Color theory
Introduction
Hello! Welcome to Design selected topics II. We hope that you enjoy taking this course as much as we have enjoyed creating it for you at the University of Guanajuato. During eight sessions we will study color and review different representation techniques in two and three dimensions so you can get some essential tools to create visual messages that allow you to communicate efficiently.
In the first two sessions we will approach color as one of the most important design elements. On one side, through history, color has granted us to survive. Historically, the human beings have learned to react to color according to our instinct, which has allowed us, for instance, to avoid poisonous food. On the other side, color is the design element that helps us convey ideas or emotions more quickly, regardless of whether we find it in two dimensions, like a magazine, or in three dimensions, like a building.
In this first session, we will study color theory specifically. We will first look at some basic terminology related to color, which will allow us to clearly understand a taxonomy of colors. Later, we will observe how to describe colors to be able to correctly refer to their features. We will also learn what a color wheel is and how to use it to discover harmonious color combinations. Finally, we will build our own color wheel.
We wish you every success in this first session. Let us get started.
Content developement
Color is the design element that we identify first. Throughout our lives we have learned that each color means something according to the context in which each one of us has developed. We have also learned to react according to that association when we are faced with a color regardless of the surface or volume where it is found. But not only the context influences the way we behave towards colors, our age, our personal preferences and fashion also affect the way we react.
Color is a fundamental tool in different disciplines, in graphic and interior design; in architecture; and in the visual and performing arts; to mention a few. If It Is used properly, the creator can direct the viewer’s attention and even tell him/her how he/she is expected to react. In this session of our course, we will learn to use color, regardless of the discipline that the student wishes to develop.
1. 1. Basic terminology
Color theory explains the rules for forming colors and the relationships that exist between them (Ambrose, 2015). A key concept to understand it is color synthesis, which is a model that explains the mixing of colors to create others. There are two color syntheses: additive and subtractive.
1.1.1. Additive colors
Additive colors are gotten from the emission of light. The additive primary colors are red, green and blue (Ambrose, 2015). Mixing these three colors results in white.
Additive secondary colors are gotten by mixing two primary colors in the same proportion. Additive secondary colors are yellow, magenta, and cyan. These colors are obtained from the following color mixes:
- Green (primary) + red (primary) = yellow (secondary)
- Red (primary) + blue ((primary) = magenta (secondary)
- Blue (primary) + green (primary) = cyan (secondary)
Additive tertiary colors are gotten by combining a secondary color with the neighbor primary color in equal proportions. The additive tertiary colors are purplish red, orangey red, orangey yellow, greenish yellow, greenish blue, and purplish blue. These colors are gotten from the following color mixes:
- Green (primary) + yellow (secondary) = greenish yellow (tertiary)
- Yellow (secondary) + red (primary) = orangey yellow (tertiary)
- Red (primary) + magenta (secondary) = orangey red (tertiary)
- Magenta (secondary) + blue (primary) = purplish red (tertiary)
- Blue (primary) + cyan (secondary) = purplish blue (tertiary)
- Cyan (secondary) + green (primary) = greenish blue (tertiary)
1.1.2. Subtractive colors
Subtractive colors are gotten from pigments. The subtractive primary colors are cyan, magenta, and yellow (Ambrose, 2015). The mixture of these three colors results in black.
Subtractive secondary colors are gotten by mixing two primary colors in the same proportion. Subtractive secondary colors are red, green, and blue. These colors are gotten from the following color mixes:
- Magenta (primary) + cyan (primary) = blue (secondary)
- Cyan (primary) + yellow (primary) = green (secondary)
- Yellow (primary) + magenta (primary) = red (secondary)
Subtractive tertiary colors are gotten by combining a secondary color with the neighbor primary color in equal proportions. The subtractive tertiary colors are purplish red, orangey red, orangey yellow, greenish yellow, greenish blue, and purplish blue. These colors are gotten from the following color mixes:
- Green (secondary) + yellow (primary) = greenish yellow (tertiary)
- Yellow (primary) + red (secondary) = orangey yellow (tertiary)
- Red (secondary) + magenta (primary) = orangey red (tertiary)
- Magenta (primary) + blue (secondary) = purplish red (tertiary)
- Blue (secondary) + cyan (primary) = purplish blue (tertiary)
- Cyan (primary) + green (secondary) = greenish blue (tertiary)
1.1.3. Concidences between additive and substractive colors
Once we have studied additive and subtractive colors, we can notice some correspondences. Additive primary colors are the same as subtractive secondary colors (Ambrose, 2015). In the same way, additive secondary colors are the same as subtractive primary colors. In addition, the tertiary, additive and subtractive colors are the same, although their origin is different. For example, greenish yellow is an additive tertiary color that combines yellow (secondary) and green (primary); while the same color, greenish yellow, is a subtractive tertiary color that combines yellow (primary) and green (secondary).
1.2. The description of colors
Color is the sensation that light produces on the eye. If we consider that each color corresponds to an unrepeatable wavelength of light, the list to describe colors is endless (Ambrose, 2015). For this reason, some terms have been created to help us refer to certain color traits.
One of these terms is hue (Mollica, 2013). It refers to the unique feature that allows us to differentiate it from others. Each hue has a unique wavelength.
Another word is saturation (Mollica, 2013). It refers to the purity of color, that is, the closeness or distance of a color from gray. When a color approaches gray it is described as dull. When a color is at its maximum level, it does not contain any gray and is described as a vivid color.
Finally, the term value (Mollica, 2013) is used to describe the lightness or darkness of a color. When colors combined with white are named as tints, while those combined with black are called shades.
1.3. The color wheel
The color wheel is the central part of color theory. It is a circular representation of the color spectrum that is used to illustrate a taxonomy of colors (primary, secondary, tertiary) and to understand the relationship between colors (Ambrose, 2015). The colors that appear on the color wheel are twelve. Starting at the top, in the order of the clock hands are the following: red, orangey yellow, yellow, greenish yellow, green, greenish blue, cyan, purplish blue, blue, purplish red, magenta, and orangey red.
Next, let us explore the relationships that exist between colors, which we can explain based on the color wheel.
See the instructions for building your color wheel in the following tutorials (available with English subtitles):
How to draw a color wheel:
How to paint the primary and secondary colors of a color wheel:
How to paint the tertiary colors of the color wheel:
According to the instructions to make your own color wheel, perhaps the most difficult part is mixing colors. How is this problem suggested to be solved in the videos?
Conclusion
Now that we have finished studying some of the most important notions of color theory, let us review the content of this session.
Color theory allows us to understand how colors are formed and the relationships that exist between them. Color synthesis is a model to explain the creation of colors. There here are two of them: the additive and the subtractive. Additive colors are gotten from the emission of light. The additive primary colors are red, green and blue. Mixing these three colors results in white. Subtractive colors are gotten from pigments. The subtractive primary colors are cyan, magenta, and yellow. The mixture of these three colors results in black. In both cases, the secondary colors are gotten by mixing two primary colors in the same proportion and the tertiary colors are gotten by combining a secondary color with the neighbor primary color in equal parts.
Some terms that help us describe certain color traits are hue, the unique wavelength that allows us to distinguish each color; saturation, the closeness or distance of the color from gray; tint, the combination of color with white; and shade, the mixture of color with black.
The color wheel is a circular representation of the color spectrum. It Is used to illustrate a taxonomy of colors (primary, secondary, tertiary) and to understand the relationship between them. Some of the relationships that can be explained based on the color wheel are monochrome, complementary colors, divided complementary colors, triads, analogous colors, mutual complementary colors, close complementary colors and double complementary colors.
All of the Information that we have seen Is essential not only to understand how colors are related to each other, but also to be able to use those relationships to create works of our own In which this knowledge Is properly applied.
Congratulations on completing this first session of Selected Design Topics II! Keep going! If you enjoyed understanding the relationship between colors, you will love our next session about color psychology. Do not miss it!
Information sources
Ambrose, H. (2015). Color. Barcelona: Parramon.
Mollica, Patti (2013). Color theory. Irvine: Walter Foster Publishing.