Understanding Color: Exploring the Color Wheel Theory

Just as the periodic table of elements is essential in chemistry, and scales are fundamental to playing the piano, the color wheel is an indispensable concept for anyone starting their journey in art and design. Prepare to dive into this essential topic early on.

In color theory, the color wheel serves as a vital tool, offering insights into the relationships between different hues and guiding their effective application in design.

"There are moments when you enter a space and instinctively feel, 'I dislike this room, but I can't pinpoint why,'" explains Marcie Cooperman, a color theory instructor at Pratt Institute and Parsons School of Design and author of "Color: How to Use It." "Chances are, it's the color scheme."

Understanding the relationships between colors allows you to create visually appealing designs, whether it's a grocery store logo, your living room walls, or a knitted sweater. Without knowledge of the color wheel, you risk producing unattractive results.

Isaac Newton. Yes, That Isaac Newton.

The color wheel is a circular representation of the rainbow, with red connected to violet, a concept pioneered by Isaac Newton in 1666. Newton sought to uncover the origins of color, experimenting with prisms to disperse white light into the familiar spectrum: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet (ROYGBIV). Through his experiments, he discovered that white light is a blend of all colors and observed similarities between red and violet, leading him to arrange the colors in a circular format. This arrangement revealed mathematical relationships between hues.

After resolving this discovery, Isaac Newton likely proceeded to breakfast and later went on to lay the foundations of modern physics.

Colors that Complement Each Other

Following Newton's development of the color wheel, numerous individuals, including the 19th-century German poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, attempted to explain the nature of color. However, the 12-color wheel used in contemporary color theory remains largely unchanged from Newton's original design. It features primary colors (red, yellow, and blue), secondary colors (green, orange, and purple, created by mixing two primaries), and tertiary colors (formed by blending adjacent primary and secondary colors, such as red-orange and blue-green).

"Colors positioned directly opposite each other on the color wheel, known as complementary colors, share a particularly dynamic relationship," explains Cooperman. "Pairs like red and green, blue and orange, and yellow and purple are maximally distinct. When placed side by side, complementary colors enhance each other's intensity. For instance, placing blue next to yellow makes the yellow appear as orange as possible due to the contrast."

Triadic colors are those spaced 60 degrees apart on the wheel, such as primary and secondary colors. Analogous colors, on the other hand, sit adjacent to each other, forming color families. For example, red, orange, and purple share red as a common hue, making them function differently in art and design compared to triadic colors that lack a shared base.

The Language of Color

While colors share relationships with one another, describing them accurately to others can be challenging. For instance, telling a friend you bought red pants might conjure vastly different shades of red in their mind. How, then, do we communicate colors effectively to ensure clarity, such as when describing new clothing?

To facilitate precise communication about color, artists and designers rely on specific terminology:

Hue

Hue refers to the basic color name, such as red, yellow, green, or blue.

"To describe colors accurately, we avoid vague terms like 'khaki' or 'peach,' as these can be interpreted differently," explains Cooperman. "Your idea of khaki might lean toward green, while someone else sees it as gray or brown. Similarly, peach could be perceived as pink or orange, leading to confusion."

Professionals working with color avoid using vague names like those found in a J. Crew catalog. Instead, they use precise terms such as blue-greens or orange-yellows, which are easier to agree upon and understand.

Color Value

Value refers to the lightness or darkness of a color. For example, navy blue is a very dark shade, making it a low-value blue. In contrast, baby blue is a light tint and is considered high-value.

"If you told a designer, 'I saw a blue I really liked — it's a low-value red-blue,' you'd essentially be describing navy," explains Cooperman.

Intensity

Intensity refers to how bold or vivid a color appears, as opposed to muted or grayish tones. The colors from Newton's prism experiment — red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet — are all high-intensity and visually striking. In contrast, the colors in a camouflage jacket, like dull browns, greens, and grays, are low-intensity.

Simultaneous Contrast

Another important factor in color perception is how a color appears differently depending on the colors surrounding it.

In the mid-1800s, Michel Chevreul, a chemist working for the Gobelins carpet factory in Paris, developed dyes and noticed customers complaining about color issues, such as whites appearing yellowish. Through experiments, he found that colors influence each other when placed side by side. For example, white next to purple appeared yellow, the opposite of purple, due to a visual effect he termed simultaneous contrast. This phenomenon occurs because colors enhance each other's opposites when viewed together.

Dive deeper into color theory with "Secret Language of Color: Science, Nature, History, Culture, Beauty of Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, & Violet" by Joann Eckstut and Arielle Eckstut. Mytour recommends books we believe you'll enjoy. If you decide to purchase, we may earn a share of the sale.