Colour is manifested in many ways. In nature, (Flowers, animals, natural phenomenons such as the rainbow) colour functions effectively to define a visual vocabulary among and cross multitude of species. In human society, art, design, and even industry, colour is manufactured and manipulated by humans, with intent and purpose to communicate, inspire, persuade and delight.

Whatever goes into the process of creating that face-up colour mosaic, and whatever goes into understanding that face-up colour when we view and compare polished diamonds, require basic initial understanding of colour in general. Thus, we will begin with the basics of colour description (i.e., hue, lightness, saturation, tone, etc.), then touch on other colour-related subjects (i.e., such as perception, theory, science, measurement, etc.)