Color theory is a topic scheme is used with televi- that seems very familiar on sions, projectors and stage the surface, but it is much . more in-depth as the sub- Regardless of the source ject is explored. of the color, each color has Teachers tell us the three three characteristics: , primary — , value and saturation. and — at a young Hue is the color itself. age. Sometimes hue refers to the Those teachers were not wavelength that specific completely accurate. There color produces. It is the are two other named color, such as gar- schemes they do not men- net. tion. Value refers to a color’s Primary colors are color brightness. Value is ad- that cannot be produce by justed by adding or mixing two other colors. to the color. When dealing with color Saturation, or chroma, that is reflected off of an is how “pure” a color is. object and into the eye, the Full saturation is the color primary colors are , without black, white or any and yellow — amount of another color. . In this To desaturate a color, the scheme, mixing the prima- color’s opposite, or comple- ry colors together produce ment, is added. If equal black. amounts of a color and its The subtractive color complement are mixed, a scheme is used with inks, gray color is produced. paints, dyes and pigments. The object reflects different amounts of the primaries to produce the color we The primary colors perceive. learned in school produce When dealing with color what is called the color that is produced by wheel. The color wheel that goes directly into the helps designers determine eye, the primary colors are relationships among colors. red, blue and — ad- Red, blue and yellow are ditive colors. In this color the primary colors. Mix- scheme, mixing the pri- ing two primary colors maries together produce together produce second- white. ary colors. Red and yellow The make ; blue and yel-

91 low make green; and blue on the color wheel in its and red make — not scheme. The primaries and “.” Purple may be the secondaries both form more fun to say, but visual triads. Once again, these communicators refer to the colors contrast as well as color as violet. work well together. Mixing a primary and a When you need colors to together harmonize, spectral neigh- produce a tertiary color. bors — — Tertiary colors are named work well. Spectral neigh- by placing the primary bors are three colors next color’s name first, followed to each other on the color by the secondary color, wheel. The spectral neigh- Color Wheel such as red-orange. The bors to blue are blue-green tertiary colors are yellow- and blue-violet. orange, red-orange, red-vi- Each color can also olet, blue-violet, blue-green have a variety of tints and and yellow-green. With the shades. Tints are created by primaries and the second- adding a certain percent- aries, these colors produce age of white to the color. a 12-segment color wheel. Shades are produced by adding a certain percentage Relationships of black to the color. is a tint of red. is a As mentioned above, the shade of orange. color opposite a specific Colors can be said to color on the color wheel have a temperature. Warm is known as the color’s colors are the red, yellow complement. For example, and orange colors. Cool the complement for blue colors are the blue, green is orange. Complementary and violet colors. colors contrast each other Because of the colors’ as well as work well togeth- wavelengths, warm colors er in a . appear to be closer and cool A split complement re- colors appear to be farther fers to the two colors next away. Warm colors ad- to the complementary color vance, cool colors recede. A on the color wheel. With warm color on top of a cool blue, the complement is color can give a 3-D look to orange, so the split comple- a design. ment to blue is yellow-or- ange and red-orange. Names A triad has three colors that are of equal distance Colors are hard to refer away from each other to by name. What may be

92 called “” in a pack can covey a world of mean- of crayons may look noth- ing if used properly. ing like the turquoise on a For example, think of an paint chip from the hard- apple. Was it red? Apples ware store. are not always red, but To deal with this prob- people associate apples lem, designers use a guide with red. Red can also be when naming colors. The associated with blood, fire most common guide to col- and stop signs. Knowing ors is the Matching this, a visual communicator System. The PMS system will use red appropriately. is a lot like a book of color Red says violence and chips from the hardware aggression. It also says love store, which each color and passion. Use red wise- Split Complement being given a number. For ly. example, if a designer Orange can also be as- asks for text to be printed sociated certain fruits — in PMS 153, a printer will oranges and pumpkins — know the text should be that are not always orange. in that particular shade of Orange is a warm and burnt orange. cheerful color, and can be Designers also refer to quite festive. colors using their percent- Yellow is a very weak ages of CMYK — cyan, color alone. A headline magenta, yellow and black printed in yellow will dis- — with subtractive colors appear when seen from a or amounts of RGB — red, distance. Yellow with black, green and blue — with on the other hand, is very Triad additive colors. The same clear. These colors together burnt orange above would are warning colors in na- be 0 percent cyan, 46 per- ture. Studies have shown cent magenta, 100 yellow that students learn “better” and 18 percent black. It in a yellow room. Because would also be 178 parts of this, yellow is seen as the red, 110 green and 56 parts color of knowledge. With blue if coming from a light the sun being yellow, the source. expression “bright as the sun” has a new twist. Meaning Green is the color of na- ture. “Being green” means Visual communicators being concerned with the should only use colors for environment. Green is also a specific design reason. associated with envy and Spectral Neighbors Color for color’s sake is immaturity. Analogous Color usually a bad idea. Color Blue is the favorite color

93 of adults. It is a passive White can have many color, being associated with different meanings from the sky, water and ice. purity and innocence to Violet or purple can be surrender and hope. very mysterious. Violet Black, on the other hand, used to be a difficult color brings thoughts of death, to create, so the color began mourning and evil. But to be associated with roy- black is also very elegant alty and the rich. and stylish.

Sources of Color Subtractive Colors Additive Colors paint, ink, pigments, dyes television, projectors, stage lighting

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