Finally, a subject I can really relate to being an alum of the beauty industry. Color! Play with eyeshadows and you can easily see which colors can work together, will accent each other and which will resemble gangrene when worn together. On the web, it takes more than a good eye for color to make a site which is going to get results.
Even if you failed in Art class, you can still become a color expert. According the a great article from our friends at Opera, Linda Goin has a couple of great articles at http://dev.opera.com/articles/view/8-colour-theory and http://dev.opera.com/articles/view/10-colour-schemes-and-design-mockups/#colour. In both, you can learn a lot about what you might have missed from your old art teacher.
Remember in science we learned about the color spectrum and how light refracts, which we all learned as ROYGBIV - red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet. In art, this is essentially the same but instead of being in a line, the colors are in a wheel where their opposite, complementary colors are located. We have primary colors - red, yellow and blue and secondary colors - colors formed when two primary colors are mixed such as red + yellow = orange, red + blue = purple, yellow + blue = green. Tertiary colors are created when secondary colors are mixed. For me, I finally understand tint, tone and shade.....tint - add white to a color; tone - add grey to a color and shade - add black to a color. Fairly simple when you think about it....red plus white = pink and red plus black = burgundy and so on.
Color Theory
Monochrome - when we first had computer monitors they were amber or green on a black background. How boring could we get? I remember having a monitor which had white text on black and thinking I was so happy that it was easy to read after having a green monitor for several years and I have no sight problems. If you are color blind or sight deficient, color takes on a whole new issue. I know someone who has trouble distinguishing reds from purples making it difficult to see colors in all areas of life. A Monochromatic website color scheme will use one color and work with the tint, tone and shade versions of the color. This is simple and esthetically pleasing but it is not going to have the pop that a contrasting shade would have instead.
Complementary - These colors are opposite on the color wheel and as surprising as it seems, these colors work well together... See Red and Green, Yellow and Blue etc. Christmas just wouldn't be the same without Red and Green together, right?
Triadic - Think triangle - these colors are equidistant apart on the color wheel. For example, the primary colors are a perfect example of triadic colors when viewed on the color wheel. However, if you rotate one to the right for each color, you also still have a set of three colors which would be considered triadic.
Tetradic - Think about a + on the color wheel. The lines will connect the best complements to each other. This type of color design will allow you to create more complicated color schemes but be careful that you don't get to 'busy' and the colors distract the web patron. People can get annoyed by this and leave your site. These color combos are best done using the more muted shades.
Once you have selected the colors that you are planning to use in the site, you can change the effect by adjusting the color tint/tone/shading. For example a site which is red and green is great for Christmas but will look a little off the rest of the year unless you own a Christmas decor shop. So, you may find yourself playing with muted greens and darker reds and still having a sufficient contrast. It is not an exact science, but with a reasonable amount of trial and error, you can learn to use colors better in sites for yourself and your clients.
More later, clh
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