The Basics of Color Theory
Colors wield enormous sway over our attitudes and emotion, and also plays a major role when it comes to setting the tone of your design. Actually, a study from Quicksprout states that “85% of shoppers base their purchase decisions on color.”
By choosing the right color scheme, you will be able to get your audience to see what you want them to see, and feel what you want them to feel. Color can be your most powerful design element if you learn to use it effectively.
Ready? Let’s get started!
The Color Wheel
In order to get a good grasp of color theory, we need to bring it back to basics: the color wheel.
The color wheel is a great tool that even experienced creators regularly refer back to for reference and inspiration. Although many variations of the color wheel exist, they are all built upon 3 different color types that make up the core fundamentals of the color wheel.
Primary Colors
While a multitude of colors exist (with more created every year), all colors can be derived from the 3 primary colors: red, yellow and blue, or often referred to as RYB. These 3 colors are the building blocks of every known color, and cannot be recreated by combining other colors. They are also the fundamental colors tied to human vision.
Secondary Colors
Secondary colors are the next layer down, and consist of: green, orange, and purple. Secondary colors are the results of an equal mixture of 2 primary colors. You can find them between the primary colors on the color wheel.
Tertiary Colors
The last grouping of colors you need to know are the tertiary colors which are the result of blending a primary and secondary color together. Some examples are: red-orange, blue-green, and blue purple.
Now that we have a grasp on the building blocks of color, let’s cover how we can use these 3 different color types to start forming color schemes using “Color Harmonies.”
Complementary Colors
These are colors that are opposite each other on the color wheel. Complementary colors can provide a vibrant “pop” to your designs because of its high level of contrast. It’s a great way to draw attention to a particular design element, so be sure to use it sparingly.
Analogous Colors
Three colors that are directly adjacent to each other are known as analogous colors. They are usually the most visually pleasing due to how closely related they are. We recommend that you choose one color to govern the design whilst the other two take on a more supportive role.
Triadic Colors
Any three colors that are equally spaced around the color wheel are known as triadic colors. Triadic colors are great when you want a more lively palate. Like the analogous colors, it's recommended that you choose one color as the guiding color while the other 2 are supplementary.
Split Complementary
Similar to the complementary color scheme, split-complementary colors use a base color and the two colors adjacent to its complementary color. The result is a well-balanced softer color scheme that is not as vivid and sharp as complementary colors.
Monochrome Colors
Monochrome Colors are also another great coloring scheme to use when creating designs. By using various shades, tones, and tint of the same color; you can help simplify a very busy design; giving it a cleaner, and more organized, polish.
Psychology of Colors
There’s no doubt that colors have a deeply rooted connection with human emotions. Even different tints of the same color have the power of invoking completely different emotions to a viewer.
People will most often categorize colors into two categories:
Cool colors which are associated with soothing feelings and a sense of calm, and warm color that invoke energetic feelings. But every color communicates a different feeling and emotion. Take a look at the chart below to help you get started:
Another great color creating resource is the Adobe’s Color wheel. Give it a spin the next time you're designing to help you come up with the perfect color palette.
And there you have it, a crash course in color theory. Keep in mind that these are merely guidelines and not design law you need to always abide by. So feel free to venture out and experiment to see what looks the best, but like they say, "you need to know the rules first before you can start breaking them.”
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