COLOR THEORY
V O C A B
Hue
Tint
Shade
Saturation
Value
Monochromatic
Primary
Secondary
Tertiary
CMYK
RGB
Color Wheel
Color theory is the collection of rules and guidelines which designers use to communicate with users through appealing color schemes in visual interfaces. To pick the best colors every time, designers use a color wheel and refer to extensive collected knowledge about human optical ability, psychology, culture and more.
https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/topics/color-theory
https://www.conquestgraphics.com/blog/conquest-graphics/2019/05/14/cmyk-vs-rgb-the-commercial-print-buyers-guide-to-color-systems
Color Systems
There are many Color Systems:
The Artist's Color Wheel
CMYK
RGB
Pantone (PMS)
Munsell Color System
The Artist's Color Wheel
CMYK
CMY(K) is a subtractive system and it’s used in print. Its primary colors are cyan, magenta, and yellow which are close to the primary blue, red, and yellow we learned as kids. In theory, mixing all three should lead to black, but due to the reality of inks they don’t and so a true black ink is added.
https://vanseodesign.com/web-design/color-systems-1/
RGB
RGB is an additive system, which is why we use it for digital color. Screens produce their own light source. RGB relates closely to how we actually perceive color, though it doesn’t represent the full gamut of human vision.
https://vanseodesign.com/web-design/color-systems-1/
CMYK vs. RGB
Munsell Color System
The CIE Color Model
In 1931 the International Commission on Illumination developed a mathematical color space, which appropriately became known as the 1931 CIE Color Space. It’s been revised over the years, but the idea is that it maps all the different colors that an average person can perceive.
CIE was developed to be independent of any device or means of producing color and is based as closely as possible on how human beings perceive color.
How color works in the real world
Additive vs. Subtractive Color