Colour Theory Lecture

Within a recent Lecture we were educated on basic colour theory which is vital to anyone working within the fashion/design theory. The idea of understanding basic colour theory can benefit you in many tasks such as presenting, buying, styling, co-ordinating, selecting, editing and analysing.

HUE
The name of the colour e.g blue, red, yellow

VALUE
The lightness or darkness of the colour

CHROMA
The intensity of the colour, its brightness and purity or dullness and impurity

TINTS
Hues with shades of white added

SHADES
Hues with shades of black added

TONES
Hues with shades of grey added

Colour Types

Primary Colours- 

RED
BLUE
YELLOW

Secondary Colours-

BLUE-GREEN
BLUE- PURPLE
RED-PURPLE
RED- ORANGE
YELLOW-ORANGE
YELLOW- GREEN

Tertiary Colours-
(are obtained by mixing all three primaries with a secondary colour e.g)

ORANGE + BLUE
GREEN +RED
PURPLE + YELLOW

Behaviour Type

Harmonious Colours- those that lie next to each other on the colour wheel. They sit easily together and graduate gently.

Contrasting Colours- those that lie far apart from each other on the colour wheel. They sit uncomfortably together and clash against each other.

Complementary Colours- those which lie opposite each other on the colour wheel, when placed together each colour intensifies the other. Adding a very small amount of complementary colour to another subdues the intensity by dulling the colour domain.

Discordant Colours- are created by reversing the natural order of colours e.g red is naturally darker than orange. If white is added to create pink, then the pink becomes discordant with the orange. 

The lecture itself opened my eyes into exploring a wider range of colour types rather than the typical generic colours.