Class 16 | Graphic Design Principles I

The Elements: basic components used as part of any composition, independent of the medium.

Color

Hue: Designates the common name of a color, determined by the specific wavelength of a ray of light and/or its position in the spectrum or color wheel.
Saturation: Refers to the relative purity of a color or its inherent light.
Levels of Saturation
- Prismatic Color: As pure a hue as possible with pigments/paint.
- Muted Color: Colors that lie just outside the prismatic zone, created by adding black, white, gray or a complement of a hue.
- Chromatic Gray: Grays that exhibit a subtle, but discernible hue, created by adding larger amounts black, white, gray or a complement of a hue.
- Achromatic Gray: Grays that lack a perceptible hue and saturation.
Luminosity: Refers to Value; lighter colors are more luminous than darker colors, but a lighter color is not necessarily more saturated.
Primary Color Triad: Red, Yellow, Blue – three colors that cannot be created from mixtures of hue and when mixed in equal or unequal amounts can produce all possible colors.
Secondary Color Triad:Orange, Green, Violet – colors created by mixing equal proportions of any two Primary Colors.
- orange (mix red + yellow)
- green (mix yellow + blue)
- violet (mix blue + red)
Complementary Colors: Colors opposite on the color wheel
- red and green
- yellow and violet
- blue and orange.

Exploration

Color Triads (FreeStudy)

Using your ruler, lightly draw two intersecting triangles on a piece of 9″x12″ bristol.
With your color wheel as a guide, practice mixing and applying colors on a piece of scrap paper, first. Make sure you have achieved the proper hue before applying the paint to paper.
Then fill in the tips of each triangle with the primary and secondary triads. Do NOT use pre-mixed paint hues. You must mix secondary triads from the primary triad: Red, Yellow and Blue.
Once you have successfully created the two triad relationships (primary and secondary), further develop your composition and create a FreeStudy!

Think about what each color might represent: mood, emotion, object.
Experiment with mixing all three primary colors together, what color is produced?
What happens when you mix two complementary colors together?

You may choose to cut out the color swatches and incorporate them with other materials, but make sure your final composition is laid out with a clear connection to the original triads and their placement on the color wheel.
References:

Primary, Secondary, Tertiary

Primary & Secondary Triads

Graphic Design Principles I – Fall 2011