Before and After 0646

7/29/2019 Before and After 0646

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Before&After

Continued

XiBAmagazine.com U

Our color wheel 0646

Our color wheelThe color wheel is our tool for understanding

which colors go with what.


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Before&After

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XiBAmagazine.com U


Our color wheelPart science, part art, the color wheel is our tool for understandingwhich colors go with what.

Infinity, simplified

White light contains all visible colors, which form an infinite

spectrum that always appears in the violet-to-red sequence

you see in a rainbow (right, top). To make it practical, the color wheel represents

this infinity with 12 basic hues pretty much like those in your first box of crayons.

Wherever there is light, there

is color. While we think ofcolors as independentthis

blue, that reda color is

never seen alone but always

in the context of other colors. Like a musical

note, no one color is good or bad. Rather,

its one part of a composition that as a whole

is pleasing or not. The color wheel is our tool

for understanding how colors relate to one

another. Heres how it works.

Visible light

Ultraviolet Infra-red

The color wheel is the range of visible light made into a circle.


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Before&After Our color wheel 3of12 XiBAmagazine.com U

3of12 Our color wheel 0646

What are the colors?

The wheel has 12 basic hues. First are the three primarycolors of blue, yellow and red.Primary colors combine to make secondarycolors, which combine to make tertiarycolors.

Primary colors are the wheels parent

colors; they are the only colors not made from

other colors. The primary colors are positioned

around the wheel in thirds.

Secondary colors are halfway

between the primary colors. Each

is made from equal amounts of

the nearest primaries.

Tertiary colors are halfway

between the secondary colors.

Each is made from equal amounts

of the adjacent secondaries.


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Colors in common

As you can tell, every color is part of the color next to it, which is part of the next and thenext, all the way around the wheel. Colors in common are the basis of color relationships.

Blueis common to all seven colors, which get

less blue as they fan out. Green and violet are

the secondaries that contain blue.

Yellowis common to all seven colors, which

get less yellow as they fan out. Green and

orange are the secondaries that contain yellow.

Redis common to all seven colors, which get

less red as they fan out. Orange and violet are

the secondaries that contain red.


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Color value

Color also has darkness and lightness, or value. To show value, the color wheel hasmore rings; two big rings for the darkshadesand two small rings for the light tints.

Hue

Shade

Hue

Tint

Tint

Shade

The color wheel has five

concentric rings from dark to light

shades are the big rings, tints are

the small, and hues are the middle.

Tints and shades

(Left) Ashade is the hue plus

black, and a tintis the hue plus

white.

Infinite gradient

(Below) Five steps represent

what is actually a continuousgradient from white to black. A

tint or shade can fall anywhere

on the continuum.


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Color relationships

The following pages illustrate the six basic color relationships. Each can yield anendless number of color palettes.

Monochromatic

First are the dark, medium and light values of a single

color. This is a monochromatic palette. It has no color

depth, but it provides the contrast of dark, medium and

light thats so important to good design.

Analogous

Adjacent colors are called analogous. Analogous colors

share strong undertones (here, yellow and red), which

create pleasing, low-contrast harmony. Analogous

palettes are rich and always easy to work with.


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Any palette can include shades and tints along with the hue. The result can beall dark, all light, or any combination.

Complement

Direct opposites on the color wheel are complementsin this

case, blue and orange. What the complement brings is contrast.

A color and its complement convey energy, vigor and excite-

ment. Typically, the complement is used in a smaller amount

as an accent; a spot of orange on a blue field, for example.

Split complement

One step either way are the complements own analogous

colors. This palette is called a split complement. Its strength is

in the low-contrast beauty of analogous colors, plus the added

punctuation of an opposite color. In this case the red, because

its most different, would likely be used as the accent.


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The amount of color matters. Palettes can be made warmer/cooler, darker/lighter,stronger/quieter and so on by using more or less of some colors.

Primary

The primary colors are rarely seen as a trio except in childrens

products. Red and yellow, however, are popular in American

culture for everything from fast food to gasoline. Red and blue

are common but attractive only if separated by open space.

Secondary

Secondary colors have a lot in commontwo share blue,

two share yellow, and two share redso harmonize easily.

As a trio they are soft, inviting and rich, and have pleasing

depth and dimension that are hard to get in other ways.

Rare Popular Clash Separated


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Now for a quiz

Train your eye: Each cover uses one of the basic color relationships. Can you name them?Hint: Look at the big colors, not the small ones, ignore black & white. Answers on page 11.

COUNTRY

Garden GreensGreat Gourds

A Perfect Porch

Simple GiftsStovetop Treats

Plush PulloverAnd more!

ComfortCOUNTRY

Comfort


A Perfect Porch

Simple ScarvesStovetop Treats


Monochromatic

Analogous

Complement

Split complement

Primary

Secondary

Monochromatic

Analogous

Complement

Split complement

Primary

Secondary

Monochromatic

Analogous

Complement

Split complement

Primary

Secondary

Monochromatic

Analogous

Complement

Split complement

Primary

Secondary

COUNTRY


A Perfect PorchSimple GiftsStovetop Treats

Plush Pullover

And more!

ComfortCOUNTRY

Comfort


A Perfect Porch

Simple GiftsStovetop Treats



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Before&After XiBAmagazine.com U


Our color wheel 10of12

Download: Before & After color wheel

Our color wheel |748kb

www.bamagazine.com/ColorWheel/

This color wheel is exactly the one we use in

Before & After magazine. It is a reference tool, not

an interactive product. Its purpose is to help you

understand how colors are related. Its 12 hues

and 48 tints represent the full spectrum of color

but are only a tiny fraction of the infinity of colors

actually in nature.

The format is Adobe PDF. For everything you want

to know about working with PDF, please contact

Adobes Reader support Web site at

www.adobe.com/support/products/acrreader.html

Before&After


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Before&After XiBAmagazine.com U


Our color wheel 11of12

18

16

17

COUNTRYComfort

Garden GreensGreat GourdsA Perfect PorchSimple GiftsStovetop TreatsPlush PulloverAnd more!

COUNTRYComfort


COUNTRY

Garden GreensGreat GourdsA Perfect PorchSimple GiftsStovetop Treats


ComfortCOUNTRY

Comfort


COUNTRYComfort

Garden GreensGreat GourdsA Perfect PorchSimple Gifts

Stovetop TreatsPlush PulloverAnd more!

Typefaces

1 Giza Nine Three

2 Sloop ScriptOne

3 ITC Goudy Sans Bold Italic

Images

4 (ad) iStockphoto.com | a b c d

Quiz answers

Article resources

Colors

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C30 M0 Y64 K0

C26 M0 Y47 K0

C60 M25 Y0 K0

C50 M15 Y0 K0

C15 M5 Y0 K0

C0 M55 Y20 K0

C30 M85 Y75 K55

C20 M80 Y35 K5

C60 M28 Y90 K30

C0 M75 Y95 K0

C25 M75 Y100 K20

C0 M30 Y97 K0

C5 M48 Y96 K0

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5 Monochromatic

6 Complementary

7 Primary

8 Analogous

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Before&After

12of12 | Printing formats

XiBAmagazine.com U


Our color wheel 12of12Our color wheel 12of12

Before & After magazine

Before & After has been sharing its practical approach

to graphic design since 1990. Because our modern world

has made designers of us all (ready or not), Before &

After is dedicated to making graphic design understand-

able, useful and even fun for everyone.

John McWade Publisher and creative director

Gaye McWade Associate publisher

Vincent Pascual Staff designerDexter Mark Abellera Staff designer

Before & After magazine

323 Lincoln Street, Roseville, CA 95678

Telephone 916-784-3880

Fax 916-784-3995

E-mail [email protected]

www http://www.bamagazine.com

Copyright 2006 Before & After magazine

ISSN 1049-0035. All rights reserved

You may pass along a free copy of this article to others

by clicking here. You may not alter this article, and you

may not charge for it. You may quote brief sections

for review; please credit Before & After magazine, and

let us know. To link Before & After magazine to your

Web site, use this URL: http://www.bamagazine.com.

For all other permissions, please contact us.

Subscribe to Before & After

Subscribe to Before & After, and become a

more capable, confident designer for pennies

per article. To learn more, go to

http://www.bamagazine.com/Subscribe

E-mail this articleTo pass along a free copy of this article to

others, click here.

Join our e-list

To be notified by e-mail of new articles as

they become available, go to

http://www.bamagazine.com/email


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For paper-saver formatPrint: (Specify pages 1419)

Before & After is made to fit your binder

Before & After articles are intended for permanent reference. All are titled and numbered.

For the current table of contents, click here. To save time and paper, a paper-saver format of this article,

suitable for one- or two-sided printing, is provided on the following pages.

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Before&After|www.bamagazine.com

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Ourcolorwheel0646

0646Ourcolorwhee

l

Infinity,simplified

Whitelightcontainsa

llvisiblecolors,whichformaninfinite

spectrumthatalways

appearsintheviolet-to-redseque

nce

youseeinarainbow(right,top).Tomakeitpractical,thecolorwheelreprese

nts

thisinfin

itywith12basichuesprettymuch

likethoseinyourfirstboxofcray

ons.

Whereverthereislight,there

iscolor.While

wethinkof

colorsasinde

pendentthis

blue,thatredacoloris

neverseenalonebutalways

inthecontextofothercolors.Likeamusical

note,

noonecolorisgoodo

rbad.Rather,

itson

epartofacomposition

thatasawhole

isple

asingornot.Thecolorw

heelisourtool

forunderstandinghowcolorsrelatetoone

another.Hereshowitworks.

Visible

light

Ultraviolet

Infra-red

Thecolorwheelistherangeo

fvisiblelightmadeintoacircle.

Ourco

lorwheel

Thecolorw

heelisourtoolforunderstanding

whichcolorsgowithwha

t.


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2of6

Ourcolorwheel0646

0646Ourcolorwhee

l

Whatarethecolo

rs?

Thewheelhas12basichues.Firstarethethree

primarycolorsofblue,yellowandred.

Primarycolorscom

binetomake

secondary

colors,whichcombine

tomake

tertiarycolors.

Primarycolo

rsarethewheelsparent

colors;theyaretheonlycolorsnotmadefrom

othercolors.Theprimarycolorsarepositioned

aroundthewh

eelinthirds.

Secondary

colorsarehalfway

betweenthe

primarycolors.Each

ismadefrom

equalamountsof

thenearestprimaries.

Tertiarycolorsarehalfway

betweenthesecondarycolors.

Eachismadefrom

equalamounts

oftheadjacentsecondaries.

Colorsincommon

Asyoucantell,ever

ycolorispartofthecolornexttoit,whichispartofthenextandthe

next,allthewayaro

undthewheel.Colorsincommonarethebasis

ofcolorrelationships.

Blueiscomm

ontoallsevencolors,whichget

lessblueasth

eyfanout.Greenandvioletare

thesecondarie

sthatcontainblue.

Yellow

iscommontoallsevencolors,which

getlessyellow

astheyfan

out.Greenand

orangearethesecondarie

sthatcontainyellow.

Red

iscommontoallsevencolors,whichget

lessr

edastheyfanout.Orangeandvio

letare

thesecondariesthatcontainred.


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Ourcolor

wheel0646

0646Ourcolorwhee

l

Colorvalue

Coloralsohasdark

nessandlightness,orvalue.Toshowvalue,the

colorwheelhas

morerings;twobig

ringsforthedarkshadesandtwosmallringsfo

rthelighttints.

Hue

Sha

de

Hue

Tint

Tint

Shade

Thecolorwheelhasfive

concentricringsfro

mdarktolight

shadesarethebigrings,tintsare

thesmall,andhues

arethemiddle.

Tintsandshades

(Left)Ashade

isthehuep

lus

black,andatintisthehueplus

white.

Infinitegradient

(Below)Fivestepsrepresent

whatisactuallyacontinu

ous

gradientfromwhitetobla

ck.A

tintorshadecanfallanyw

here

onthecontinuum.

Colorrelationship

s

Thefollowingpagesillustratethesixbasiccolorrelationships.Each

canyieldan

endlessnumberof

colorpalettes.

Monochromatic

Firstarethedark,mediuma

ndlightvaluesofasingle

color.Thisisamonochromaticpalette.Ithasnocolor

depth,butitprovidestheco

ntrastofdark,mediumand

lightthatssoimportanttog

ooddesign.

Analogous

Adjacentcolorsarecalledanalogous.Analogouscolors

sharestrongundertones(here,yellowandred),which

createpleasing,low-contrastharmony.Analogous

palettesarerichanda

lwayseasytoworkwith.


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Ourcolor

wheel0646

0646Ourcolorwhee

l

Anypalettecaninc

ludeshadesandtintsalongwiththehue.There

sultcanbe

alldark,alllight,oranycombination.

Complement

Directoppositesonthecolo

rwheelarecomplementsinthis

case,blueandorange.What

thecomplementbringsiscontrast.

Acoloranditscomplement

conveyenergy,vigorandexcite-

ment.Typically,thecomplem

entisusedinasmalleramount

asanaccent;aspotoforangeonabluefield,forexample.

Splitcomplement

Onestepeitherwayarethecomplementsownanalogous

colors.Thispaletteisc

alledasplitcomplement.Itsstren

gthis

inthelow-contrastbeautyofanalogouscolors,plustheadded

punctuationofanoppositecolor.Inthiscasethered,because

itsmostdifferent,wouldlikelybeusedastheaccent.

Theamountofcolo

rmatters.Palettescanbemadewarmer/cooler,darker/lighter,

stronger/quieterandsoonbyusingmoreorlessofsomecolors.

Primary

Theprimarycolorsarerarely

seenasatrioexceptinchildrens

products.Redandyellow,ho

wever,arepopularinAmerican

cultureforeverythingfromf

astfoodtogasoline.Redandblue

arecommonbutattractiveo

nlyifseparatedbyopenspace.

Secondary

Secondarycolorshave

alotincommontwoshareblue,

twoshareyellow,andtwoshareredsoharmonizeeasily.

Asatriotheyaresoft,

invitingandrich,andhavepleasing

depthanddimensionthatarehardtogetinotherways.

Rare

Popular

Clash

Separated


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magazine.com

5of6

Ourcolor

wheel0646

0646Ourcolorwhee

l

Nowforaquiz

Trainyoureye:Eachcoverusesoneoftheb

asiccolorrelationships.Canyounamethem?

Hint:Lookatthebi

gcolors,notthesmallo

nes,ignoreblack&whit

e.Answersonpage6.

C

OUNTRY

GardenGreens

GreatGourds

APerfectPorch

SimpleGifts

StovetopTreats

PlushPullover

Andmore!

Comfort

COUNTRY

ComfortGardenGreens

GreatGourds

APerfectPorch

SimpleScarves

StovetopTreats

PlushPullover

Andmore!

Monoc

hromatic

Analog

ous

Complement

Splitcomplement

Primar

y

Secondary

Monochromatic

An

alogous

Co

mplement

Sp

litcomplement

Pr

imary

Se

condary

Monochromatic

Analogous

Complement

Splitcomplement

Primary

Secondary

Monochromatic

Analogous

Complement

Splitcomplement

Primary

Secondary

CO

UNTRY

GardenGreens

GreatGourds

APerfectPorch

SimpleGifts

StovetopTreats

PlushPullover

Andmore!

Comfort

COUNTRY

ComfortGardenGreens

GreatGourds

APerfectPorch

SimpleGifts

StovetopTreats

PlushPullover

Andmore!

Download:Before

&Aftercolorwheel

Ourcolorwh

eel|748kb

www.bamagaz

ine.com/ColorWheel/

Thiscolorwhe

elisexactlytheoneweusein

Before&After

magazine.Itisareferencetool,not

aninteractiveproduct.Itspurposeistohelpyou

understandho

wcolorsarerelated.Its12hues

and48tintsre

presentthefullspectrumofcolor

butareonlya

tinyfractionoftheinfinityofcolor

s

actuallyinnature.

TheformatisA

dobePDF.Foreverythingyouwan

t

toknowabout

workingwithPDF,pleasecontact

AdobesReade

rsupportWebsiteat

www.adobe.co

m/support/products/acrreader.html

Before

&After


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6of6

Ourcolor

wheel0646

0646Ourcolorwhee

l

18

16

17

COUNTRY

ComfortGardenGreens

GreatGourds

APerfectPorch

SimpleGifts

StovetopTreats

PlushPullover

Andmore!

C

OUNTRY

ComfortGardenGreens

GreatGourds

APerfectPorch

SimpleGifts

StovetopTreats

PlushPullover

Andmore!

COUNTRY

GardenGreens

GreatGourds

APerfectPorch

SimpleGifts

StovetopTreats

PlushPullover

Andmore!

Comfort

COUNTRY

ComfortGardenGreens

GreatGourds

APerfectPorch

SimpleGifts

StovetopTreats

PlushPullover

Andmore!

C

OUNTRY

ComfortGardenGreens

GreatGourds

APerfectPorch

SimpleGifts

StovetopTreats

PlushPullover

Andmore!

Typ

efaces

1G

izaNineThree

2S

loopScriptOne

3IT

CGoudySansBoldItalic

Images

4(ad)iStockphoto.com|a

b

c

d

Qu

izanswers

Articleresources

Colors

C65M35Y75K65

C50M0Y76K0

C30M0Y64K0

C26M0Y47K0

C60M25Y0K0

C50M15Y0K0

C15M5Y0K0

C0M55Y20K0

C30M85Y75K55

C20M80Y35K5

C60M28Y90K30

C0M75Y95K0

C25M75Y100K20

C0M30Y97K0

C5M48Y96K0

910

14a 2

11

12

10

14

13

12

11

4d

4c

4b 3

15

16

14

22

23

21

5

6

7

8

9

20

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

5Monochromatic

6Complementary

7Primary

8Analogous

13

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23

Before&Aftermagazine

Before&Afterhasbee

nsharingitspracticalapproach

tographicdesignsince1990.Becauseourmodernworld

hasmadedesignersofusall(readyornot),Before&

Afterisdedicatedtom

akinggraphicdesignunderstand

-

able,usefulandevenfunforeveryone.

JohnMcWadePublis

herandcreativedirector

GayeMcWadeAssoc

iatepublisher

VincentPascualSta

ffdesigner

DexterMarkAbelle

raStaffdesigner

Before&Aftermagazine

323LincolnStreet,Roseville,CA95678

Telephone916-784-3880

Fax916-784-3995

E-mailmailbox@bama

gazine.com

wwwhttp://www.bam

agazine.com

Copyright2006Be

fore&Aftermagazine

ISSN1049-0035.Allrightsreserved

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freecopyofthisarticletoothers

byclickinghere.Youm

aynotalterthisarticle,andyou

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