Can Help You Improve Color Use
The color wheel helps you to visualize the relationship of colors and to better understand color theory.This article provides information to help you better understand color theory and specific colors.
Primary Colors Complementary colors, and Intermediate colors
Color Mixing Wheel: Primary Colors
Primary colors cannot be made by mixing other colors and cannot be broken down into other colors. Blue, red and yellow are primary colors and are also triad colors. Triad colors are separated by equal distances on the color wheel.
Blue is cool, shows seriousness, sincerity, trustworthiness and high quality. It portrays authority, but is affected by paper finish. It decreases respiration rate, blood pressure, eye blinks per minutes and hand tremors. Therefore, readers seek blue to be calmed. It is so calming that subjects believe they spend more time looking at blue publications than they actually do. It feels more fashionable in brighter shades and more traditional in deeper hues.
Red is enraging, fierce, intense, lively and stimulating. It evokes passion, emotion and heritage. In most cultures, red means danger. In others, red is the color of death or good luck. Because it is so strong, you should use it for secondary emphasis rather than for primary emphasis.
Yellow reminds readers of sunlight and is preferred by high-minded people. It is often used as a warning color.
Shades and tones of a primary color can provide a monochromatic color scheme.
Color Mixing Wheel: Complementary Colors
By looking directly across the wheel from a primary color, you can quickly identify its complement color. The combination of primary and complement colors provide for good two color combinations.
Complementary colors are exactly opposite each other on the color wheel and are made by mixing a color’s other triad colors. For instance, the complement for red is green, a combination of yellow and blue; the complement for blue is orange, a combination of yellow and red; the complement for yellow is purple, a combination of red and blue.
Complementary colors combine well. They create balance, stabilize and provide contrast. When using two complementary colors, use a shade of one and a tint of another so that they will contrast with one another. However, you should always test the colors together because colors change depending on the colors around them.
Green is the complement of red. It is an earth color, serene and friendly. It’s reassuring but also symbolizes envy and jealousy. Because green is at the center of the light spectrum, it is the least arousing of colors.
Orange is the complement of blue. Friendly people prefer it. It “stands next to red in its penetrating ability”. However, few researchers have dealt with orange.
Purple is the complement of yellow. It excites readers because it’s at the end of the light spectrum. It is “mournful, dignified, mystic, lonely, desperate.” It’s growing in popularity for fashion and home furnishings.
Color Mixing Wheel: Intermediate Colors
Intermediate colors are beside each other on the color wheel and blend well with each other. Intermediate colors are created by mixing a primary color with one of the colors next to it on the color wheel.
By blending colors, you can create a flowing, harmonious interest because the related colors have one color in common. If you want a three-color scheme, use intermediate colors.
Learning To Use Color
Printing color publications is expensive. You accept that expense to better present your organization and to better relate to publics, and ultimately to increase profits. But choosing the wrong color for the public or product can present the wrong message, hinder relationships and decrease profits.
The following information in Strategic Publications: Designing For Target Publics will help you learn to use color more effectively:
blue, green, red, and yellow;
gold, pink, violet, brown, gray, white and black.
the general appearance, mental and direct associations, objective and subjective impressions.
Copyright: Color Mixing Wheel
Don’t Make Expensive Color Mistakes!