Colour Theory

We are going to look at colour theory. When working in any sort of
design sense where there is a limited palette of colour, then colour
theory must be obeyed. Colours have connotations; they can influence
your mood and feelings as well as describe. This is just one reason why
colour theory is needed.

Colour theory is an effective way of associating similar colours and
grouping colours that relate mentally and artistically.

I’ll begin by looking at two very simple methods of colour theory:
complementary colour and analogous colour.

Complementary
Start by looking at the complementary image (on link above). You’ll
notice the colour wheel, and how each colour is segmented. Complementary
colour schemes work by using colours which are direct opposites of each
other on the colour wheel. By this I mean those that are exactly 180
degrees from the original colour. For example, the image shows yellow and
purple as being complementary. The purple is exactly opposite to the
yellow. Thus the colours can be said to “compliment” each other. To
create a complementary colour scheme, simply pick two or three colours on the
wheel and then their opposites (those that are 180 degrees from the
original choice).

Analogous
In the case of analogous colour schemes, we first start by choosing a
colour - for example, as the image shows, yellow. It is then the
surrounding neighbour colurs that form the rest of our choices - in this
case, orange and green, as they are direct relations to the original
choice. In layman’s terms, its neighbours on the colour wheel. With this
method its quite easy to pick schemes that will connote a feeling or mood
as normally the neighbouring colours are closely related to the original.

Combination
Now that we’ve had a look at these two methods we can then combine them.
In the example given I have chosen yellow again as my base colour. I
then applied the analogous method to get my surrounding colours of
orange and green. Then I complemented these selections to give the
differing shades of purple. Keep in mind that the colours aren’t
complimenting because each is a mirror of the first selection, but that
the bottom three colours were chosen as they are each 180 degrees from one of
the analogous selections. [Peter Barbosa]