Color theory is a basic tool for designers, artists for designers, artists, architects, interior designers and in general, all those who use color creatively.
It is useful whether to generate different ambiances or atmospheres in a room, to design the next fashion collection, to arouse different emotions in a movie or even to choose what to wear every day.
But color is not used exclusively by those who work in creative industries as some believe. Color is part of us and everything that surrounds us. and therefore, we all use it every day, either in a more conscious or unconscious way. Here we tell you what color theory is, so you can start using this beautiful tool in the creation of your reality and your world.
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What is color?
Color and the way we perceive it is something totally subjective and unique to each person. Even so, color theory allows us to understand colors in a similar way, as well as the possibility of creating infinite shades (the eye is capable of perceiving about 10 million colors). That is why it is necessary to first understand what color is.
Color is the result of the interaction between light and our surroundings, e.g. an object.for example, an object. Without light, nothing we see would have color and everything would be dark or black, like when you turn off the light before going to sleep. It is thanks to light and its properties that we can perceive colors.
That’s right! Light is composed of electromagnetic waves that travel at high speed, more precisely at 30,000 km per second. Each wave has a different length from the other producing the different types of light: either ultraviolet, infrared or the visible spectrum.
The latter is the one that is visible to our eye and from which the theory of color arises. When these properties of light interact with an objectWhen these properties of light interact with an object, it absorbs some of the light rays and returns, i.e. reflects, the others to the environment. These last ones are those that our brain interprets as colors.
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Color is the result of the interaction of light with what surrounds us.
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What is color theory?
Color theory is a set of rules that acts on the visible spectrum of light and explains how to mix colors to get the one you want. how you should mix colors to get the color you want, showing you how colors interact with each other.by showing you how colors interact with each other. For example, you can get white light by mixing red, green and blue, while you can get black by mixing cyan, magenta and yellow pigments.
To do this, this theory divides colors into three groups: primary, secondary and tertiary. These are represented graphically in a chromatic circle in which, following an order from the inside out, the primary colors are found, surrounded by the secondary colors and these in turn, surrounded by the tertiary colors.
Primary colors
This first group is made up of those colors that we find in nature and that it is not possible to obtain through the mixture of other colors. On the contrary, they are the basis and origin of the other millions of shades that we are capable of perceiving.
The primary colors are: red, blue and yellow; or magenta, cyan and yellow, depending on the palette configuration used.
Secondary colors
According to color theory, secondary colors are those colors that we obtain by mixing two colors that we obtain by mixing two of the primary colors, resulting in violet, blue and yellow, or magenta, cyan and yellow, depending on the palette configuration used.resulting in violet, green and orange.
These tones are obtained by mixing the following colors:
- Red + blue = violet
- Blue + yellow = green
- Yellow + red = orange
Tertiary colors
Tertiary colors are all those that we obtain by mixing a primary color with a secondary one, resulting in different shadesThey can be, for example, violet blue, greenish blue, orange yellow or greenish yellow, always depending on the secondary color we choose.
By mixing the basic colors we obtain different shades.
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Neutral colors
Although these colors are not part of the chromatic circle, it is good that you identify what they are, since they are also widely used. These are white, gray and black.
The reason why they are not included in the chromatic circle As I said, colors are the result of the interaction between light and an object or surface. In this sense, we see white when the surface reflects all the light and on the contrary, we see black when the surface completely absorbs the light.
Now that you know the color theory and the chromatic circle, you can create color palettes for your home, your wardrobe or simply use it to understand where the colors you are looking for come from. understand where the colors you are perceiving in your environment come from.. Remember also that you can get many other colors by playing with the properties of color, such as tone or hue, saturation or intensity and luminosity or brightness.
- Related article: “The 7 colors with which you should not paint the walls of your house (and the reason)”.
One last fun fact: did you know that it was the writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe who wrote the theory of color and was the one who defined the chromatic circle inspired by the color spectrum previously proposed by the physicist Isaac Newton? Now you know something more about the origin of colors!