Color Basics

A color wheel is an illustrative model of color hues around a circle.  It shows the relationships
between the primary, secondary, and intermediate/ tertiary colors and helps demonstrate color
temperature. Digital teams communicate exact colors through the use of hex codes.

Understanding the Color Wheel

Many color wheels are shown using 12 colors.  Using this color wheel as an example, it can be
read as follows:

 Three Primary Colors (Ps): Red, Yellow, Blue

 Three Secondary Colors (S’): Orange, Green,
Violent
 Six Tertiary Colors (Ts):  Red-Orange, Yellow-
Orange, Yellow-Green, Blue-Green, Blue-
Violet, Red-Violet, which are formed by mixing
a primary with a secondary
It’s important to note that some people add more
intermediates, for 24 total named colors, and
some color wheels show interior points and
circles, which represent color mixtures.

Color Temperature
The colors on the red side of the wheel are warm; the green side of the wheel has the cooler
colors. These color temperature designations are absolute. More subtle color temperature
relationships are relative, meaning that each color on the warm side of the wheel can be known
as cool, and colors on the cools side of the wheel can be known as warm depending on the
relationship to their neighboring color. Colors from the same hue, for instance red, can also be
warmer or cooler than one another.

Color temperatures affect us both psychologically and perceptually by helping us determine

how objects appear positioned.

Warm Colors Cool Colors

 Warm colors include red, orange,

and yellow, and variations of those
three colors.  Cool colors include green, blue, and
 Red and yellow are both primary purple, and variations of those three
colors, with orange falling in the colors.
 middle.  Blue is the only primary color within
 Warm colors appear closer to the the cool spectrum.
observer.  Greens take on some of the attributes
of yellow, and purple takes on some of
the attributes of red.
 They are often more subdued than
warm colors.
 Cool colors appear farther from the
observer.

Neutrals

Neutral colors include black, white, gray, tans, and browns. They’re
commonly combined with brighter accent colors but they can also be used on
their own in designs. The meanings and impressions of neutral colors depend
more so upon the colors around them.

Color Models: CMYK vs. RGB

There are two models for colors.  They have different purposes and different attributes.  They
are as follows:

 CMYK Color Models: Stands for cyan, magenta, and yellow. It applies to painting and
printing.  The CMYK model is a subtractive model, meaning that colors are created through
absorbing wavelengths of visible light. The wavelengths of light that don’t get absorbed are
reflected, and that reflected light ends up being the color we see.
 RGB Color Models: RGB stands for red, green, and blue. It applies to computers, televisions,
and electronics. The RGB model is an additive model, meaning that colors are created
through light waves that are added together in particular combinations in order to produce
colors.
Hex Codes
To name colors in web design, teams use hexademal code. All hexadermal codes:
 Start with a hash mark (#)
 Consist of three pairs of characters sequenced together (totaling of six characters), with
each pair controlling one of the primary additive colors (red, green, blue)
 Those six characters following the hash mark consist of ten numerals (0-9) and/ or six letters
(a-f)
It is easy to identify patterns in the hex codes some colors; see SmashingMagazine’s great chart 
at the right for this. Some things to know include:
 00 is a lack of primary

 ff is the primary at full strength

To find additive colors, start with black and change each pair to ff:

 #000000 is black (no primaries)

 #ff0000 is the brightest red
 #00ff00 is the brightest green
 #0000ff is the brightest blue
To find subtractive colors, start with white and
change each pair to 00:

 #ffffff is white (all primaries

 #00ffff is the brightest cyan
 #ff00ff is the brightest magenta
 #ffff00 is the brightest yellow

The Color Identification System

Albert Henry Munsell (1858-1918) developed his color system as a circle with ten segments,
arranging colors at equal distance and arranging them in such a way that opposing pairs create
a neutral gray (Figure 1). He organized the hues of his hand-painted swatches according to the
three variables: hue, value, and chroma.

Figure 1. Munsell’s color identification system

began with colors arranged in a circle with five
primary and five secondary spokes. He then
subdivided the ten into ever-smaller divisions.
Any opposing pair of colors, if mixed, creates a
neutral hue.

Munsell experimented with tops painted with two colors, then spun the tops to determine if
their mixture created a neutral gray color (Figure 2).
Figure 2. Munsell’s spinning tops were painted with
complementary colors. When spun, the resulting color would be a
neutral gray. Munsell experimented with this technique to
perfect his color formulation.

Eventually his color system acquired more sophistication (Figure

3), and after his death, it became an ANSI (American National
Standards Institute) standard for the identification and formulation
of pigmented colors.

Figure 3. Munsell’s color

notation system is based on a three-
dimensional model where the hues
are arranged in a circle, as shown above,
where value is represented on the
vertical, and where saturation is
represented by a color’s distance from the
hub. Some colors, like yellow, have a
greater range of chroma values than
others, like purple-blue.

Munsell was a painter, teacher, and pioneer of color science. His work identifying color
culminated in the publication of his Color Atlas, the first book of its type to assist with the
selection and scientific discussion of color (an original copy of Munsell’s book is currently
available at Amazon.com for $756). To this day you can walk into a paint store and order paint
according to its HVC components using the Munsell Color Notation system (though the major
paint manufacturers have moved to digital systems for identifying colors and mixing paints).

Color Schemes
Monochromatic
Example of monochromatic color
Monochromatic colors are all the colors (tints, tones, and shades) of a single hue.
Monochromatic color schemes are derived from a single base hue, and extended using its
shades, tones and tints (that is, a hue modified by the addition of black, gray (black + white) and
white. As a result, the energy is more subtle and peaceful due to a lack of contrast of hue.
Complementary

Chevreul's 1855 "chromatic diagram" based on the RYB color model,

showing complementary colors and other relationships
For the mixing of colored light, Newton's color wheel is often used to
describe complementary colors, which are colors which cancel each other's hue to produce an
achromatic (white, gray or black) light mixture. Newton offered as a conjecture that colors
exactly opposite one another on the hue circle cancel out each other's hue; this concept was
demonstrated more thoroughly in the 19th century
A key assumption in Newton's hue circle was that the "fiery" or maximum saturated hues are
located on the outer circumference of the circle, while achromatic white is at the center. Then
the saturation of the mixture of two spectral hues was predicted by the straight line between
them; the mixture of three colors was predicted by the "center of gravity" or centroid of three
triangle points, and so on.
Split-Complementary: The split-complementary (also called
'Compound Harmony') color scheme is a variation of the
complementary color scheme. In addition to the base color, it
uses the two "Analogous" colors adjacent to its complement.
Split-complementary color scheme has the same strong
visual contrast as the complementary color scheme, but has
less pressure.
Achromatic
Any color that lacks strong chromatic content is said to be
'unsaturated, achromatic, or near neutral'. Pure achromatic colors include black, white and all
grays; near neutrals include browns, tans, pastels and darker colors. Near neutrals can be of any
hue or lightness.
Neutrals are obtained by mixing pure colors with white, black or gray, or by mixing two
complementary colors. In color theory, neutral colors are colors easily modified by adjacent
more saturated colors and they appear to take on the hue complementary to the saturated
color. Next to a bright red couch, a gray wall will appear distinctly greenish.
Black and white have long been known to combine well with almost any other colors; black
decreases the apparent saturation or brightness of colors paired with it, and white shows off all
hues to equal effect.
Analogous
Analogous colors (also called Dominance Harmony) color scheme are groups of colors that are
adjacent to each other on the color wheel, with one being the dominant color, which tends to
be a primary or secondary color, and two on either side complementing, which tend to
be tertiary.
The term analogous refers to the having analogy, or corresponding to something in particular.
An analogous color scheme creates a rich, monochromatic look. It’s best used with either warm
or cool colors, creating a look that has a certain temperature as well as proper color harmony.
While this is true, the scheme also lacks contrast and is less vibrant
than complementaryschemes
Red, reddish-orange, orange, yellow-orange is one example of a set of analogous colors.
Accented analogous
An accented analogous complementary scheme utilizes related hues lying adjacent on the color
wheel with a hue directly opposite to these. This direct complement becomes the accent color,
used to create a dominant color grouping of three similar colors accented with the direct
complement (or the near complement) of one of them. The complementary accent color
creates an interesting contrast against the dominant color grouping. This scheme is frequently
used to put a warm accent color with a cool analogous color pallet, or a cool accent color with a
warm pallet.
Triadic
Example of a triadic color scheme
The triadic color scheme uses three colors equally spaced around the color wheel. The easiest
way to place them on the wheel is by using a triangle of equal sides. Triadic color schemes tend
to be quite vibrant, even when using pale or unsaturated
versions of hues, offers a higher degree of contrast while at the
same time retains the color harmony. This scheme is very
popular among artists because it offers strong visual contrast
while retaining balance, and color richness. The triadic scheme
is not as contrasting as the complementary scheme, but it is
easier to accomplish balance and harmony with these colors.
The primary colors are an example of a triadic color scheme.
Tetradic
The tetradic (double complementary) colors scheme is the
richest of all the schemes because it uses four colors arranged
into two complementary color pairs. This scheme is hard to harmonize and requires a color to
be dominant or subdue the colors; if all four colors are used in equal amounts, the scheme may
look unbalanced.
Rectangle
The rectangle color scheme uses four colors arranged into two complementary pairs and offers
plenty of possibilities for variation. Rectangle color schemes work best when one color is
dominant.
Square
The square color scheme is similar to the rectangle, but with all four colors spaced evenly
around the color circle. Square color schemes works best when all colors are evenly balanced.
Polychromatic
The term polychromatic means having several colors.
It is used to describe light that exhibits more than one color, which also means that it contains
radiation of more than one wavelength. The study of polychromatics is particularly useful in the
production of diffraction gratings.
College of Engineering and Architecture
Department of Architecture

Architectural Interiors | F 8:00-1:00pm

Research Work No. 2

03-1516-01112
Crisanto A. Sanchez Jr.

Ar. Lester Garcia