COLOR

Qualities of Color • Hue • Value • Saturation • Temperature

Hue • Is the name of the color being selected • Color and Hue are often synonymous Purple

VALUE • Lightness or Darkness of a Visual Element or Color • Graduation from Black to Hue to White • Shade, Tone, and Tint are different aspects of Value

Saturation • The Brightness or Dullness of an element or color • Chroma and Intensity are synonyms

Visualizing Saturation Super Saturated Desaturated

Temperature • Perceived to be warm or cool • Does it look hot or cold?

• WARM’s • COOL’s

Cool Colors • Great for calm settings • Will often reside in the background

Warm Colors • Fights for attention • Will often jump from the page into the foreground (don’t be scared)

Neutrals • Black • White • And all shades of gray

Newtonian Color Wheel • Sir Isaac Newton based the first color wheel on a spectrum produced by a prism. There are some that say the color-wheel is a poor choice for demonstrating principles of color mixing, WHY?

Image from Imprint Issue 25.

• Red • Yellow • Blue Primary Colors

• Green • Orange • Purple Secondary Colors

Pigment or Light Subtractive • Grade School – Crayons – Paints – Clay • Screen Work – Web Design – TV – Digital Portfolios Additive

To the Press • The Four Process Colors are: – Cyan – Magenta – Yellow – Black • Process Colors can be Tinted a %

An Alternative to the Wheel • Cyan Magenta and Yellow • Some Consider this to be a better set of Primary colors • Hmmmm

Spot Colors • Spot Colors – Like buying a can of paint – Two-color, three-color, four color, etc….

– Pantone is a popular method for naming colors • Black is considered a color when you pay the bill

On the Screen • Additive colors • RGB – Red – Green – Blue • Hexadecimal is used to name colors • Used extensively in HTML

Subtractive Primaries • Light gets Absorbed • We see the Reflected colors • RED • YELLOW • BLUE

Additive Primaries • Colored Light is added to create a color • Light is not reflected off an object or pigment • RED • GREEN • BLUE

Harmony • Harmonious color combinations are not by accident. • Here are some of the most popular approaches used to create harmony.

– Complimentary – Split-Complimentary – Analogous – Monochromatic – Triadic – Tetradic

Achromatic • Contains no hue. • Only Black White or Gray

Achromatic in Action

Monochromatic • Single Hue • Many variations of the Hue – Value – Saturation • Can $ave printing cost

Monochromatic in Action

Complementary • Opposite colors • Seldom use at full saturation and value • What are the complements of the primary colors?

Complementary in Action

Split Complementary • Instead of using a colors complement use its neighbors • Once again, consider adjusting value and saturation

Split Complimentary in Action

Analogous • Neighboring colors working together • Again, work with value and saturation • This is a very basic color wheel the Colors are practically unlimited

Analogous in Action

Triadic • Primary colors form a Triad • Secondary colors form a Triad • Some strive to maintain equal relationships between hue and saturation when using a triad. Not necessary though.

Triadic in Action

Tetradic • Much like complementary • Use the neighboring colors instead of the complements

Tetradic in Action

Single Hue Amidst B&W • Catch the eye and pull it in • Greater contrast will help to capture your viewers attention

Contrast • Contrast of Hue • Contrast of Value • Contrast Saturation

Make a Focal Point • Mix saturated colors that need emphasis with low saturated hues.

Echoes • Creates Continuity through Repetition • Pull Colors from Photos used in a composite

Push and Pull

• Use color to elicited motion on the substrate.

• Through the Juxtaposition of cool colors and warm highly saturated colors, movement seems to exist.

Color Combo Activity • Pick a Base Color • From the Base, produce several different harmonious combinations.

Movement Mix • Through the utilization of 7-9 hues of warm, cool, dull, and bright variations. • Colorize a collection of large scaled letter forms and shapes that extend beyond the page’s edge.

Feel the Colors • Define a Palette of 3-5 colors that communicate the following emotions: – Anger – Surprise – Sadness – Serenity – Innocence – Joy