This is mainly an article about how color is perceived in the western world.

White

White is the color that represents purity, neutrality, sterility and youth. White is often associated with cleanliness or sterility. White is also associated with neutrality and peace — hence a white flag for surrender or parley. For the same reason it is a perpetually used as a neutral color that will continue to be the preferred backdrop on websites and the “color” behind the color. (Edited to add: We do not think that this is always a best practice, but because of the high contrast ratio that you can create with white, it does not mean it is always the best choice)

White is known for symbolizing light, reverence, purity, truth, snow, peace, innocence, cleanliness, simplicity, security, humility, sterility, winter, coldness, surrender, fearfulness, unimaginative, air, death (in Eastern cultures), life, marriage (in Western cultures), hope, bland, empty (interior) and January (winter).

Black

Black can mean both classic and new.  It also has a macabre feeling that lends towards the color’s use in in Western cultures for funerals. It conveys everything from intellignence, rebellion. absence, modernity, sophistication, elegance, sorrow and seriousness.

Red

Red causes an immediate psychological response. In China it is a color of celebration and luck, in India it is a color of integrity and purity while in South Africa it is a color of mourning. Red is an advancing color that makes objects look larger.  It is a bold color associated with everything from Christmas to sale signs.  Red is a powerful color.

Red is said to cause physical effects such as an increased heart rate or hunger.  In the western world it typically symbolizes passion, fire, energy, sex, love, heat, power, fanger and anger.  In US politics it is the color used to describe a conservative state.

Orange

Orange is another energetic color. It typically symbolizes happiness, energy, balance, heat, fire, enthusiasm, flamboyance, playfulness, warning, danger, autumn and desire. Orange’s intensity is calmed by the addition of yellow to the strong red.  In the Netherlands Orange is the color of royalty.

Yellow

Yellow is a happy color, yet when given in large doses may anger or irritate a person. Yellow symbolizes everything from sunlight and joy, optimism, idealism and home to earth, summer and air to cowardice, illness, hazards, fear and dishonesty. Yellow ribbons are used as symbols of hope for families with a soldier at war.

Green

Green is a very strong color in movements that are earth friendly, due to its association with nature.  Being “a little green” can either mean you are new or not feeling well, depending on the context.

Green symbolizes things as disparate as nature to mone to jealousy.  Nature, spring, fertility, the environment, vigor, wealth, money, greed and jealousy are all evoked by the color green.

Blue

Blues are some of the most comforting colors on the color wheel.  Blues evoke tranquility, peace, idealism, harmony and security.  More literally it is used to represent water, ice, winter and the planet.  Blue is also one of the most comonly used colors on the internet (Yes, it is time to explore new colors!) In US politics, news outlets refer to liberal states as “blue” states.

Purple

Our favorite color! Purple is the color of royalty and wisdom!  We use it to honor our veterans who have won the highest honor we can give them, a Purple Heart, because they were wounded standing up for us. Purple can symbolize nobility, wealth, and wisdom.  In addition it is the color of sensuality, creativity, flamboyance and pride.

Pink

Pink is related to red, but it is completely independent when it comes to symbolism.  It is a color that has tranquilizing effects.  It symbolizes innocence, gratitude, love, romance, femininity and spring.

Brown

Brown is a steadfast color that matches the color of the earth.  It is calm and balanced.  Typically it is used to symbolize calm, nature, stability, dirt, heaviness, poverty and wholesomeness. Brown is another color that can leave you hungry.

Please remember that this is just a cursory overview and is really just meant as food for thought for you designer types.  Think twice before you use blue again.  Be careful with large amounts of red (and accidentally pairing it with green for something that is not Christmas related).

Color basics are taught in design school, but many people play with colors without thinking about what the implications are. In this article I will talk about color basics, and tomorrow I will follow up with some uses of color.

The primary colors that were learned in grade school are red, yellow and blue.  We learned that we could make any color we wanted by mixing those colors together.  Well, that is partially right.  For printing, we use cyan, magenta, yellow and black and for screens we use red, green and blue.  The painting and printing color systems are both based on subtractive color.  The color on screens (colors of light) are called additive color.

But, on a color wheel, the primaries are always red, yellow and blue.  Secondary colors can be made by mixing two primary colors together (orange, green and purple).  Tertiary colors are made by mixing a primary and a secondary color.

Chroma, intensity, saturation and luminance/value are inter-related terms and have to do with the description of a color.

• Chroma: How pure a hue is in relation to gray
• Saturation: The degree of purity of a hue.
• Intensity: The brightness or dullness of a hue. One may lower the intensity by adding white or black.
• Luminance / Value: A measure of the amount of light reflected from a hue. Those hues with a high content of white have a higher luminance or value.

Shade and tint are terms that refer to a variation of a hue.

• Shade: A hue produced by the addition of black
• Tint: A hue produced by the addition of white.

Ok, now we know the terms.  How do you pick a color scheme? I have outlined some of the basic color relationships below:

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  A monochromatic color scheme

  Monochromatic Colors Colors that are shade or tint variations of the same hue.

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  Complimentary Color Scheme

  Complementary Colors Those colors across from each other on a color wheel.

• Split-Complementary Colors One hue plus two others equally spaced from its complement.
• Double-Complementary Colors Two complementary color sets; the distance between selected complementary pairs will effect the overall contrast of the final composition.
• 

  Analogous Color Scheme

  Analogous Colors Those colors located adjacent to each other on a color wheel.

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  Triadic Color Scheme

  Triad Colors Three hues equally positioned on a color wheel.

Colors are fun to play with, and can make your website beautiful.  Just please, avoid these common mistakes:

1. Using a triadic color scheme of just the primary colors.
2. Using red and green alone together if it is not Christmas.
3. Having your colors so similar that people can’t quite tell if there is a difference.
4. Using complimentary colors as text and background colors.

Some places to play with colors are: Adobe Kuler and COLOURlovers.  These tools allow you to create color schemes and download color pallets for use in Adobe software.