Color Theory

Color Theory is used to study and understand the relationships between color and light. It is essential to design in order to understand how colors react to different materials, lighting, etc.

Color Wheel

Before we dive into the effects of the surrounding environment on colors, we are first introduced to the color wheel, developed originally by Sir Isaac Newton. From the color wheel, we can derive color groups based on their positioning from one another. Primary colors consist of yellow, red, and blue. Complementary colors are orange, green, and purple. An example of analagous colors are orange, red-orange, and yellow-orange. We also explored split complementary, triadic, and tretradic colors. Albert Munsell expanded on these basic understandings of color relations by creating the dimensions of hue, value, and chroma. Hue is pure color. Value is the lightness/darkness of a color. Chroma is the level of purity of a color with nothing added.

Color In The Environment

Even with Newton’s and Munsell’s deeper understanding of colors, it is difficult to incorporate it into a design because colors are everchanging depending on materiality, lighting, the viewer, etc. Colors are darker on rougher materials and lighter on smoother surfaces, different for individuals of different ages, genders, personalities, brighter in direct lighting and darker in indirect lighting, etc. It is extremely important to note these characteristics of the space before choosing a color for it.