Color Schemes & Vocab

split-complementary

A color scheme that uses a key color with the two colors that lie on either side of its complement. Example: red with yellow-green and blue-green.

complementary

A color scheme that uses colors opposite each other on the color wheel. Example: yellow and violet.

analogous

A color scheme that uses hues next to each other on the color wheel. Example: red, red-violet and red-orange.

monochromatic

A color scheme that uses only one color with tints, shades and tones of that color.

shade

A hue + black.

tone

A hue + that hue's complement.

tint

A hue + white.

secondary colors

Colors (orange, green, violet) made by mixing equal parts of two primary colors together.

tertiary colors

Colors located between primary and secondary colors on the color wheel, created by mixing any adjacent primary and secondary color. Examples: red-orange, yellow-green, blue-violet.

analogous colors

Colors that are adjacent on the color wheel. These colors will have a similar temperature and hue.

warm colors

Colors that are on one side of the color wheel that elicit a feeling of warmth, associated with the sun and fire in nature, active, advancing, for example, red, orange and yellow.

cool colors

Colors that elicit a feeling of coolness, associated with the sky, air, water or grass in nature, calm, receding, for example, blue, green, purple.

complementary colors

Colors which appear opposite each other on the color wheel. These colors complete each other on the color spectrum.

primary colors

The basic colors (red, yellow, blue) that cannot be created by combining other colors and from which all other colors can be made.

color value

lightness or darkness of a color as measured on a scale from black to white.

intensity

the brightness or dullness of a color

hue

the name of the color on the color spectrum