Color Theory Notes [9/30/13]

Color Theory

• The 3 primary colors on computers are Red, Green, and Blue.
• Red + Blue = Indigo
• Blue + Yellow = Green
• Red + Yellow = Orange
• Visible Color Spectrum (ROYGBIV): Red Orange Yellow Green Blue Indigo Violet
• Pigment generated colors use the primary colors Red, Yellow, and Blue.
• Light generated colors use the primary colors Red, Green, and Blue.
• Pigment generated colors are mixed in a Subtractive format, the more colors you add the darker they become.
• Light generated colors are mixed in an Additive format, the more colors you add the lighter they become.
• When you mix primary colors you get secondary colors, mix secondary colors to get tertiary colors and so on.
• Colors are either described as "warm" or "cool".
• RGB or "Red, Green, Blue" is a Light Generated Model.
• RGY or "Red, Green, Yellow" is a Pigment Generated Model.
• CMYK or "Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black"is a Print Process Model.

Color Modes

• Monochromatic pictures only use tints, shades, and tones of a single hue.
• Greyscale pictures only use Black and White.
• Web Safe RGB are hexadecimal compatible.
• Tints are created by adding white to a color.
• Shades are created by adding black to a color.
• Adding grey to a pure hue will give you a tone.

Color Harmony

• Given a color wheel, any two colors on opposite ends of the wheel are complementary.
• Split complementary colors are colors which are nearly on the opposite sides of each other, though not exactly.
• Analogous colors are adjacent to each other, yet somewhat different.
• Taking 3 colors which are triangularly spaced from each other are triads.
• Tetradic colors and quadrilateral colors use a similar method, except tetradic uses a rectangle and quadrilateral uses a square.

Color Palletes

• Different colors palettes can invoke mood, location, and emotion.
• Interior design is heavily based on color palletes.

Color Properties

• Similar to cool and warm colors, there are other groups for light and dark colors, or saturated and desaturated colors.
• Color intensity changes in relation to its surrounding color. Colors will pop out against some colors and blend with others.
• Some types of color associations are universal, although many others are only generated from cultural and contemporary sources.
• 73% of purchasing decisions are now made in-store.
• Important for catching the shopper's eye and conveying information effectively.
• It also increasing brand recognition by up to 80%
• Blue is a rare occurrence in nature, therefore we have no appetite response to blue food.

Color Effects the Mind

• Pink is a tranquilizing color that drains your energy.
• Used in prisons, holding cells, opposing team locker rooms.