of his book "Designing Disney" when discussing how colors establish the identity of a space (this is partially quoted in the Wikipedia article):
https://archive.org/details/designingdisneyi0000henc/page/11...
Given how he talks about color in the rest of the book, I think Hench and other early Imagineers were coming at it from film/scenic design perspectives rather than scientific "here's how camouflage and blocking patterns work" perspective. I agree though, I'd love to have someone connect this artist-minded explanation with a scientific one!
Thanks for the link!
Yes I think the interesting part is that artists figure this stuff out through massive amounts of observation experience and might not know why they get a positive outcome, it's very feelings based... but the fact that these feelings are often applicable on a broader human level is worthy of further investigation beyond practical application