Colours play a major role in designing Interfaces. Which will set the tone to the whole context of the design.
A colour that can evoke one reaction in one person may evoke the opposite reaction in another, due to culture, prior association, or even just personal preference.
Every single day we’re surrounded by various colours from everywhere. If you take a closer look at the things around, they may surprise you with a number of colours and shades.
The process of colour selection plays a major role in designs. The Colours have a great impact with respect to individuals moods and behaviors. The research provided by color com showed that it only takes 90 seconds for the people to make a subconscious judgment about the product and between 60% to 90% of that assessment are based on colours. Now you understand why colours play a major role in designs.
Colour theory is a science and art by itself, which some build entire careers on, as colour consultants or sometimes brand consultants. Knowing the effects colour has on a majority of people is incredibly valuable expertise that designers can master and offer to their clients.
In these articles, we will cover some of the basic concepts used in the design process to design better with colours. Following blogs will go deeper into every concept we are describing here in this blog. Let’s build awareness about Colours and their impact on the life of every person in this world.
Let’s discuss on some of concepts about the colours in design.
Colour Types:
There are three different types of colours: primary, secondary, and tertiary colours. The primary colours are red, yellow, and blue. The secondary colours are green, orange, and purple. And the tertiary colours are yellow-orange, red-orange, red-purple, blue-purple, blue-green, and yellow-green. These are the 12 colours that typically appear on a color wheel.
Primary Colours:
Primary colours are known as basic colours because they cannot be created by mixing other hues. Since humans are trichromatic, the primary colours Yellow, red, and blue are fundamental to human vision. Primary colours are the building blocks of all other colours.
Secondary Colours:
Secondary colours are created by an equal mixture of two primary colours. For example, yellow and red make orange, red and blue make purple, and blue and yellow make green. On a colour wheel, the secondary colours are located between two primary colours.
Tertiary Colours:
When you blend secondary and primary colours together, you get what is called a tertiary colour, or intermediate colour. On a colour wheel, the tertiary colours are found between the primary and secondary colours. Yellow-orange, red-orange, red-purple, blue-purple, blue-green, and yellow-green are examples of tertiary colours.
Colour Wheel:
You came across the colour wheels in many places. You must have seen the circle consisting of different colours. It is called the color wheel will help you to understand how different colors relate to each other and how they can be combined and form an amazing colourful design. This Wheel builds with primary colours and the combination of primary colours to get secondary colours and with a combination of secondary colours gives tertiary colours. The Colour Wheel was created in 1666 by Isaac Newton. Then it goes through lots of transformations and become the main tool for checking the colour combinations.
Colour Harmony:
The colour harmony is about the arrangement of the colours in design in the most attractive and effective way for users’ perception. When colours are organized, viewers feel pleased and calm, while disharmony in design gives the feeling of chaos and disgust. The colour balance is vital in design that leads the user to make a decision.
- Monochromatic – variations of shades, tints, and tones of a single colour.
- Analogous – A colour and the shade right next to it on the wheel.
- Complementary: A colour and its exact opposite on the wheel.
- Triadic: three colours equally spaced on the wheel.
Colour Psychology:
It is a study of how the colours influencing the human’s moods and behaviors. Once the eye perceives the colours it sends a signal to the brain which sends the signal to the endocrine system which is responsible for releasing the hormones responsible for shifting the moods and the emotions. Colours psychology plays a major role in many industries to create convincing and loved products
- Red. Confidence, youth, and power.
- Orange. Friendly, warm, and energetic.
- Yellow. Happiness, optimism, and warmth.
- Green. Peace, growth, and health.
- Blue. Trust, security, and stability.
- Purple. Luxurious, creative, and wise.
- Black. Reliable, sophisticated, and experienced.
- White. Simple, calm, and clean.
Colours Models:
A colour model is simply a way to define colour. A model describes how colour will appear on the computer screen or on paper. Three popular colour models are:
- CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black)
- RGB (Red, Green, Blue)
CMYK:
The CMYK model is used for print work and it describes colours based on their percentage of Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black. These four colours are used by commercial printers and bureaus and you may also find that your home printer uses these colours too. These four colours are needed to reproduce full-coloured artwork in magazines, books, and brochures. By combining Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black on paper in varying percentages, the illusion of lots of colours are created.CMYK is known as a “subtractive” colour model. White is the natural colour of the paper or another background, while black results from a full combination of coloured inks.
RGB:
The RGB model is used when working with screen-based designs. A value between 0 and 255 is assigned to each of the light colours, Red, Green, and Blue. So for example, if you wanted to create a purely blue colour, Red would have a value of 0, Green would have a value of 0 and Blue would have a value of 255 (pure blue). To create black, Red, Green, and Blue would each have a value of 0 and to create white, each would have a value of 255. RGB is known as an “additive” model and is the opposite of the subtractive colour model.
These are the concepts of colours. We will discuss deep into each concept in the upcoming posts.
