The basics of color theory help you understand color properties, harmonies and temperatures.
Color Wheel
One of the best tools for understanding color basics is the color wheel. It helps you see the relationships between individual colors in order to use them appropriately. The color wheel organizes pigment, which produces color in illustration, art and printing. It includes twelve colors based on Isaac Newton's visible color spectrum and is organized into three categories: primary colors, secondary colors and tertiary/intermediate colors. Understanding these relationships is essential to using color in your designs.
- Primary colors (red, yellow, blue) are referred to as primary because no other colors can be mixed to create them.
- Secondary colors (green, orange, violet) form when combining two primary colors.
- Tertiary colors (red-orange, red-violet, yellow-green, yellow-orange) form when a primary and a secondary color mix.
Color Properties
The three main properties of color are hue, value and intensity. Each property affects the way we perceive color. Understanding color properties will help you create and effectively apply color palettes to your designs.
- Hue refers to a color in its pure state. It also denotes a color’s position on the color wheel.
- Value describes the degree of lightness or darkness in color. Three ways to change the value of a color are: tinting lightens the color by adding white, toning softens a color by adding gray and shading darkens a color by adding black.
- Intensity is the brightness or dullness of a color based on saturation. A color is most intense in its purest form (hue). Intensity is low when a color is mixed with a complementary color or a neutral color.
Color Harmony
Color harmonies use color to help create visual interest. These color schemes work together to create a sense of order and organization.
- Monochromatic uses different tones, shades and tints of one color.
- Analogous uses colors situated next to each other on the color wheel.
- Complementary uses colors opposite each other on the wheel.
- Split complementary uses the colors on either side of the complement.
- Triadic uses three equally spaced colors on the color wheel, forming a triangle.
- Tetrad uses two complementary pairs, forming a rectangle on the wheel.
Color Temperature
Color has the power to evoke emotions. Color temperature describes the warmth or coolness of a color. Warm colors, such as red, yellow and orange, evoke energy and warmth because they represent things like the sun or fire. Cool colors, such as blue, green and purple, evoke a relaxed and calming feeling because they remind people of things like water or grass.
Use this infographic as a quick reference to important basic definitions for color theory concepts.