C O LO R M O D E L

MULTIMEDIA & HYPERMEDIA

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BASIC COLOR THEORY

• With colors, we can set a mood, attract attention, or make a statement• We can use color to energize, or to cool down• Color can be a powerful design element if we

learn to use it effectively

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COLOR WHEEL

• The color wheel or color circle is the basic tool for combining colors• Color wheel provides color combinations that are

considered pleasing• These are called color harmonies or color chords • They consist of two or more colors with a fixed relation in

the color wheel

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PRIMARY COLORS

• Primary colors are 3 colors that can not be mixed or formed by any combination of other colors

• Additive Color Mixing• Light mixture• Red, Green, and Blue (RGB)

• Subtractive Color Mixing• Paint, ink, dye, or pigment mixture• Red, Yellow, and Blue• Yellow, Magenta, Cyan

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SECONDARY COLORS

• Formed by mixing 2 primary colors• Secondary colors include:• Yellow, magenta, cyan (Additive colors)• Red, green, blue (Subtractive colors)

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TERTIARY COLORS

• Formed by mixing a primary and a secondary colors or two secondary colors, in a given color space such as RGB, RYB, or YMC

• RGB color space:• Red-yellow, yellow-green, green-cyan, cyan-blue, blue-

magenta, and magenta-red

• RYB color space:• Yellow-orange, red-orange, red-purple, blue-purple, blue-

green & yellow-green

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PRIMARY, SECONDARY, TERTIARY

RGB RYB

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WARM AND COOL COLORS

• Warm colors are vivid and energetic, joyful, Interesting, and attractive

• Cool colors give an impression of calm, mysterious, and create a soothing impression

• White, black, and gray are considered to be neutral

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WARM AND COOL COLORS

• Warm colors are often said to be hues from red through yellow, browns and tans included;

• Cool colors are often said to be the hues from blue green through blue violet, most grays included.

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COLOR HARMONY

• Harmony is something that is pleasing to the eye

• When something is not harmonious, it's either boring or chaotic

• Color harmony delivers visual interest

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ANALOGOUS COLORS

• Analogous colors are any three (or four) colors which are side by side on the color wheel• such as yellow-green, yellow, and yellow-orange.

• They are often found in nature and are harmonious and pleasing to the eyes

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COMPLEMENTARY COLORS

• Complementary colors are any two colors which are directly opposite each other • such as red and green• And red-purple and yellow-green

• It works well when we want something to stand out• Not so good for text

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TRIADIC COLORS

• Triadic uses colors that are evenly spaced around the color wheel

• Triadic color harmonies tend to be quite vibrant

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SPLIT-COMPLEMENTARY 

• In addition to the base color, it uses the two colors adjacent to its complement• It has the same strong visual contrast as the

complementary color scheme, but has less tension• It is a good choice because it is difficult to mess

up

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RECTANGLE

• It uses four colors arranged into two complementary pairs

• We should pay attention to the balance between warm and cool colors in your design

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SQUARE

• It is similar to the rectangle, but with all four colors spaced evenly around the color circle

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COLOR CONTEXT

• Red appears more brilliant against a black background and somewhat duller against the white background.

• In contrast with orange, the red appears lifeless; in contrast with blue-green, it exhibits brilliance.

• Notice that the red square appears larger on black than on other background colors.

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COLOR CONTEXT

• Small purple rectangle on the left appears to have a red-purple tinge when compared to the small purple rectangle on the right.

• Both are the same color. So, this demonstrates how three colors can be perceived as four colors.

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REFERENCES

• http://www.colormatters.com/color-and-design/basic-color-theory

• http://www.tigercolor.com/color-lab/color-theory/color-theory-intro.htm

• http://en.wikipedia.org

• https://kuler.adobe.com/create/color-wheel/

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