Colour Terminology

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Basic colour theory is vital to anyone involved in the design industry. Understanding basic colour behaviours plays a key part in many design tasks; presenting, buying, styling, coordinating, selecting, editing, analysing etc.



Hue – is the quality of the colour, used to distinguish it from another

Value – is the light/darkness of the colour

Chroma – the intensity of the colour, brightness and purity, or dullness and impurity

Tints – hues with white added are tints

Tones – hues with greys added are tones

Shades – hues with black added are shades

Primary colours
- red
- blue
- yellow

secondary colours
- blue
- green
- yellow
- orange
- red
- purple

Tertiary colours – are obtained by mixing all tree primaries of a primary with a secondary colour


Behavior type
Harmonious colours – are those that lie next to each other on the colour wheel. They sit easily together and graduate gently.

Complimentary colours – adding a very small amount of complementary colour to another subdues the intensity by dulling the colour domain.

Discordant colours – are created by reversing the natural order of colours e.g. red is naturally darker than orange. If white is added to create pink, then the pink becomes discordant with orange. 

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