COLOUR THEORY TERMS

Colour Wheel

Primary Colours: Red, Yellow, Blue. These 3 colors are the base colors for every other color on the color wheel. This is why they're called "primary." When you mix two primaries together, you get a secondary colour.

Also note the triangular positioning of the primary colours on the colour wheel, and how the secondary colours are next to them. Primary colours are useful for designs or art that needs to have a sense of urgency. Primary colours are the most vivid colours when placed next to each other, which is why you'll notice that most fast food restaurants use primary colours in their logos, as it evokes speed.

Secondary Colours: Orange, Green, Purple. These 3 colours are what you get when you mix the primary colours together.They're located in-between the primary colours to indicate what colours they're made from. Notice how green is in-between yellow and blue.Secondary colours are usually more interesting than primary colours, but they do not evoke speed and urgency.

Tertiary Colours: These are those "in-between" colours like Yellow-Green and Red-Violet. They're made by mixing one primary colour and one secondary colour together. There can be endless combinations of tertiary colours, depending on how they're mixed.

Complementary Colours: Red and Green, Blue and Orange, Purple and Yellow. These are the colours directly across from each other on the colour wheel. Don't let the name fool you, they rarely look good when used together. They're called "complementary" because, when used together, they become extremely vibrant and have heavy contrast.Complementary colours are useful when you want to make something stand out. For example, if you use a green background and have a red circle on it, the red will jump off the page and be almost blinding.

Analogous Colours: Red and Orange, Blue and Green, etc. These are colours right next to each other on the colour wheel. They usually match extremely well, but they also create almost no contrast. They're good for very serene-feeling designs and artwork where you want viewers to feel comfortable.

Other Terms

Warm Colours: Colours such as red, yellow, and orange. These colours evoke warmth because they remind us of things like the sun or fire.

Cool Colours: Colours like blue, green, and purple (violet). These colours evoke a cool feeling because they remind us of things like water or grass.

Neutral Colours: Gray, Brown. These aren't on most colour wheels, but they're considered neutral because they don't contrast with much of anything. They're dull and uneventful.

Value: Usually refers to the amount of black in a colour. The more black a colour has, the darker its value.

Brightness: Refers to the amount of white in a colour. The more white a colour has, the brighter it is.

Saturation: Refers to the amount of a colour used. When a colour is at full saturation, it is extremely vibrant. When a colour is "desaturated," a large amount of colour has been removed. Desaturated colours tend to be close to being neutral because there is so much gray in them.

Types of Colour

RGB Colour: This is colour based upon light. Your computer monitor and television use RGB. The name "RGB" stands for Red, Green, Blue, which are the 3 primaries (with green replacing yellow). By combining these 3 colours, any other colour can be produced. Remember, this colour method is only used with light sources; it does not apply to printing. CMYK Colour: This is the colour method based upon pigments. "CMYK" stands for Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black. Using these four colours most other colours can be achieved. Unfortunately, CMYK cannot reproduce the same amount of colours are RGB can, which is why yellow-greens sometimes look a bit muddy when printed. This is the method used by printers the world over, and is also a clever way of mixing paints. Pantone (PMS) Colour: This is yet another printing colour method. PMS stands for "Pantone Matching System," and is a large list of specially mixed colors made by the Pantone Corporation. Instead of using CMYK to create colours, the pigments are created individually for purity. For example, if you wanted to use a Red-Violet colour, you'd pick PMS 233M. The colour would be made exclusively and would always print exactly how you wanted. The only drawback to using PMS colours is that they're only useful for projects with few colours. They're also expensive. (source)