color theory {color wheel}

First thing first - color is a measurement that can be viewed in many different units.  Much like temperature can be measured in Fahrenheit and Celsius.

In color we have:
RGB    <Red, Green, Blue
CYMK <Cyan, Yellow, Magenta, Black
HUE    <a degree value from within the color wheel
HSB    <Hue, Saturation, Brightness aka HSV
HSL    <Hue, Saturation, Lightness
HSI     <Hue, Saturation, Intensity
SML   <Small, Medium, Large wavelengths
PMS   <Pantone Matching System
Hex # <Hex triplet numbers are used for web color *ColorHexa is a fun website that shows the conversions of hex to rgb and cymk

And many more that I did not get into.  I mostly focused on RGB and HSB which are represented  in my diagrams. 

Second - most of you know what a color wheel is.  It has the primary and secondary colors.  Sometimes more, or even all.  Those of you who have used adobe suites or other graphic software know how many colors you can choose from.

My interest in color theory was how do I make my own color wheel using my own colors? And how do I know what colors to choose when applying those colors to my designs?

In the process I discovered a lot about color. Knowing what your going to do with it {web or print} can make a difference on what color unit you want to use.  If you produce or edit in RGB it may not have the same colors when it's printed in CYMK.  Though many programs and printers automatically convert the numbers for you.

In the past, picking a color was very arbitrary and less formulated.  Yes the primary and secondary colors have a number, but I normally wasn't looking for bright red and yellow.  Now that I've played with it, choosing a hue and working from there by adding black, white, or gray is less arbitrary than just color picking a "redish" color in the color box. When choosing colors for color palettes or color schemes, this can be less arbitrary, meaning you don't need to just pick red if you want red. You can pick many hue's close to red.  And using similar or contrasting hues and values can be a good start to picking colors for your color schemes.

All that may seem a little to color complicated but lets see if my diagrams make it a little easier to understand.

RGB {Red, Green, Blue} are the primary colors for light. When we add them together we get white. We typically use RGB for digital mediums that light goes through. Green is not a primary color, but in a RGB color wheel green is at a 120° axis. In a normal color wheel yellow is at the 120° axis <as shown above>.

When we print something we typically use CMYK {Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black}. When we add these together we get black. These are also the secondary colors to RGB. The color wheel above represents both RGB and CMYK colors but only denotes RGB and hue degrees.

I've also posted all of my color theory sheets on flickr  if you would like to download them.  Here are a list of my website links I used to gather my information:

Color Theory for Designer, Part I II & III
Basic Color Schemes - Introduction to Color Theory
Choosing a Monochromatic Color Palette in Photoshop
Color Tutorial
Color Theory, The Color Wheel & Color Schemes
Interactive Color Wheel

color theory {vocabulary}

The next part of color theory to understand is the vocabulary.  I find that I often use a term like, tone or shade, and don't actually know the difference.  And there is a difference.  When learning about tones I kept asking myself how do I add black, white and gray.  I knew how to add black in CMYK, but that's not how you add black to a color.  That changes the hue altogether.

I've also posted all of my color theory sheets on flickr  if you would like to download them.  Here are a list of my website links I used to gather my information:

Color Theory for Designer, Part I II & III
Basic Color Schemes - Introduction to Color Theory
Choosing a Monochromatic Color Palette in Photoshop
Color Tutorial
Color Theory, The Color Wheel & Color Schemes

Interactive Color Wheel

color theory {color palette}

Next I worked on creating color palettes.  When starting I really wanted to know how to choose colors for designs.  I knew most of these already but it really helped to lay it all out and see a more formulated way to choose.

I've also posted all of my color theory sheets on flickr  if you would like to download them.  Here are a list of my website links I used to gather my information:

Color Theory for Designer, Part I II & III
Basic Color Schemes - Introduction to Color Theory
Choosing a Monochromatic Color Palette in Photoshop
Color Tutorial
Color Theory, The Color Wheel & Color Schemes

Interactive Color Wheel

color theory {color picker}

This was also one of my inspirations for the last two weeks.  The website Design Seeds creates color palettes using photos that the designer buys from people.  I always loved the colors and palettes that she puts together and I wanted to do the same thing, but with my own photos that I have taken.  I have decided that I will add this to my weekly list of things to blog, along with a weekly project and inspiration post. 

So here is how I did it.  Using Photoshop I edited the photo and then put it in Illustrator where I used the eyedropper tool to select colors from the photo.  Then looking at the HSB levels I chose 5 colors that would work well together in a color scheme.  I was so excited about how it turned out that I quickly threw together a little icon using the colors and photo.

I've also posted all of my color theory sheets on flickr  if you would like to download them.  Here are a list of my website links I used to gather my information:

Color Theory for Designer, Part I II & III
Basic Color Schemes - Introduction to Color Theory
Choosing a Monochromatic Color Palette in Photoshop
Color Tutorial
Color Theory, The Color Wheel & Color Schemes

Interactive Color Wheel