Unit 3 - Chapter 4: Color Theory and Application

High key color range -

A choice of hues in the high value (lighter) range

Low key color range -

A choice of hues in the low (darker) range.

Color Wheel -

A circular graphic tool used to illustrate the organization of hues by adjacencies. Generally shows the 12 hues, including primary, secondary, and tertiary hues.

Accent Color Scheme -

A color scheme built on a related, contrasting, or achromatic scheme. It may involve introducing an accent color or a neutral to offset an established scheme, to make it less predictable; introducing a hue in a monochromatic scheme; or adding a small amount of a complement to an analogous or a monochromatic scheme.

Achromatic Color Scheme -

A color scheme composed of white, black, and/or gray, with no hue. One that is related includes a series of grays that are close in value; one that is contrasting is composed of only black and white or grays of very different values.

Triadic Color Scheme -

A color scheme created by use of hues that are equidistant from one another on the color wheel, forming a triangle in which all three sides are equal. Typical schemes are the primary colors of red, yellow, and blue; more subtle variations.

Related Color Scheme -

A color scheme derived by focusing on unifying similar attributes of the selections. It is considered more calming and stable than a contrasting color scheme.

Monochromatic Color Scheme -

A color scheme derived from the use of only one hue. It may include different values and chroma levels to avoid monotony.

Direct Complementary Color Scheme -

A contrasting color scheme consisting of two hues that appear in direct opposition on the 12 hue color wheel, such as red and green. (see also Complementary color scheme)

Double Complementary Color Scheme -

A contrasting color scheme that uses two pairs of complementary colors, such as red and green with violet and yellow.

Brown -

A general term describing a hue that may include a mixture of house between red and yellow that is of medium to low lightness and of moderate to low saturation; also referred to as a neutral.

Color Blindness (color deficiency ) -

A genetic condition, more common among men than women, in which the cone receptors are diminished, causing the person to have difficulty distinguishing the values of certain pairs of colors, generally red and green, both of which appear to resemble tones of gray.

Cool Gray -

A gray that has some blue or violet mixed in.

Warm Gray -

A gray that has some warm hue, such as one in the red to yellow range mixed in.

Shade -

A lowered value of a hue created by adding black, developing a darker version.

Iridescence -

A lustrous effect of light and color mixing, resulting in a rainbow like array of colors. It may be created when natural or artificial light refracts off a surface that is slick, either as a natural condition or in a manufactured product designed to cast that effect.

Wavelength -

A method of measuring light in which bands of light are measured as pulsations or electromagnetic energy.

Neutral Gray -

A mixture of black and white only in various ratios.

Taupe -

A mixture of the ranges of brown, such as beige, with gray. (see also gregie)

Tone -

A muted version (lower chroma) of a hue, created by adding gray or a hue's complement.

Vibrating Color -

A phenomenon that occurs when strong contrasts of color with high saturation are juxtaposed. The eyes does not adequately focus on the two causing the edges of each hue to blur and shift. It is most apparent in the bold striped pattern, particular in small spaces, where the stripes appear to move.

Neutralization -

A process whereby hues are toned down to result in a grayish, muddy brown or black, depending on the particular hues and their ratios.

Chromatherapy -

A therapeutic technique based on the healing properties of color.

Tint -

A variation of a hue created when white is added, thus heightening the value, creating a lighter version.

Tetrad Color Scheme -

A variation of the double complementary color scheme. It also uses four hues, but the hues are equidistant from each other on the color wheel, geometrically forming a square (e.g. violet, yellow, blue green, and red orange).

Analogous Color Scheme -

An approach to color harmony that combines hues adjacent to each other on the color wheel. It can be further specified as a range of adjacent hues that remain in one temperature zone (warm or cold, not both)

Complimentary Color Scheme -

An arrangement of color that creates harmony by using complementary (contrasting) colors, a combination of warm and cool hues.

Contrasting Color Scheme -

An arrangement of colors derived by focusing on the differences among the selection of hues. It is considered more dynamic and active than a related color scheme.

Subtractive Color -

Color reflected from a surface or subject colored by dyes, pigments, or other substances, and is the subject of chemistry and physiology.

Additive Color -

Color that originates from light and is the subject of physics.

Nanometer (nm) -

One billionth of a meter. Wavelengths of light are measured in nanometers.

Split Complementary Color Scheme -

Rather than using two hues that directly opposite each other on the color wheel, as in a direct complementary scheme, three hues are chosen, softening the effect of the contrast. Geometrically, the choices are from a triangle on the color wheel in which two of the sides are equal in length, and the third is shorter.

Luminosity -

The inherent ability of a hue to reflect light; yellow is the most luminous, violet the least.

Afterimage (successive contrast) -

The phenomenon whereby the perception of color is altered when colors are viewed in sequence (i.e. successively), rather than simultaneously or side by side.

Greige -

The way a textile's color is described when in its natural form, not dyed or finished; also a term to describe a hue that is a mixture of the ranges of brown with gray' sometimes called taupe.

Simultaneous contrast -

The way in which colors influence each other, by attributes of hue, value, and chroma, when placed next to each other or simultaneously viewed.

Advancing & Receding Colors -

Warm hues that appear to advance, or move closer to the viewer, and cool colors that seem to recede, or move farther away.

Fusion (optical mixing) -

When a color from a distance reduces its apparent scale. For example, a carpet that appears to be made up of small green and red fibers when viewed up close will read as muddy brown when experienced from a realistic distance and installed in the actual space.

Optic mixing (fusion) -

When a color from a distance reduces its apparent scale. For example, a carpet that appears to be made up of small green and red fibers when viewed up close will read as muddy brown when experienced from a realistic distance and installed in the actual space.