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Basic Color Theory for Designers
Basic Color Theory for Designers
By Sharon Housley
The first box of crayons you ever got
probably had the basic eight: black, white, red, yellow,
blue, purple, brown and orange. And at that time, this
was all you neededevery shade in the world fit into
one of these categories. And then you discovered pink
and you had to get the new box with sixteen colors.
Your palette expanded. Gray, peach, silverbefore long,
you asked for the big one. The mother of all crayons.
The 64 count set with the sharpener on the box. Surely
now you had them all; every color was in your grasp.
Color is an important form of nonverbal
communication. From the clothes we wear to the food
we eat, color influences our choices. Our perception
of the world is affected by color. Likewise, the way
the world perceives us is also affected by color. In
fact, color, many times, is the most significant feature
of an item. Designers, therefore, cannot afford to treat
color lightly.
When mixing and matching, it helps to
know a little color theory. Back to kindergarten and
that box of eight crayons. One exercise you likely completed
was a color wheel. The wheel is made by placing the
three primary colors (red, yellow, and blue, if you
are working with ink) equidistant from each other on
a circle. By blending the primaries you get the secondary
colors: red and yellow produce orange; yellow and blue
produce green; blue and red produce purple. Further
blends of adjacent colors produce tertiary colors, and
so on.
You dont need a Ph.D. in color theory
to know that relationships exist between adjacent, complementary,
clashing colors. Our perception of color is affected
by the surrounding colors as well as the proximity of
other colors, and the amount of light. Furthermore,
certain colors and combinations evoke emotional responses,
which, depending on your background, you probably already
intuitively know.
It is the designers business to create
a visual experience which is pleasing to the eye. The
elements of visual harmony are simple to explain, yet
much more difficult to practice. Harmony engages the
viewer and creates an inner sense of order, a balance.
Combinations fail to harmonize if they are so bland
as to bore the viewer. At the other extreme, chaotic,
overdone combinations will be rejected as something
which the mind cannot organize or understand. Simply
put, the designer must strive to achieve the balance
between under-stimulation and over-stimulation. This
is harmony, a dynamic equilibrium.
Adjacent or analogous colors are those
next to each other on the color wheel. These are harmonizing
hues, since they each contain of a little of each other
in themselves. They work well together, although they
can appear washed out if they are too close to each
other on the wheel. Adding black or white to one or
both colors (creating tints or shades) can create higher
contrast, solving this problem.
Complementary colors are separated by
one color on a twelve part color wheel. While this combination
of colors creates higher contrast, it also causes undesirable
visual vibrations which puts physical strain on the
eyes. This effect can be alleviated if complementary
colors are separated on the page by at least one other
color.
Direct opposites on the color wheel are
called contrasting colors. (Sometimes direct opposites
are also called complements.) When used carefully in
designs, these combinations have high contrast and visibility
along with a sense of harmony.
In choosing color combinations, designers
often look to nature as a reference. This exercise delivers
interesting and unusual combinations that can evoke
similar responses to the actual experiences. While all
colors have dual symbolism and have both positive and
negative associations which change over time, their
meaning in nature is constant and universal. Blue, as
it is related to the sky on a clear day, will always
create calm. Green, as the color of plants, will always
bring new life to mind. Yellow is associated with the
radiant brilliance of the sun, and so on. Designers
are smart to take advantage of a colors association
with nature.
In addition to these basic formulas, designers
must be aware of associations to colors due to cultural
references, gender, age, and class differences. It is
important to understand how the color has been used
in a political and historical context as well as how
it has been used in past and current trends. Religious
and mythical implications can also effect the use of
a color. Even linguistic usage (i.e. phrases like in
the red, and moody blues) will affect how people
view a color.
Sample Design Sites that Use Color Effectively:
Webmaster Templates - http://www.webmaster-templates.net
Logo Search - http://www.logo-search.com
About the Author:
Sharon Housley manages marketing for FeedForAll http://www.feedforall.com
software for creating, editing, publishing RSS feeds
and podcasts. In addition Sharon manages marketing for
RecordForAll http://www.recordforall.com
audio recording and editing software.
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copy of the issue or a link to any online posting would
be greatly appreciated send an email to sharon@notepage.net
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