color (design fundamentals)

Color

HUE

• A name of a color family or an area on the color wheel.

White Light Refracted by a Prism.

SUBTRACTIVE COLOR PROCESS

• The mixing of pigments and dyes so that all colors of light except the color are absorbed (subtracted).

Pigment Primaries: Subtractive color mixture.

ADDITIVE COLOR PROCESS

• The mixing of colored lights so that they shine on a surface, they combine (add) to make other colors.

PRIMARY COLORS

• In a color system, the basic colors that cannot be broken down into other colors and that can be combined to create other colors.

Hue – the color wheel.

SECONDARY COLORS

• The product of mixing two primary colors.

TERTIARY COLORS

• The products of mixing a primary and secondary color.

Hue – the color wheel.

KEY

• Used synonymously with value. In a scale of values, high-key colors are lighter than colors in the middle of the scale; low-key colors are darker than the colors in the middle of the scale.

High key

Low key

TONE

• A color that has gray added to it.

TINT

• A color that has white added to it.

SHADE

• A color that has black added to it.

INTENSITY, SATURATION

• The strength or weakness of a color.

OPTICAL COLOR MIXING

• Placement of different colors in such a way that the human eye mixes them to form new colors.

Sandro Botticelli. Detail of Birth of Venus. 1486.Color Printing: yellow.

Sandro Botticelli. Detail of Birth of Venus. 1486.Color Printing: magenta.

Sandro Botticelli. Detail of Birth of Venus. 1486.Color Printing: yellow and magenta.

Sandro Botticelli. Detail of Birth of Venus. 1486.Color Printing: cyan.

Sandro Botticelli. Detail of Birth of Venus. 1486.Color Printing: yellow, magenta, and cyan.

Sandro Botticelli. Detail of Birth of Venus. 1486.Color Printing: black.

Sandro Botticelli. Detail of Birth of Venus. 1486.Color Printing: yellow, magenta, cyan, and black.

Sandro Botticelli. Detail of Birth of Venus. 1486. Color printing detail.

OPTICAL COLOR MIXING

• Placement of different colors in such a way that the human eye mixes them to form new colors.

Color Schemes

• Monochromatic, Analogous, and Complementary

• Triads, Tetrads, and Hexads• Warm and Cool

Colors• Earth Tones• Polychromatic

Schemes

MONOCHROMATIC COLOR SCHEME

• Variations in color based on one hue.

ANALOGOUS COLOR SCHEME

• Variations in color between hues adjacent to one another on the color wheel.

COMPLIMENTARY COLOR SCHEME

• Variations in color based on colors opposite each other on the color wheel.

SIMULTANEOUS CONTRAST

• An effect achieved by placing highly contrasting colors (complements), values, and intensities next to each other.

TRIAD

• Three colors that are equidistant from one another (form an equilateral triangle) on the color wheel.

HEXAD

• Six colors obtained by choosing every other color on the color wheel.

TETRAD

• Four colors that are equidistant from one another (form a square or rectangle) on the color wheel.

Polychromatic Color Scheme

• Having many colors; random or intuitive use of color combinations as opposed to color selection based on a specific color scheme.

Earth Tones

Analysis:

• Color temperature• Color Scheme• Key• Mood