Color Theory

Color theory is a body of practical guidance to color mixing and the visual impacts of specific color combinations. Color is used to express mood, feelings, category, expression, and much more. Color theory was originally formulated in terms of three primary colors: red, yellow and blue, because these colors are capable of mixing all other colors. Painters had long known this color mixing behavior. Warm colors are the yellow through red-violet spectrum on the color wheel. Cool colors are the yellow-green through violet spectrum on the color wheel. The warm and cool color have a psychological effect on the eye of the beholder. Warm colors tend to give the viewer a warm and optimistic feeling. While on the other hand, cool colors have the opposite effect; they stimulate a cold and pessimistic ambiance.

Color when use correctly can be a powerful tool in design that it can literally impact the way people look or act. Color harmony can be defined as a pleasing arrangement of parts, harmony is something that is pleasing to the eye. It engages the viewer and creates an inner sense of order, a balance in the visual experience. When a visual experience is bland that the viewer is not engaged, the human brain will reject under-stimulating information. When a visual experience is overdone that the viewer find it hard to look at, the human brain will rejects what it can not organize. The visual task requires that we present a logical structure.



* Image from http://www.lasalle.edu/~didio/courses/hon462/goethe_chaos.htm