COLOR THEORY

perception

color wheel

hues and shades

light waves

RGB

our brain sees color as the reflection
of light in different combinations, the
way the brain perceives color is
thanks to the different shades of the
light that our eye perceives.

there is a color wheel system called the RGB system. It works like a color wheel, thanks to it we know the main colors that help us produce different shades of color are RED GREEN and BLUE.
TVS and screens use this color system.

there is also another system called the CMYK color wheel, which is what most people learned in kindergarten as the primary colors. this system though, has a problem. when used, it gives things a darker shade than they actually are.

design

the color wheel was designed in 1666 by Isaac Newton. This color wheel consists of 3 primary colors, 2 secondary colors and 6 tertiary colors. This color wheel helps create palettes and color harmonies.

warm/cool

The color wheel has two sub divisions, warm and cool tones. These two divisions are separated by red, orange, yellow (warm) and blue, purple, green (cool). it is very important to remember that these two divisions have very important meanings; cool colors are a sign of calmness, peacefulness and serenity, while warm tones are a sign of energy, brightness and action.
the use of these tones may have an impact on the way people see an object.

tint= added
white shade= added black
tone= added black white or
grey to make color less intense

color schemes

complementary

colors are opposite on the
color wheel, this helps contrast
colors. it can be very tiring to the eye.

anagolous

colors are next to each other in the
color wheel, this helps create
accents because of the small
shades and darkness of colors

triadic

colors are evenly spaced around the color
wheel, this helps create a harmony of colors.
it is normally very bright and appealing to the eye.

Andrea de la vega 1002