In talking about design and decor, color is a major factor. In the world of color, there are warm colors and cool colors. But as in everything else, making a color decision is more complicated than that. The color wheel consists of primary colors, secondary colors and tertiary colors. It’s best we start here.
The color wheel is used to show the relationship of each color to the next. On the wheel, the primary colors are red, yellow, and blue. These are the purest forms of color. All other colors come from a mix together of these colors. The secondary colors are orange, green, and violet. These colors are made by a mix of the primary colors: orange (a mix of red and yellow), green (a mix of yellow and blue), and violet (a mix of blue and red). The tertiary colors are red-orange, yellow-green, and blue-violet. These colors are made by mixing the secondary color and then adding more of the primary color. For example: red-orange is made by mixing the secondary color of orange and then adding more red; yellow-green is made by mixing the secondary color of green and then adding more yellow; blue-violet is made by mixing the secondary color of violet and then adding more blue.
The properties of color are hue, value, intensity. Hue is the basic pure color of the primary colors. Value is the lightness (high/closer to white) or darkness (low/closer to black) of the color. It can be determined by the amount of light reflected from the color or colors adjacent or around the color. The color’s value is lightened by adding white (tint) to the color, darkened by adding black (shade) to the color, or by adding gray (tone). Intensity is considered either high or low. High intensity is the pure rich color as in the purest form. No other color is added. Low intensity or tone can be a muted or softened just by adding black, white, or gray or the complementary color. A complementary color is the color opposite on the color wheel. An analogous color is the color next to a color on the color wheel.
