Color and Design

When it comes to color and design, there are several rules of thumb that you need to know and follow.  

Monochromatic- This means just one color.  The color scheme you choose will have just one color associated with it.  

Value- This refers to the lightness or darkness of a color.  A good example of this is say you have a picture on your living room wall about your couch.  Now put some lighting to reflect light on the pictures.  If the light shines on the part of the picture that is nearest to the light source, which is where will be the lightest in value because it reflects the most light.  The part that shines further from the light source will be the deepest in the shadow and thus darkest in value.  The good thing is that you can change the value of a color.  If you add the color white, the color becomes lighter or higher in value.  If you add black color, the color becomes darker or lower in value.  

Neutral Colors- Neutral colors contain equal parts of black, white and grey.  Sometimes brown is also considered a neutral color.  When you mix neutral colors to other colors, the value changes.  

Warm Colors- These colors represent warmth such as a fire.  So oranges and reds are considered warm colors.  Warm colors appear larger than cool colors.

Cool Colors- Cool colors represent coolness or iciness such as blue sky or green trees.  

Primary Colors- There is three primary colors:  red, yellow and blue.  This means that all colors revolve around these three colors.  

Secondary Colors- Secondary colors are obtained by mixing two primary colors together to make a secondary color.  If you mix red and yellow, you get orange.  If you mix yellow and blue, you get green.  If you mix blue and red, you get purple.

Intermediate Colors- Intermediate colors are created when you mix one primary color with a secondary color.  Red-orange, yellow-orange, yellow-green, blue-green, blue-purple and red-purple are all examples of intermediate colors.

Emphasis- This refers to an area of art work or painting that draws the attention of the viewer first.  The first area that attracts the viewer first is the dominant element and the elements that catch the viewers’ eye second are called subordinate elements.

Unity- This allows the viewer to see a combination of elements, principles and media as a while.  Unity is created by harmony, simplicity, repetition, proximity, and continuation. For example, you could use the repetition of a color scheme to unify a composition.

These are just some rules of thumb that you can follow.  You can use these suggestion to suite any color scheme to your own personal style.