color theory

like many areas of art there are no hard and fast rules for what colours should or shouldn't be used together however the choices you make can completely change an artwork and whether it succeeds or fails.
here are some tutorials to get you started on the basics of colour theory

primary colours

you should remember these from school primary colours are the basis of the colour wheel, they are strong and unsubtle. they should be used carefully as they can be sore on the eye but when used well can be extremely striking.
the three primary colours are:

red


blue


yellow

secondry colours

these are the colours you get when you mix two primary colours together.

red + yellow = orange


yellow + blue = green


red + blue = purple

tertiary colours

these are the next set of colours on the wheel and are combined by adding the secondary colours to the primary colours giving you a more complex variation on the secondries.

monochromatics

or more simply put, black and white


by adding black and white to the primary and secondry colours and increasing or decreasing the balances of each colour you can create any colour you desire

my personal favourite is

red + white = pink

colour palettes

clashing

it can be very effective to use deliberately clashing colours (those on opposing sides of the colour wheel) but when this is combined with text you must be very careful not to make it unreadable or unpleasant to focus on.

harmonious

by using many colours or shades that are similar to each other (next to each other on the colour wheel) you can create a very strong impact in a piece. you can also be sure that these combinations will always go with each other.

bold and minimal

using one bright splash of colour can be an extremely effective way of creating focus.

desaturated

desaturated colours are more muted. by nature they are easy on the eye and tend to compliment each other well even when at opposite ends of the colour wheel.

colours for the web

html recognises colours as hexadecimal (or hex) codes and are prefixed with the hash symbol. eg: #ffffff = white

a colour-geek poem:

"roses are #FF0000
violets are #0000FF
all my base
are belong to you"
[link]

web safe

the 'web safe palette' contains 216 colours. these are colours which are displayed without any inconsistencies on all main browsers. whilst this palette is a useful guide it is generally accepted that most modern browsers can cope with far more complex palettes and the majority of contemporary web design does not stick to the web safe colours alone. the accuracy of this however, is dependent on the calibration of the monitor used to view it and in that sense it is worth considering a simpler palette to ensure fewer viewing problems on poor quality or badly calibrated screens.

there is an excellent article about the web safe palette here [link]

colour blindness

from wikipedia: [link]
"Color blindness, or color vision deficiency, in humans is the inability to perceive differences between some or all colors that other people can distinguish. It is most often of genetic nature, but may also occur because of eye, nerve, or brain damage, or due to exposure to certain chemicals. The English chemist John Dalton in 1798 published the first scientific paper on the subject, "Extraordinary facts relating to the vision of colours",after the realization of his own color blindness; because of Dalton's work, the condition is sometimes called Daltonism, although this term is now used for a type of color blindness called deuteranopia.

Color blindness is usually classed as disability; however, in selected situations color blind people may have advantages over people with normal color vision. There are some studies which conclude that color blind individuals are better at penetrating certain camouflages.Monochromats may have a minor advantage in dark vision, but only in the first five minutes of dark adaptation."


The colors of the rainbow as viewed by a person with no color vision deficiencies [link]
The colors of the rainbow as viewed by a person with protanopia. [link]
The colors of the rainbow as viewed by a person with deuteranopia. [link]
The colors of the rainbow as viewed by a person with tritanopia.[link]

when designing for the web it is important to consider colour blindness by not using colour alone to express a choice or action. for example the instruction 'click on the red button' could be confusing however a red button which also said 'click here' would not be.

some colour tools

colour lovers [link]
a fantastic community based web site for all those who love colour

web safe colour picker [link]

text on background checker [link]

colour palette generator [link]

colour contrast checker [link]

colour combinations [link]


and

- this one's fun as well as educational -
the world's worst web site [link]