Colour Theory and all the Related Terms

Updated on 23 April 2020

By The Design Guy

6 min read 2 views

Updated on 23 April 2020

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Color has always been a significant part of our daily life, infact in every living being lives on earth !

This leaves us with a question "What is Color ? For Us ?"

According to Britannica :

"Color, also spelled color, the aspect of any object that may be described in terms of hue, lightness, and saturation. In physics, color is associated specifically with electromagnetic radiation of a certain range of wavelengths visible to the human eye. Radiation of such wavelengths constitutes that portion of the electromagnetic spectrum known as the visible spectrum.

Simplified Version :

The signals which our eyes recieves from the environment around and

read by the color gathering receptors in our eyes are known as colors.

Also have a look.

Color Theory by OM, and very famous Youtube channel for designing aspirants

Related Terms for Color.

Hue commonly known as color

Its basically a fancy name for color... Sort of. Hue refers to the parent color, or rather the fully saturated color that doesn’t have any white (tint) or black (shade) added to it.

Tint

It is created when you add white to a hue. You can create a tint by lowering the saturation value of your hue.

Shade

Created when you add black to a hue. Again, You can create a shade by lowering the brightness value of your hue.

Saturation

Saturation refers to the purity of the color. High saturated colors are very vibrant and bright, while low saturated colors are kinda dull.

Value

Value refers to the measurement of brightness of a hue. Basically it's how light or dark the color is and how much light it emits.

and finally Tone

A tone is in between a tint and a shade. Basically you're adding grey, aka both white & black, to your hue.

Reference Link (Happy Hues)

https://www.happyhues.co/palettes/12