Working on a design requires the effective use of all its elements. Forms, meanings, text, and colors should be in harmony and convey a single message. That’s the basis of successful branding or visuals in any format. Color is responsible for a significant part of this harmony and transfer of meanings.
When working with colors, you need to feel them intuitively and understand their nature. To make this easier for you, we have created this complete guide to color theory. In this article, we will discuss how to use this tool, what colors represent, and how to use the color meaning chart to your advantage.
The Basics of Color Theory
Color theory is systematized knowledge about color as a phenomenon, its features, and possibilities. The basis is the combination of shades among themselves, as well as the properties of each color. This theory is based on the concept of the color wheel and its primary, secondary, and tertiary colors, as well as hue, saturation, and brightness.
To correctly use shades in your designs, we suggest that you gradually familiarize yourself with these basics as well as the color symbolism chart mentioned above.
Color wheel
A color wheel is an arrangement of colors and their shades within a circle in a way that reflects their relationships to each other. There are many options for its formation, but the elements of the spectrum remain unchanged. Within the wheel, there are the following types of colors in order of priority:
- Primary colors: red, yellow, and blue. These colors are considered primary because they cannot be created by mixing others, but they can be mixed to get a wide range of other colors.
- Secondary colors: green, orange, and purple. If you look at the circle, these are the colors formed in the spaces between the three main ones after mixing equal parts of two primary colors.
- Tertiary colors: yellow-orange, red-orange, red-purple, blue-purple, blue-green & yellow-green. Such shades are the result of a mixture of primary and secondary colors.
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Hue
Hue is what we call ‘pure color’ without adding white or black. Hue means the position of your chosen shade on the color wheel.
Saturation
Saturation is a particular state of the selected hue, which depends on the intensity or purity of a color. It determines the vividness (or muteness) compared to other shades. Saturation reflects how close or far a color is to gray in the color spectrum.
Brightness
Brightness (value, lightness) depends on the amount of white or black mixed with the hue. This property shows how relatively dark or light the hue is.
Practical Use of the Color Theory
It may seem that these terms are unnecessary and only complicate the design work. However, the principles of combining shades, which we will discuss further, are based on them. Also, knowing how to correctly combine colors with different properties will help create a successful design.
For example, it is worth maintaining an equal saturation within the project to make the overall picture more unified and collected. With clean hues, you should work carefully so as not to overload the design. Experimenting with more pastel shades is safer, but clean options will create a bright result.
Color Harmony
We explained the properties of colors. Now, you should learn to combine them. Harmony in color theory is the basic principle of combining colors and their shades. The human eye has a good sense of order and chaos, so harmoniously combined colors make your design easier to perceive. But this does not mean at all that it has to be boring. Here are options for mixing colors within harmonious combinations:
Analogous
The simplest but most effective combination is analogous. If we consider a color wheel with 12 selected shades, this is a combination of three or more of them standing next to each other, one after the other. The close relationship between the colors helps to create a harmonious and cohesive look.
Complementary
As opposed to the analog, a complementary combination relies on two opposite colors within the color wheel. To soften the inherent contrast, choosing less saturated colors rather than pure shades is better. Also, reduce the number of other details in the design so as not to oversaturate the result with contrasting colors.
Triadic
A triadic color scheme involves using three colors that are equidistant from each other. If you look at a circle and connect three shades using the triad principle, this combination will form a triangle. We recommend using all three colors in equal proportions and less bright shades so that the design remains harmonious.
Tetradic
This is a complex but interesting combination of 4 colors on a circle, forming a rectangle together. This combination is based on the principle of double contrast and is very active, requiring careful balancing to avoid clashes. Learn more about the tetradic color scheme in our detailed guide.
The Psychology of Color in Design and Branding
Color is an important design component not only because of its ability to make or break balance. In addition, colors and their meaning strongly influence our emotions and well-being. These properties become especially important when it comes to the design of a product, website, application, or any other element (such as logo) with which a person will directly interact.
Colors have different effects on our minds. They can calm and stimulate, evoke memories, and frighten. The effect may vary depending on cultural, personal, and situational context. So, what do different colors mean? At the end of this guide, we will answer this question.
10 Colors and Their Meaning
- Black. Before moving on to primary colors, let's start with neutrals. Black is the strongest of them, although it means no color. The associations are various: elegance, simplicity, composure, mystery, and death. If we talk about the cultural aspect, the Western world perceives black as the color of sorrow.
- White. Works with any color and often serves as a clear background. Possible meanings are purity, peace, wedding, winter, or religious motives. In the East, it is a mournful color that replaces black.
- Gray. Neutral and cold color. Often reflects depression and bad weather. At the same time, it is the color of modernity – steel and concrete, so it adds a modern look to the design.
- Brown. The color of earth and wood. It is reliable and permanent. At the same time, it may seem dirty and uninteresting. Pair with vivid colors for contrast.
- Red is a very polar color. It represents passion and anger, blood and heart, love and danger. Don't overuse pure red in your designs; save it for details and alerts.
- Orange. Active and saturated. Unlike red, it has more positive connotations: autumn, sun, creativity, health, and vitamins. Use orange if you want a positive user perception of your design.
- Yellow is another warm and happy color. Compared to others, it is also gender-neutral. However, in certain shades, yellow can look sickly or ancient—take this into account.
- Green is the color of nature, growth, and spring. It also represents security and permission, like a green light, as well as wealth and money. This color stabilizes the designs and calms the viewer.
- Blue is a cold and versatile color. It can be associated with water, sky, and peace, or it can mean sadness or even religiosity. Dark blue looks reliable, so large corporations always use it in their visuals.
- Purple. Like blue, purple has many meanings. Since ancient times, it has been considered the color of monarchs and power. Now, it is associated with creativity and even romance. Therefore, it is worth checking what each color means and choosing the desired meaning while working on the design.
Conclusion
It is difficult to overestimate the power of colors in design. They can calm the viewer or stimulate action. Therefore, a basic knowledge of the theory and what colors represent will help you create balanced and effective designs.
If you need to correctly convey a key message to the audience through design and color – we are here for you. We have years of experience creating UI/UX designs and know how to help you. Contact us to have a professional consultation!
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