Color Effects

Warm & Cool Colors Warm colors create a warm, sunny feeling and advance toward the viewer Cool colors produce a cold, icy feeling and create depth

ALL COLORS WARM NEUTRAL COOL WARM Colors like pink, red-violet, gold, peach,etc. are all members of the WARM family. The dominant hue in these combination colors is a WARM color. Colors such as lavender, blue-green, plum, indigo, etc. are considered to be cool colors. The dominant hue in these combination colors is a COOL color Neutral colors are not warm OR cool, but they will take on the look of both. Brown can look cool if it has a bluish tone in it, but it can also look warm if it has a yellow or reddish tone.

COLORS, EMOTIONS, AND YOU WARM colors will make people feel happy, excited or sometimes tense. C00L colors will make people feel calm,relaxed, peaceful, or even sad. Neutral colors will make people feel happy, or anxious if they are with WARM colors, and sad or peaceful if they are in with Cool colors .

Simultaneous Contrast When two colors come into direct contact, their differences are more obvious. A yellow-green surrounded by a green looks more yellow and vice-versa

Pale, cool colors feel clean. Color Rules The contrast in values of yellow and black say "Pay attention to me!" Pale, cool colors feel clean.

Color Rules Saturated and warm colors make things more noticeable. Reserve bright colors for special accents Full strength colors used equally tend to look gaudy.

Color Rules Lighter and cooler colors tend to be less noticeable Warmer and darker colors stand out more.

Color Rules Light colors appear to be larger on a dark background Dark colors appear to be smaller on a light background

Color Rules A dominant color is a color that is used most often. Too many colors confuses the viewer about what to look at first.

Color Rules  Notice the impact of color on the logo design above. What does each one "say" to you, simply because of the choice of colors?

LESS LIGHT, LESS COLOR MORE LIGHT, MORE COLOR