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The color circle, commonly known as the color wheel, is a circular arrangement of hues in the order that they appear in the light color spectrum.
The color wheel most commonly referenced has 12 segments and uses the subtractive color model. The color wheel is thus a vehicle for visualizing color and color relationships, and is also quite useful for mixing color, selecting color, and matching color.
Johannes Itten was a 1920s Swiss painter and teacher who developed color theory as we know it today. He also wrote The Art of Color. Color theory deals with color relationships. Itten's 12-step color sphere is still in widespread use as a model for students of color theory.
Colors are often paired or grouped with other hues. These arrangements are called color harmonies because they create visually harmonious appearances. Color has profound psychological influences on users. While personal experience plays a part in color preference, there are great amounts of research documenting the way humans perceive color and how certain colors form relationships that users find appealing.
The 12-step color wheel below diagrams the primary, secondary, and tertiary colors. The star pattern in the center of the wheel suggests different color relationships achieved by matching different hues.
There are eight color relationships defined by the color wheel, including: primary, analogous, complementary, double-complementary, triadic, split-complementary, square, and tetradic. The chart below provides a visual example of each of these relationships and how they are formed by the arrangements of hues on the color wheel. Note that turning the lines on the color wheel will produce different hues with the same color relationships. For instance, red and green are complementary colors because they are opposite each other on the color wheel, but moving the line to start with orange instead of red will draw a straight line to blue, showing that orange and blue are also complementary.
There is no need to memorize all of the different possibilities of color relationships. Having access to a color wheel allows designers to quickly reference color harmonies and is a powerful tool to add to any artist or designer’s toolbox.
There are various versions of the color wheel, and the differences between them are often associated with their use in particular professions. The image below shows the additive/subtractive color wheel on the top left, the digital design wheel on the top right, and the 12-step color wheel on the bottom.
Multiple color wheels are available in most digital design software. Choosing which type of color wheel to use is often about personal preference as much as it is about producing specific types of files. Additive colors wheels are used when working with additive color and the RGB color model, whereas subtractive color wheels are used for print projects and work in the CMYK color model. The color wheels defined by Goethe and Itten were designed for interactions with paints and ink and are therefore subtractive by design. The key takeaway is that all color wheels show color relationships and are important tools for any artist or designer.
To understand color theory, start with primary, secondary, and tertiary colors.
Primary colors are the hues yellow, red and blue. Primary colors are not created by mixing any other colors together and are the three hues that all other colors are generated from. Remember that white and black are not hues and are not labeled as colors. Instead, they are either the total absence of, or culmination of, color, and which is which is dependent on whether you’re working with additive or subtractive color.
The image below shows a color wheel and identifies the primary, secondary, and tertiary colors.
Notice how secondary colors are placed in the middle between the two primary colors that form them, and tertiary colors are positioned between their primary and secondary parents.
Triad is the name for three hues positioned on the color wheel in the shape of an equilateral triangle. If you look at the example below, you have a triad including the primary colors yellow, red, and blue.
Secondary colors are hues that are the result of mixing two primary colors in equal amount. If you mix equal amounts of yellow and red, you get orange; if you mix equal amounts of red and blue, you get violet; and if you mix equal amounts of blue and yellow, you get green.
Tertiary colors are hues that are the result of mixing primary and secondary colors in equal amounts. A tertiary color is always labeled with the name of the primary color first, followed by the secondary. Examples of tertiary colors are yellow-orange, and blue-green.
Source: THIS TUTORIAL WAS AUTHORED BY MARIO E. HERNANDEZ FOR SOPHIA LEARNING. PLEASE SEE OUR TERMS OF USE.
