Colour Theory

Colour theory is described in many different ways but there are three main areas of colour theory that must know: colour harmony, the colour wheel and how the colours are used. Colour theory helps us to group colours in a logical order.

The Colour Wheel

The coloiur wheel was founded by Sir Issac Newton in 1666 and this was when he developed the first circular diagram. As time has carried on many others have studied and created their own versions of this

On colour wheels there are also separate categories of colour:

Primary Colours: These are red yellow and blue and cannot be made by mixing any other colours and all other colours are made by mixing these three.

Secondary Colours: These colours can be formed by mixing the primary colours.

Tertiary colours: These colours can be made by mixing primary and secondary colours together.Here is a diagram I found to explain each colour wheel.

 

Colour Harmony

Colour Harmony can be achieved by using colours that are appealling and balanced to the viewers eye. This creates a sense of order and the viewers can be more engaged with the colours used. Using colours that don't work harmoniously together would result in a displeasing combination of colours to the eye and the viewer would find it either boring or chaotic.

Some basic formulas for colour harmony include:

 

Analogous Colours

These three colours are right next to each other on the colour wheel and usually one of the three colours is dominant.

 

Complementary Colours

This involved two colours that are directly opposite each other on the colour wheel for example blue and yellow. These two colours create the maximum contrast which is pleasing to the eye.

 

Nature

Nature provides us with many natural colour combinations that work harmoniously together.

Here is an example of a harmonious colour combination within nature.

 

 

The colours within this picture are directly opposite each other on the colour wheel and therefore create a pleasing harmonious combination. 

 

Colour Context

The way in which colour behaves and reacts to the use of other colours and shapes is very interesting for example if I were to use a red triangle on a black background and then a red triangle on an orange background the red on the black would stand out alot more because the contrast is greater. Using different colours together can sometimes result in the colour appearing to have changed hue or saturation. By observing the effects that colours have on each other I can now see that there are many different ways of perceiving and understanding colour theory.

 

References: http://www.colormatters.com/color-and-design/basic-color-theory

Second Image Reference: http://printingcode.runemadsen.com/lecture-color/