1. Visual and Graphic Design
Color Theory
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2. Lesson Objectives Define terminology related to color theory
Identify types of color schemes
Develop a color scheme
Identify the RGB values for drawing objects
Design a color wheel using RGB values
Establish the CYMK values for drawing objects
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3. PART ONE Color Terminology & Color Schemes
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4. Color Terminology
Color: Color results when light is reflected off of an object. As the light hits an object, some of the light wave is absorbed into the object. A portion of the light wave is reflected back to your eyes.
The color that is reflected is determined by
the LENGTH of the
light wave that is reflected
from the object.
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5. Color Terminology Primary colors: Red, Yellow, and Blue
These are considered the basic colors.
All other colors can be created by using a mixture of any of these three colors.
RED
YELLOW
BLUE
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6. Color Terminology + = + = Tints Shades
Created by adding white to a color
Shades
Created by adding black to a color
Blue
White
Blue Tint + =
Blue
Black
Blue Shade + =
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7. Color Terminology + = + = + = Secondary colors:
Orange, Violet, and Green
Created by mixing equal amounts of two primary colors
Yellow +
Red
Orange =
Blue +
Red
Violet =
Yellow +
Blue
Green =
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8. Color Terminology + = + = + = + = Tertiary colors:
Primary + Secondary = Tertiary
Tertiary colors:
These colors can be created by mixing a primary color with an adjacent secondary color
OR they can be made by mixing unequal amounts of two primary colors.
Yellow
Green
YellowGreen + =
Red
Violet
Red-Violet + =
Red
Orange
Red-Orange + =
Blue
Green
Blue-Green + =
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9. Color Terminology Neutral colors: White Brown Black
Varying shades of each
Black
Gray
White
Tan
Brown
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10. Color Terminology Color Wheel:
Blue-Green
Color Wheel:
If we arrange the primary, secondary, and tertiary colors in a circle, adjacent to the colors according to their mixture combinations, we get a color wheel.
Green
Yellow-Green
Blue
Blue-Violet
Yellow
Violet
Yellow-Orange
Orange
Red-Violet
Red
Red-Orange
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11. Color Schemes Complementary colors:
Any two colors that are exactly opposite on the color wheel
Blue-Green
Green
Yellow-Green
Blue
Blue-Violet
Yellow
Violet
Yellow-Orange
Orange
Red-Violet
Red
Red-Orange
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12. Color Schemes Split-complement colors: Has three colors Pick a color
Find the two adjacent colors of its complementary color
Blue-Green
Green
Yellow-Green
Blue
Blue-Violet
Yellow
Violet
Yellow-Orange
If you lay an isosceles triangle in the middle of the color wheel, the tips of the triangle will point to the three split-complementary colors.
Orange
Red-Violet
Red
Red-Orange
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13. Color Schemes Analogous colors:
Any three colors that are side by side on the color wheel
Blue-Green
Green
Yellow-Green
Blue
Blue-Violet
Yellow
Violet
Yellow-Orange
Orange
Red-Violet
Red
Red-Orange
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14. Color Schemes Triad colors:
3 colors that are equally distant from each other on the color wheel
Most basic triad scheme is the 3 primary colors
If you lay an equilateral triangle (triangle with all three sides the same length) in the middle of the color wheel, the tips of the triangle will point to three colors that make up a triadic scheme.
Blue-Green
Green
Yellow-Green
Blue
Blue-Violet
Yellow
Violet
Yellow-Orange
Orange
Red-Violet
Red
Red-Orange
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15. Color Schemes Square Scheme:
Blue-Green
Square Scheme:
Have four colors that are equally distant from each other on the color wheel
If you lay a square in the middle of the color wheel, the tips of it will point to the four colors that make up a tetrad scheme.
Green
Yellow-Green
Blue
Blue-Violet
Yellow
Violet
Yellow-Orange
Orange
Red-Violet
Red
Red-Orange
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16. Color Scheme Example Square Pairs
Place a square in the middle of the color wheel.
Your four colors are located at the corners of the square.
Choose two colors for the majority of your objects and let the other two colors be accents.
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17. Color Scheme Example Analogous Scheme
Choose any 3 colors that are side by side on the color wheel.
Any neutral color may be brought in as an accent.
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18. The Meaning of Color Black White
Click on a color to learn about its meaning.

19. The Meaning of Color-Red
Red is the color of fire. It is associated with energy, war, danger, strength, power, determination and love.
Red is a very emotionally intense color. It enhances human metabolism, increases respiration rate, and raises blood pressure. It has very high visibility, which is why stop signs, stoplights, and fire equipment are usually painted red. It is a color found in many national flags.
Red brings text and images to the foreground. Use it as an accent color to stimulate people to make quick decisions; it is a perfect color for 'Buy Now' or 'Click Here' buttons on Internet banners and websites. Red is widely used to indicate danger (high voltage signs, traffic lights).
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20. The Meaning of Color-Orange
Orange combines the energy of red and the happiness of yellow. It is associated with joy, sunshine, and the tropics. Orange represents enthusiasm, fascination, happiness, creativity, determination, attraction, success, and encouragement.
To the human eye, orange is a very hot color, so it gives the sensation of heat. Nevertheless, orange is not as aggressive as red. Orange increases oxygen supply to the brain, produces an invigorating effect, and stimulates mental activity. As a citrus color, orange is associated with healthy food and stimulates appetite. Orange is the color of fall and harvest.
Orange has very high visibility, so you can use it to catch attention and highlight the most important elements of your design.
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21. The Meaning of Color-Yellow
Yellow is the color of sunshine. It's associated with joy, happiness, intellect, and energy.
Yellow produces a warming effect, arouses cheerfulness, stimulates mental activity, and generates muscle energy. Yellow is often associated with food. Bright, pure yellow is an attention getter, which is the reason taxicabs are painted this color. When overused, yellow may have a disturbing effect; it is known that babies cry more in yellow rooms. Yellow is seen before other colors when placed against black; this combination is often used to issue a warning.
Use yellow to evoke pleasant, cheerful feelings. Yellow is very effective for attracting attention, so use it to highlight the most important elements of your design. Shades of yellow are visually unappealing because they loose cheerfulness and become dingy.
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22. The Meaning of Color-Green
Green is the color of nature. It symbolizes growth, harmony, and freshness. Green has strong emotional correspondence with safety. Dark green is also commonly associated with money.
Green has great healing power. It is the most restful color for the human eye; it can improve vision. Green suggests stability and endurance. Sometimes green denotes lack of experience; for example, a 'greenhorn' is a novice. Green, as opposed to red, means safety; it is the color of free passage in road traffic.
Green is directly related to nature, so you can use it to promote 'green' products. Dull, darker green is commonly associated with money, the financial world, banking, and Wall Street.
Dark green is associated with ambition, greed, and jealousy. Olive green is the traditional color of peace.
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23. The Meaning of Color-Blue
Blue is the color of the sky and sea. It symbolizes trust, loyalty, wisdom, confidence, intelligence, and truth.
Blue is considered beneficial to the mind and body. It slows human metabolism and produces a calming effect. Blue is strongly associated with tranquility and calmness.
Blue is used to promote products and services related to cleanliness (water purification filters, cleaning liquids), air and sky (airlines, airports, air conditioners), water and sea (sea voyages, mineral water).
When used together with warm colors like yellow or red, blue can create high-impact, vibrant designs; for example, blue-yellow-red is a perfect color scheme for a superhero.
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24. The Meaning of Color-Purple
Purple combines the stability of blue and the energy of red. Purple is associated with royalty. It symbolizes power, nobility, luxury, and ambition. It conveys wealth and extravagance. Purple is associated with wisdom, dignity, independence, creativity, mystery, and magic.
According to surveys, almost 75 percent of pre-adolescent children prefer purple to all other colors. Purple is a very rare color in nature; some people consider it to be artificial.
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25. The Meaning of Color-White
White is associated with light, goodness, and innocence. It is considered to be the color of perfection.
White means safety, purity, and cleanliness. As opposed to black, white usually has a positive connotation. White can represent a successful beginning.
White is associated with hospitals, doctors, and sterility. White is also often associated with low weight, low-fat food, and dairy products.
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26. The Meaning of Color-Black
Black is associated with power, elegance, death, evil, and mystery.
Black is a mysterious color associated with fear and the unknown (black holes). Black denotes strength and authority; it is considered to be a very formal, elegant, and prestigious color (black tie event).
Black gives the feeling of perspective and depth. When designing for a gallery of art or photography, you can use a black or gray background to make the other colors stand out. Black contrasts well with bright colors. Combined with red or orange – other very powerful colors – black gives a very aggressive color scheme.
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27. PART TWO Electronic Color & RGB values
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28. Electronic Color Computer Monitors:
Use light in 3 colors to create images on the screen
Monitors use RED, GREEN, and BLUE color
This is called RGB
Text and object color are determined by its RGB values
Blue
Green
Red
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29. Electronic Color Setting RGB values: Click on the Shape Fill button
Choose the More Fill Colors option
Click on the Custom tab
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30. Electronic Color Setting RGB values:
A color is defined by three values
These values must be within the number range 0-255
Blue is created by a Blue value of 255; Red and Green values are 0
Equal values of Red and Green create Yellow
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31. Electronic Color Setting RGB values:
When all values are 0, it creates black
When all values are 255, it creates white
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32. Assignment #1 Create a color wheel:
Create drawing objects and fill them with color by changing the RGB values.
Move and rotate the objects to create a color wheel.
There should be 4 color variations between each primary and secondary color.
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33. PART THREE Printed Color & CMYK values
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34. Pigment Color Color Printers: Use mixtures of 4 colors
Printers use CYAN, MAGENTA, YELLOW, and BLACK color
This is called CMYK
Cyan
Magenta
Yellow
Black
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35. Pigment Color + = + = + = Color Printers:
Combinations of CMYK will create Blue, Red, or Green
The monitor screen displays color in RGB values; the printer will print that color in CMYK values.
Sometimes, the translation causes the color on a printout to be different than that on the screen
Cyan
Magenta + =
Blue
Yellow
Magenta + =
Red
Cyan
Yellow + =
Green
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36. Pigment Color Setting CMYK values:
In some programs, you can switch the color mode from RGB to CMYK
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37. Pigment Color Setting CMYK values: A color is defined by four values
These values must be within the number range 0-100
You can achieve the same color selection as RGB but using CMYK values instead
The color Blue
in RGB values is 0, 0, 255
In CMYK values is 99, 67, 0, 20
The RGB value of the color Blue is
The CMYK value of the same color Blue is
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38. Assignment #2 Create a paint strip:
Using a software program that allows CMYK values, recreate the color scheme of a paint chip sample.
Print the document, then record the RGB values and CMYK values for each color.
Print the document in color.
Staple the paint chip sample to the document.
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39. The End
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