For a long tim e, now, there has been a problem that fledgling
designers have run into on a constant basis. This problem
The color wheel has earned a place in the hearts of m any
artists and designers across the globe. Not because its the
perfect tool, but because everybody, at som e point, has had
to m ak e one of their own as part of a ridiculous art class
project.
The wheel's construction is actually quite sim ple. You have
your 6 basic colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and
purple. Then, depending on which wheel you're look ing at,
you have ex tra, "in-between" colors that are m ix es of the
basic colors.
There are nam es for all of these colors, which are im portant
to k now. The following is a list of all of the nam es of colors
and what they're good for.
Primary Colors: Red, Yellow, Blue. These 3 colors are the
base colors for every other color on the color wheel. This is
why they're called "prim ary." W hen you m ix two prim aries
together, you get a secondary color.
Also note the triangular positioning of the prim ary colors on
the color wheel, and how the secondary colors are nex t to
them .
Prim ary colors are useful for designs or art that needs to have
a sense of urgency. Prim ary colors are the m ost vivid colors
when placed nex t to eachother, which is why you'll notice that
m ost fast food joints use prim ary colors in their logos, as it
evok es speed.
Secondary Colors: O range, Green, Purple. These 3 colors are
what you get when you m ix the prim ary colors together.
They're located in-between the prim ary colors to indicate what
colors they're m ade from . Notice how green is in-between
yellow and blue.
Secondary colors are usually m ore interesting than prim ary
colors, but they do not evok e speed and urgency.
Tertiary Colors: These are those "in-between" colors lik e
Yellow-Green and Red-Violet. They're m ade by m ix ing one
prim ary color and one secondary color together. There can be
endless com binations of tertiary colors, depending on how
they're m ix ed.
Complementary Colors: Red and Green, Blue and O range,
Purple and Yellow. These are the colors directly across from
eachother on the color wheel. Don't let the nam e fool you,
they rarely look good when used together. They're called
"com plem entary" because, when used together, they becom e
ex trem ely vibrant and have heavy contrast.
Com plem entary colors are useful when you want to m ak e
som ething stand out. For ex am ple, if you use a green
back ground and have a red circle on it, the red will jum p off
the page and be alm ost blinding.
A nalogous Colors: Red and O range, Blue and Green, etc.
These are colors right nex t to eachother on the color wheel.
They usually m atch ex trem ely well, but they also create
alm ost no contrast. They're good for very serene-feeling
designs and artwork where you want viewers to feel
com fortable.
©2007 Ryan Ford. All Rights Reserved.
seem s insignificant to m ost, but in actuality it is quite possibly
the m ost im portant factor in a design or piece of artwork . Yes,
you guessed it...I'm talk ing about the issue of CO LO R.
Color can be a touchy subject. Som etim es artists use colors
that evok e certain em otions. O ther tim es artists use colors
sim ply because they lik e the way they look . W hile any design
instructor will tell you that the latter reason is com pletely
wrong, I tend to disagree. In m y personal opinion, color
always has m eaning. This m eaning can be, as I m entioned,
an em otional one or it can be a personal preference on the
part of the artist him self, but it ALW AYS has purpose behind
it.
There is nothing wrong with choosing a color because you lik e
it because, after all, it is your work . However, when choosing a
color you still want to m ak e sure its use does not conflict with
what you are trying to say with your work . Proper use of basic The Color Wheel
color theory can help you decide what colors m atch, as well as
what each color m ak es people feel. Search multiple
engines for the
color wheel
www.webcrawler.com
Perfect 10 Hair
There are plenty of other nam es and titles that refer to Color
different aspects of color, but this is where it starts getting
com plex . If you want to k now m ore about color, read on. Get High Gloss
Color in Just 10
Warm Colors: Colors such as red, yellow, and orange. These Minutes. See
colors evok e warm th because they rem ind us of things lik e
the sun or fire. Shades at
Clairol.com!
Cool Colors: Colors lik e blue, green, and purple (violet). www.Clairol.com/10-Minute-Color
These colors evok e a cool feeling because they rem ind us of
things lik e water or grass.
Arte Styling,
Neutral Colors: Gray, Brown. These aren't on m ost color Kelly Berg
wheels, but they're considered neutral because they don't Interior Design +
contrast with m uch of anything. They're dull and uneventful.
Color Consulting
Value: Usually refers to the am ount of black in a color. The for Home +
m ore black a color has, the dark er its value. Business, IIDA,
Brightness: Refers to the am ount of white in a color. The IACC-NA
m ore white a color has, the brighter it is. www.artestyling.com
Saturation: Refers to the am ount of a color used. W hen a Home Interior
color is at full saturation, it is ex trem ely vibrant. W hen a color
is "desaturated," a large am ount of color has been rem oved. Color Guide
Desaturated colors tend to be close to being neutral because Home Decorating
there is so m uch gray in them . Color Guide - Color
Design, Color
Schemes, Tips &
More
www.BHG.com
As you m ight suspect, there are different types of color. Now is
when you can throw the color wheel out the window.
RGB Color: This is color based upon light. Your com puter
m onitor and television use RGB. The nam e "RGB" stands for
Red, Green, Blue, which are the 3 prim aries (with green
replacing yellow). By com bining these 3 colors, any other color
can be produced. Rem em ber, this color m ethod is only used
with light sources; it does not apply to printing.
CMYK Color: This is the color m ethod based upon pigm ents.
"CMYK" stands for Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black (its what
the K stands for). Using these 4 colors, m ost other colors can
be achieved. Unfortunately, CMYK cannot reproduce the sam e
am ount of colors as RGB can, which is why yellow-greens
som etim es look a bit m uddy when printed.
This is the m ethod used by printers the world over, and is also
a clever way of m ix ing paints.
Pantone (PMS) Color: This is yet another printing color
m ethod. PMS stands for "Pantone Matching System ," and is a
large list of specially m ix ed colors m ade by the Pantone
Corporation. Instead of using CMYK to create colors, the
pigm ents are created individually for purity.
For ex am ple, if I wanted to use a Red-Violet color, I'd pick
PMS 233M. The color would be m ade ex clusively for m y
project and would always print ex actly how I want.
The only drawback to using PMS colors is that they're only
useful for projects with few colors. They're also ex pensive.
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