There are two elements in graphic and website design that I find to be the most fascinating and fun. They are fonts and color. I love fonts because of the minute details a designer puts into creating them. Later in the year I hope to devote a series of blog posts to how best to use fonts in your business.
For now and the next few weeks I want to open your world to the beauty and psychology of color and how color can affect the message you are deliver to your customers.
Let’s begin with the basics – The Color Wheel. I’m sure you can remember that first time you made a color wheel in preschool. Your teacher hand you three colors – red, yellow and blue. From those you were to create your own rainbow. I used to teach preschool and I remember the awe my kids displayed when they first saw that red and blue made purple and blue and yellow made green. I’ll admit I still find it fascinating too.
Primary Colors
Red, Yellow and Blue are considered our primary colors (or hues). From them our other colors aka hues are created.
Secondary Colors
Orange, Green, Violet are the secondary colors, They are created using equal parts of our primary colors.
Red + Blue = Violet
Red + Yellow = Orange
Yellow + Blue = Green.
Tertiary Colors
And finally we have Tertiary colors – Created by adding our primary colors together but in different quantities. For example while equal parts of yellow and red make orange adding more yellow would make the tertiary color Yellow Orange and adding more red would make the color Red Orange etc..
The tertiary colors are
Yellow Orange
Red Orange
Red Violet
Blue Violet
Blue Green
Yellow Green.
From all these color hues we can create even more colors by changing it’s value. The value of a color is the lightness or darkness of the color. This can be done two ways.
Shading – the change in the hue by adding black
Tinting – the change in the hue by adding white
Creating Color Palettes
There are 5 ways you can combine colors together.
-
Monochromatic – They are created from a single base color (hue) and using it’s various shades or tints
-
Triads – They are created by using three colors equally spaced from each other on the color wheel.
-
Analogous – This palette is created by using any three colors adjacent to each other on the color wheel
-
Complementary – Two colors directly opposite each other on the color wheel
-
Split Complementary – Begin with one color (hue) then use the two colors that are on either side of its complement.
With this beginning knowledge, I believe you are now ready to begin exploring color within your next marketing campaign. But if you find you still need some help, I am always available. You can visit my services page to see how I can help you deliver your unique message.
Come back next week when I begin looking more into the psychology of each color and how your color choices make a huge impact in your messaging.
Want to view all posts in this series, check them out by clicking the links:
All photos are from Pinterest. Visit my Mood Board Pinterest board for credit.
https://www.pinterest.com/karrireiser/mood-board-pictures/
You might also enjoy my Color Inspiration Board.
https://www.pinterest.com/karrireiser/color-inspiration/
his content in the module Design settings and even apply custom CSS to this text in the module Advanced settings.
