* COLOR WHEEL

* COMBINATION OF COLOR
* THREE DIMENSION OF
COLOR

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA

 PRIMARY COLORS
PRIMARY COLORS INCLUDE YELLOW, BLUE, AND
RED. THESE ARE COLORS THAT CAN’T BE
CREATED BY MIXING OF OTHER COLORS.
INSTEAD, THEY COMBINE TO CREATE
SECONDARY COLORS, WHICH IN TURN COMBINE
TO CREATE TERTIARY COLORS. IN EFFECT, ALL
COLORS STEM FROM THE THREE PRIMARIES.
 SECONDARY COLORS

mixing equal amounts of two primary colors at a time. Red and yellow combine to
make orange; blue and yellow yield green; and red and blue create purple. Keep in
mind that the ratio of each color you use when mixing them affects the final hue. For
example, combining 1 part red with 1 part blue will create one shade of purple, while
combining 1 part red with 2 parts blue will create a darker, more blue-tinged hue of
purple.
 Tertiary Colors
Tertiary colors, also known as intermediate colors, are
made by combining equal parts of primary and secondary
colors. Sometimes they’re named after the two colors that
created them, such as blue-green or orange-red, and
sometimes they’re called by their own name. There are six
in total: vermilion (red-orange), magenta (red-purple),
violet (blue-purple), teal (blue-green), chartreuse (yellow-
green) and amber (yellow-orange ).
THE COLOR WHEEL
THE COLOR WHEEL, SOMETIMES CALLED A COLOR CIRCLE, IS A CIRCULAR
ARRANGEMENT OF COLORS ORGANIZED BY THEIR CHROMATIC
RELATIONSHIP TO ONE ANOTHER. THE PRIMARY COLORS ARE
EQUIDISTANT FROM EACH OTHER ON THE WHEEL, AND SECONDARY AND
TERTIARY COLORS SIT BETWEEN THEM. IT’S USED IN ART AND DESIGN TO
CHOOSE COLORS AND COLOR SCHEMES BASED ON THEIR RELATIONSHIPS
TO ONE ANOTHER.
The color wheel can also be divided into warm and cool
colors. The warmth or coolness of a color is also known as
its color temperature. The color combinations found on a
color wheel often have a balance of warm and cool colors.
According to color psychology, different color temperatures
evoke different feelings. For example, warm colors are said
to bring to mind coziness and energy, while cool colors are
associated with serenity and isolation.

Warm colors are the colors from red through to yellow.

These colors are said to bring to mind warmth, like the sun.
Cool colors are the colors from blue to green and purple.
These colors are said to bring to mind coolness, like water.
COMBINATION OF COLOR
WHEN COLORS WORK TOGETHER, THEY CREATE A COLOR SCHEME OR COLOR
COMBINATION. COMPLEMENTARY COLORS ARE OPPOSITES ON THE COLOR
WHEEL. BECAUSE THERE'S A SHARP CONTRAST BETWEEN THE TWO COLORS,
THEY CAN REALLY MAKE IMAGERY POP, BUT OVERUSING THEM CAN GET
TIRESOME. ANALOGOUS COLORS SIT NEXT TO ONE ANOTHER ON THE COLOR
WHEEL.
COMPLEMENTARY
TWO COLORS THAT ARE ON OPPOSITE SIDES OF THE COLOR
WHEEL. THIS COMBINATION PROVIDES A HIGH CONTRAST AND
HIGH IMPACT COLOR COMBINATION – TOGETHER, THESE COLORS
WILL APPEAR BRIGHTER AND MORE PROMINENT.
Monochromatic
Three shades, tones and tints of one base color. Provides a subtle and
conservative color combination. This is a versatile color combination
that is easy to apply to design projects for a harmonious look.
 Analogous

THREE COLORS THAT ARE SIDE BY SIDE ON THE COLOR WHEEL. THIS
COLOR COMBINATION IS VERSATILE, BUT CAN BE OVERWHELMING.
TO BALANCE AN ANALOGOUS COLOR SCHEME, CHOOSE ONE
DOMINANT COLOR, AND USE THE OTHERS AS ACCENTS.
 TRIADIC
THREE COLORS THAT ARE EVENLY SPACED ON THE COLOR WHEEL. THIS
PROVIDES A HIGH CONTRAST COLOR SCHEME, BUT LESS SO THAN THE
COMPLEMENTARY COLOR COMBINATION — MAKING IT MORE VERSATILE.
THIS COMBINATION CREATES BOLD, VIBRANT COLOR PALETTES.
 Tetradic
Four colors that are evenly spaced on the color wheel. Tetradic color
schemes are bold and work best if you let one color be dominant, and
use the others as accents. The more colors you have in your palette,
the more difficult it is to balance,
THE DIMENSION OF COLOR
THE PERCEPTION OF COLOR IS OFTEN DESCRIBED BY REFERRING TO THREE DIMENSIONS
OF THE COLOR EXPERIENCES: HUE, CHROMA(SATURATION), AND VALUE(BRIGHTNESS). ...
THIS IS BECAUSE COLOR IS A QUALITY, NOT AN AMOUNT.
COLOR DIMENSION 1: HUE

YOU CAN THINK OF HUES AS THE COLORS OF THE RAINBOW. IF WE ARRANGE THEM IN A CIRCLE, IN
A SEQUENCE FROM YELLOW, YELLOW-RED, RED, RED-PURPLE, ETC, WE END UP WITH A COLOR
WHEEL OF THE HUES.
EACH HUE INCLUDES THE DIFFERENT COLORS THAT VARY IN VALUE (DARK/LIGHT) AND CHROMA
(INTENSITY) BUT ARE PART OF THE SAME HUE FAMILY.
FOR EXAMPLE, IN THE BLUE HUE, YOU CAN FIND A WIDE RANGE OF BLUES. OF COURSE, THERE
WILL BE PURE BLUE, BUT ALSO LIGHT BLUE AND DARK BLUE, INTENSE (HIGH CHROMA) BLUE, AND
DULL (LOW CHROMA) BLUE, AND ALL COMBINATIONS IN BETWEEN.
All Hues Are Colors, Not
All Colors Are Hues
While all the hues on the color wheel are also colors,
some colors are not hues and are not included in the color
wheel.

Think of brown for example. Brown is a color, but it does

not appear on the color wheel because it’s not a hue. In
fact, brown is a dull color under a hue. Depending on the
kind of brown, it could be a dull red, orange, or even
purple.
COLOR DIMENSION 2: VALUE (BRIGHTNESS)
VALUE IS THE DEGREE OF LIGHTNESS OR DARKNESS OF A COLOR.
MUNSELL HAS DIVIDED THE GAP FROM BLACK TO WHITE IN 10 EQUAL STEPS CALLED
THE VALUE SCALE.
BLACK HAS VALUE ZERO AND PURE WHITE HAS VALUE 10. THE VALUES IN BETWEEN
ARE GRADUALLY LIGHTER GRAYS OF VALUES 2, 4, 6, AND 8.
EVERY COLOR CAN BE ASSOCIATED WITH A SPECIFIC VALUE. YOU CAN SEE THE REAL
VALUE OF A COLOR BY SQUINTING.
WHEN SQUINTING, YOUR EYELASHES FILTER, AND SOMEHOW BLOCK, THE COLORED
LIGHT, LETTING YOU SEE THE COLOR-LESS GRAYISH VERSION OF AN OBJECT.
WHILE YOU SQUINT, YOU MAY HOLD A VALUE SCALE IN THE LINE OF VISION NEXT TO
THE COLOR YOU ARE EVALUATING. THIS WAY IT’S EASIER TO COMPARE AND
DETERMINE THE EXACT VALUE.
•Color Dimension 3: Chroma

•Colors with strong chroma are often referred to as bright or

saturated, However, the term brightness is also used to describe
the intensity of light and, therefore, indicates a combination of
value (lightness) and chroma.

•Chroma refers to the strength or intensity of a color. A high

chroma color is pure from any presence of gray or white. For
example, lemon yellow has a high chroma, while a banana yellow
has lower chroma.