Basic color coordination is one of the most important considerations when decorating a room. These color schemes work with the different color rules to produce unique effects that accentuate certain qualities. Some people have the unique title of a “natural color coordinator,” but what they have done on their own is simply remember and recognize the different combinations. If you want to learn their secrets, you must first start with the basics.
The Color Wheel
All rules work off of the mixing, matching, and working of different colors on the color wheel. While it’s true that most people learn the color wheel in elementary school, those who haven’t taken an art or design class since then may have forgotten it. You shouldn’t take it for granted as it’s actually one of the most important tools in your basic color coordination toolkit. Always keep it in the back of your mind when you begin planning your room décor; it’s the designer’s best friend.
The basic color wheel with primary, secondary, and tertiary colors – Image created by Karen Arnold, image is used without permission through the General CC0 Public Domain License.
Generally speaking, the color wheel is broken up into 12 colors. These 12 colors are also known as hues, composed of 3 primary, 3 secondary, and 6 tertiary.
The 3 primary colors are the colors which form the base of every other; they are:
- Red
- Blue
- Yellow
The 3 secondary colors are made from the mixtures of the 3 primary colors:
- Orange (Red and Yellow)
- Violet or Purple (Red and Blue)
- Green (Blue and Yellow)
Finally, the 6 tertiary colors are the mixtures of the primary colors with the secondary color beside it:
- Yellow-Orange
- Red-Orange
- Red-Violet
- Blue-Violet
- Blue-Green
- Yellow-Green
Basic Color Coordination Terminology
Now that you’ve seen the hues of the color wheel, you’ve mastered the first step. The next phase of your palette processing credential is to understand how each color reacts with black and white. In terms of dyes and paints, white is the absence of all other colors while black is the presence of all colors. The combination of these opposites with hues create other desirable effects.
Shades
You’ve probably heard of a painter “shading in” parts of their paintings to add a 3D effect to their art pieces. In color theory, shading colors involves adding black pigments together with purer hues. The amount of black added to a hue determines the “darkness” of the shade. For example, turquoise is a darker shade of the pure blue-green.
Shades of the color
Tints
As you might have guessed, where there are colors mixed with black, the opposite must also be true. Tinting is the addition of white to a pure hue. The use of hues creates a “lightening” effect. Some of the most common tints used in color theory are also known as pastels.
Tones
The final basic combination effect is toning. Toning is the action of adding gray to any of the hues. Gray itself is a mixture of black and white. Therefore, you can “shade” white or “tint” black to make gray. After determining your desired level of gray, you can add it to one of the pure hues to create different tones.
Diagram for mixing colors to get different tints, shades, and tones – By Jacobolus (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.