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Color Theory Introduction

The document provides an introduction to color theory, including: 1) Primary, secondary, and tertiary colors that make up the color wheel. Primary colors cannot be made by other colors, while secondary and tertiary colors are made by combining primary and secondary colors. 2) Other aspects of color like saturation (vibrancy), lightness (how light or dark a color is), and hue (the name of the color). 3) Principles of color harmony including using analogous colors (next to each other on the wheel) or complementary colors (across from each other) for pleasing combinations. Context also influences color perception.

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85 views

Color Theory Introduction

The document provides an introduction to color theory, including: 1) Primary, secondary, and tertiary colors that make up the color wheel. Primary colors cannot be made by other colors, while secondary and tertiary colors are made by combining primary and secondary colors. 2) Other aspects of color like saturation (vibrancy), lightness (how light or dark a color is), and hue (the name of the color). 3) Principles of color harmony including using analogous colors (next to each other on the wheel) or complementary colors (across from each other) for pleasing combinations. Context also influences color perception.

Uploaded by

Lyxxine
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Introduction to

Color Theory

The color wheel, color harmony, and color context


INTRODUCTION

Primary Colors:
Red, yellow and blue
In traditional color theory (used in paint and pigments), Primary
primary colors are the 3 pigment colors that cannot be
mixed or formed by any combination of other colors. All
other colors are derived from these 3 hues.

Secondary Colors:
Green, orange and purple
These are the colors formed by mixing the primary
colors.

Tertiary Colors:
Yellow-orange, red-orange, red-purple, Secondary
blue-purple, blue-green & yellow-green
These are the colors formed by mixing a primary and a
secondary color. That’s why the hue is a two word name,
such as blue-green, red-violet, and yellow-orange.

Tertiary
Saturation (intense vs. dull)
Saturation refers to how pure or intense a given hue is.
100% saturation means there’s no addition of gray to the
hue. The color is completely pure. At the other extreme
a hue with 0% saturation appears as a medium gray. The
more saturated (closer to 100%) a color is, the more vivid
or brighter it appears. Desaturated colors, on the other
hand, appear duller.

How saturated a hue appears also depends to a degree on


what colors it’s next to. A 50% saturated hue placed next to
a 25% saturated hue will appear more vivid than were the
same hue placed next to a 75% saturated hue.

Lightness
(light vs. dark, or white vs. black),
Lightness measures the relative degree of black or white
that’s been mixed with a given hue. Adding white makes
the color lighter (creates tints) and adding black makes it
darker (creates shades). The effect of lightness or value is
relative to other values in the composition. You can make a
color seem lighter by placing it next to a darker color.

Hue (e.g. red, orange, yellow, green, blue or purple).


Hues are colors and what hue we see is dependent on the
wavelength of light being reflected or produced. I doubt
I need to tell you what a color is and since color and hue
are synonymous you should know what a hue is as well.
One thing I will remind you about is we all perceive color
differently. The hue you see may not be the same hue I see.
Color Harmony

Harmony can be defined as a pleasing


arrangement of parts, whether it be
music, poetry, color, or even an ice

BORING
cream sundae.

In visual experiences, harmony is


something that is pleasing to the eye.
It engages the viewer and it creates an This is collosally boring. I think I might just fall
inner sense of order, a balance in the asleep. ZZZZZZ
visual experience. When something
is not harmonious, it’s either boring
or chaotic. At one extreme is a visual
experience that is so bland that the
viewer is not engaged. The human
brain will reject under-stimulating
information. At the other extreme is a
visual experience that is so overdone,
so chaotic that the viewer can’t stand
to look at it. The human brain rejects
what it cannot organize, what it cannot
understand. The visual task requires
that we present a logical structure.
Color harmony delivers visual interest
and a sense of order.

In summary, extreme unity leads to


under-stimulation, extreme complexity
leads to over-stimulation. Harmony is a
CHAOTIC
Who can read this? Not me!
dynamic equilibrium.
Color Harmony
A color scheme based on analogous colors analogous: next to one
In working with color our goal is to choose another.
a palette of pleasing color combinations
(except for those times when a displeasing
combination complements the message
better). We’re trying to achieve some kind
of color harmony.

Color harmony can be subjective. What


works for your eye may not work for mine.
Principles of color theory aim to reduce
the subjectivity by offering guidelines that
help us find pairings and groupings of
colors more likely to work well.

Examples of Color Harmony

Analogous colors are any three colors


which are side by side on a 12-part color
wheel, such as yellow-green, yellow, and
yellow-orange. Usually one of the three
colors predominates. See the illustration to A color scheme based on complementary colors complementary: across
the top right. the color wheel from one
another
Complementary colors are any two
colors which are directly opposite
each other, such as red and green and
red-purple and yellow-green. In the
illustration to the right, there are several
variations of yellow-green in the leaves
and several variations of red-purple in
the buds. These opposing colors create
maximum contrast and maximum stability.
HARMONY
A harmonious color scheme based on complementary color
exercise #1 - using your color chips, create a color scheme
based on analogous colors (next to one
another on the color wheel)

create another color scheme based on


complementary colors (across from
one another on the color wheel)

color
wheel

INSPIRATION
exercise #2 - create another color scheme based on
complementary colors (across from
one another on the color wheel)

color
wheel

INSPIRATION
our responses to color and the notion of color
harmony is open to the influence of a range AGE
of different factors. GENDER
These factors include individual differences (such as age, CULTURE
gender, personal preference, affective state, etc.) as well TRENDS
as cultural, sub-cultural and socially-based differences
which gives rise to conditioning and learned responses
about color. In addition, context always has an influence
on responses about color and the notion of color As Designers,
harmony, and this concept is also influenced by temporal we think about our
factors (such as changing trends) and perceptual factors
(such as simultaneous contrast) which may impinge on TARGET AUDIENCE
human response to color. when we choose colors
“A recent study found 85% of consumers
attribute color as a primary reason for
purchasing behavior,” -Roseanna Roberts,
director of color trends for The Color
Association of the United States (CAUS).
Color Context

How color behaves in relation to other colors and shapes


is a complex area of color theory.

http://facweb.cs.depaul.edu/sgrais/images/Color/contrast-circles-changer[1].swf

http://facweb.cs.depaul.edu/sgrais/images/Color/chevreul-circles[1].swf
Different readings of the same color

The small blue squares in the larger squares are the the same
color. The surrounding color makes them appear darker and
lighter.

The small purple rectangle on the left appears to have a


red-purple tinge when compared to the small purple rectangle center color appears lighter
on the right. They are both the same color as seen in the than the square to the right
illustration below. This demonstrates how three colors can be
perceived as four colors.

Observing the effects colors have on each other is the starting


point for understanding the relativity of color. The relationship
of values, saturations and the warmth or coolness of respective
hues can cause noticeable differences in our perception of
color.

exercise #3 - Compare the effects of different color


backgrounds for the same red square. Make
note of some of your observations.

center color appears to have more


red than the square to the right
Red appears more brilliant against a black background
and somewhat duller against the white background. In
contrast with orange, the red appears lifeless; in contrast with
blue-green, it exhibits brilliance. Notice that the red square
appears larger on black than on other background colors.

Conclusion
Color theory encompasses a multitude of definitions,
concepts and design applications - enough to fill several
encyclopedias. However, there are three basic categories
of color theory that are logical and useful : The color wheel,
color harmony, and the context of how colors interact with
one another and how colors are used.
Color model is a way to describe color mathematically (RGB and
its children HSV/HSL and CMYK, primarily). Color theory is
responsible for complementary, temperature, split primary, color
harmony and color meaning, etc. The wikipedia entries on both
terms are quite good.

If your goal is to learn how to use color effectively, color theory is


important. Josef Alber’s Interaction of Color is a standard in art
instruction. Bruce MacEvoy has some excellent content on color
theory (http://handprint.com/HP/WCL/wcolor.html) and vision
and color models (http://handprint.com/LS/CVS/color.html).

Color Logic - Jill Morton


https://www.colormatters.com/color-and-design/basic-color-theory
©Color Voodoo Publications

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