Color Theory
Basic Terms:
Hue: basic color on the color wheel
Tint: adding white to a hue to lighten it
Shade: adding black to a hue to darken it
Tones: adding grey to a hue to "tone" it down
Color Wheel:
(picture from http://fivestarpainting.com)
Primary Colors: red, blue, yellow
Secondary Colors: green, orange, and purple
Tertiary Colors: yellow-orange, red-orange, red-purple, blue-purple, blue-green, and
yellow-green
yellow-green
Color Schemes:
Analogous: any three colors side-by side on the color wheel
(picture from http://www.sensationalcolor.com)
(picture from http://homesynchronize.com)
Complementary: any two colors directly across from each other on the color wheel
(picture from http://www.sensationalcolor.com)
(picture from http://www.nurserynotations.com)
Triadic: any three colors that are evenly spread around the color wheel
(picture from http://www.google.fr)
Split Complimentary: a base color and two colors adjacent to its direct complement
(picture from http://www.sensationalcolor.com)
(picture from http://prepfection.com/)
Tetradic: two sets of complementary pairs
Square: four colors spread evenly around the color wheel
Monochromatic: varying shades, tints, and tones of one color
(picture from http://design-seeds.com)
Nature: gray, browns, beige, white
(picture from http://www.flickr.com)
(picture from http://design-seeds.com)
Warm Colors: Red, Orange, Yellow
Cool Colors: Blue, Green, purple
Color Facts:
Red: is energetic, attention-grabbing, exciting, and aggressive; encourages appetite; Feng shui recommends painting the front door red to invite prosperity to the residents;
Orange: stimulates activity, stimulates appetite, and encourages socializations; is warm and welcoming, so it makes guest feel at home; playful, childlike, happy, modern.
Yellow: is psychologically the happiest color in the spectrum; stimulates mental processes; stimulates the nervous system; activates memory; encourages communication; Good for classrooms; most likely to strain eyes or cause eye fatigue. Bright yellow is known to make baby's cry so do not use it for a nursery.
Green: is calming, refreshing, relaxing mentally and physically, and good for family room or bedroom.
Blue: Calms and sedates; is seen as trustworthy, dependable, and committed; is the least gender specific color; most used color for offices; curbs appetite
Purple: uplifts, calms the mind and nerves, offers a sense of spirituality, encourages creativity, is an aphrodisiac so it's great for the bedroom
White: aids mental clarity, encourages us to declutter, evokes purification of thought or actions, enables fresh beginnings; makes room feel bright, simple and clean; good for hospitals and schools; there are more colors of white commercially than any other color
Pink: romantic, soft, tender; is a natural calming color so it's perfect for a nursery; encourages friendliness while discouraging aggression and ill-will so it’s used in holding cells in prisons
Brown: is bold and burly great for the man cave; Beige is classic and neutral
Gray: unsettles, creates expectations; intellect, knowledge, and wisdom; long-lasting, classic, sleek, refined; natural color
Black: is the lack of color; evokes power, sophistication and intelligences so it's good for the office
