{"id":71435,"date":"2022-06-16T10:28:00","date_gmt":"2022-06-16T10:28:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.designpoolpatterns.com\/basic-color-terms-defined\/"},"modified":"2023-09-25T17:56:42","modified_gmt":"2023-09-25T17:56:42","slug":"basic-color-terms-defined","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.designpoolpatterns.com\/basic-color-terms-defined\/","title":{"rendered":"Basic Color Terms Defined"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Like any discipline, color has a language. To work with color confidently, it is helpful to learn that language. Thankfully, it\u2019s not complicated. Knowing a handful of basic color terms is all you need to understand what people are saying about color. A firm understanding of these terms will help in both working with color<\/a> and communicating about color with other people, such as designers and printers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Additive Color Mixing<\/strong> Subtractive Color Mixing<\/strong> Artists and designers discuss reflected color, what your eye sees, using four main color terms: hue, value, saturation, and temperature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hue<\/strong> Value<\/strong> Saturation<\/strong> Temperature<\/strong>First, there are two ways to create color.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Additive color mixing refers to mixing color with light. The broadest bands of color seen in the spectrum are red, green, and blue. These three colors are light primaries. If these three colors are projected and overlapped, they will create white light. Additionally, where red and green mix, it makes yellow. Red and blue make magenta, and blue and green make cyan. Yellow, magenta, and cyan are light secondary colors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Subtractive color mixing refers to paints or dyes mixed together to create color. Rather than mixing wavelengths of light, combining colorants creates new colors by removing or subtracting wavelengths of light.<\/p>\n\n\n\nDefinitions of Common Color Terms<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Hue is the name of a color and identifies it to a color or color family. A basic color wheel is a valuable tool when thinking about hue. A color wheel contains three primary colors (yellow, blue, red), three secondary colors (green, violet, orange), and three tertiary colors (yellow-green, blue-green, blue-violet, red-violet, red-orange, yellow-orange).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Value refers to the degree of lightness or darkness of a color. To visualize value, think of a grayscale with white and black at either end and shades of gray from light to dark in between them. Those shades represent value.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saturation, sometimes referred to as intensity, refers to the purity of a color. Think about saturation in terms of how bright or dull a color is instead of how light or dark. (That\u2019s value.) A pure color is fully saturated. If that color is mixed with black, white, or an additional color, it becomes less pure and less intense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Color is often referred to in terms of warmth or coolness, especially in relation to the surrounding colors. Typically, yellow, orange, and reds represent warmth. Likewise, green, blue, and violet represent coolness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n