Imagine a world devoid of colours. Everything from red roses to green grass to orange oranges would lose beauty. Scary right?
Well, all this is still fine to some extent. Think of a situation where you're driving and approaching a traffic signal. You'll be confused about whether to continue driving or slow down.
So, you're slowly realizing the importance of colours. It helps us comprehend things and acts as visual communication without words. It can influence the way we think, feel, and behave. What if I tell you there's a whole concept of colours and the relationship between them?
Yes! It's known as Colour Theory.
So, continue reading as I share my understanding of this awesome topic!
Colour Theory is the science behind colour combinations and their implementation. Simply put, it is the know-how to create eye-catching and pleasing visuals.
Colour systems
The methods by which a colour can be generated. Essentially, there are 2 systems:
Additive
It's built upon red, green and blue (RGB). Here, a brighter colour is generated if we combine more wavelengths. White colour is produced by presence of all colours whereas we get black by the absence of colours. Light-emitting objects make use of this colour system.
Subtractive
Cyan, magenta, and yellow (CMY) are the basic colours. It works on reflected light. White colour is produced by the absence of all colours whereas we get black colour by the presence of all colours.
Notice how these are complementary systems.
Colour Wheel
It is a sequence of pure colours. It makes it easier to see the relationship between colours as one colour makes a transition to another.
It's made up of 3 types of colours:
Primary
Cannot be formed by the combination of any colours. These include red, yellow, and blue.
Secondary
Created by mixing 2 primary colours. These include green, orange & violet.
Tertiary
Created by mixing a primary and a secondary colour. These include red-orange, red-purple, blue-purple, blue-green, yellow-green & yellow-orange.
Qualities of a Colour
Hue
The colour's position in the colour wheel. It is the purest form of a colour.
Saturation
A measure of how intense or rich a colour is. Low saturation implies grey and high saturation means the base colour.
Value
Tells how dark or light a colour is.
Shade: Adding black to a colour gives a shade of that colour.
Tint: Adding white to a colour gives a tint of that colour.
Tone: Adding both black and white to a colour gives a tone of that colour.
Colour Harmony
It includes various combinations of colours to get a pleasing view. There are many formulae for establishing colour harmony. To list a few:
Monochromatic: Colours from a single hue but having different shades, tones and tints.
Analogous: Colours adjacent to each other on the colour wheel.
Complementary: Colours opposite to each other on the colour wheel.
Split-Complementary: Similar to complementary except that one of the colours is replaced by two of its adjacent colours.
Triadic: Equi-spaced colours on the colour wheel.
Colour perception
Also known as Colour context. One colour can affect how we see or perceive another colour.
Below, you can observe that on the left, yellow blends with the background whereas on the right, yellow contrasts with the background. But the same colour yellow is used on both sides.
Psychology of Colours
Some colours have inherent meaning and make us feel a certain way.
Red: Passion, Love, Domination
Orange: Enthusiasm, Positivity
Yellow: Happiness, Attention-grabbing
Green: Growth, Nature, Health
Blue: Trust, Peace, Calmness
Purple: Luxurious, Creative
Pink: Love, Kindness
Black: Mysterious, Powerful
White: Simplistic, Purity, Innocence
Grey: Emotionless, Dull
Recap
Colour Systems: Additive, Subtractive
Colour Wheel: Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary colours
Qualities of a Colour: Hue, Saturation, Value (Shade, Tint, Tone)
Colour Harmony: Monochromatic, Analogous, Complementary, Split-Complementary, Triadic
Colour perception: One colour appears different with different colours.
Psychology of Colours: Colours and the feelings associated.
That's a brief on colour theory. Hope I left you fascinated and curious about this topic. I would strongly suggest you to explore and get your mind blown as this field is really interesting.
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Until next time!