Now it's time to look at some more color theory. Here's the color wheel once more.
This color wheel is useful, but doesn't tell us all we need to know. This is because it only deals with what we call 'Hue' and nothing else.
Color Theory Definitions
Hue
This is the quality of color with reference to its position on the color wheel. It's an indication of a color's 'greeness' or 'redness'. Red has 100% 'redness', whereas orange, if it's made up of equal parts of red and yellow, will have 50% 'redness', for example.
You'll often see 'hue' mentioned in relation to color definitions if you use software which allows you to adjust photos or create graphics.
Intensity
Intensity is the brightness or purity of a color. It is also referred to as 'saturation'. When a color has a high intensity or saturation value, it is seen as strong and bright. A color with low intensity can look drab and dirty.
Tone
Tone is how we describe the lightness or darkness of a color. If we take the yellow hue and darken it, we call it a 'shade' of yellow (shade = dark tone). If we increase the shade we eventually arrive at black. If we lighten the yellow we have a 'tint' (tint = light tone).
You'll also notice that colors have their own characteristic tone. Looking at the color wheel, yellow is the lightest in tone, and the other colors vary in degree of tone. Look at the color wheel in greyscale, and you can see yellow looks lighter than the rest.
You may find this website of interest
This color wheel (link opens in new window) allows you to explore many aspects of color.
Color is a complex subject. It's easy to skip over these initial definitions and explanations, and think they don't matter.
But if you can get even a basic understanding of its different aspects, you'll find it much easier to understand how interior schemes are put together. Just go over the explanation on this page once more. A little effort at this stage will be well worth it.
Go to the next page to learn about warm and cool colors
