What do we know about color? In 1672, Isaac Newton conducted a series of experiments with passing sunlight through a transparent prism and discovered that it was broken down into seven colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. When they were combined, they created white light.
Color theory is a field of science that studies the perception and properties of color. It is applied in a variety of fields, including design, art, and psychology. It is really useful to know color theory if you want to create presentations about your brand. However, if you don’t know how to do it right, you can ask for help. You can turn to a PowerPoint presentation writing service where professional designers work. They will create an amazing presentation based on color theory.
Itten’s Color Wheel
Swiss artist and educator Johannes Itten was a famous German art school of the early 20th century. He conducted numerous experiments and developed the famous color wheel to visualize color relationships and help artists and designers create harmonious color compositions.
The wheel is divided into twelve sectors, each representing a primary color or hue.
- Primary: red, yellow, and blue. Primary colors that cannot be created by mixing.
- Secondary: green, orange, and violet. They are located between the primaries on the color wheel and are the result of mixing a pair of adjacent primary colors.
- Tertiary: formed by mixing one primary and its adjacent secondary colors.
Characteristics of Color
Colors can be divided into chromatic and achromatic.
Achromatic colors do not have a hue and differ from each other in lightness (black, gray, white).
Chromatic colors differ in lightness, color (colorfulness), and saturation: red, yellow, orange, green, blue, purple, and others.
A hue is the color of the pigment itself (red, blue, and green).
Saturation is the intensity of a certain color shade. Red has high saturation, and gray has low saturation.
Lightness is the degree to which a tone differs from black. The more it differs, the lighter it is considered.
Color Models
In order to reproduce color shades on different devices, color models were developed. The most popular of them are:
RGB. Each color is created by combining three primary colors: red (R), green (G), and blue (B). Mixing their maximum intensities creates white, and decreasing the intensity results in black. Varying the intensity from zero to the maximum value allows you to create many different shades in your presentation.
CMY(K). It is used in printing processes, where colors are created by mixing dyes. Cyan (C), magenta (M), and yellow (Y) combine to create black. Since their mixing is not always perfect, black ink (K) is introduced.
Color Impact
It reflects the idea that the perception of color depends on the surrounding context and interaction with other colors. There are several main effects that colors have on each other.
Contrast
It can be created by various parameters such as hue, saturation, or lightness. When evaluating contrast, it is important to consider its hue. Two different colors with the same hue do not create a high contrast.
Comparisons
Perception changes depending on what the color is compared to. It may appear brighter or less saturated depending on what colors are next to it.
Complementarity
Complementary colors can create a more vivid and expressive perception when visually impacted.
Rules for Using Color
Create a presentation in grayscale first so you can focus more on developing a clear visual hierarchy rather than exploring a large number of possible color combinations.
Use the 70/30 rule, where 70% is a calm base color and 30% is complementary accents.
Alternatively, use the 60-30-10 rule, where 60% is the primary color, 30% is the secondary color, and 10% is the accent color.
Rule of 3
Based on a study by the University of Toronto, we can conclude that people prefer simple combinations of 2-3 colors. But if you think that this is not enough for your presentation, try using darker and lighter shades of the colors you have already chosen.
Color and contrast ratio
The right contrast between text and background is an important part of the user experience. When you place two colors with low contrast next to each other, the text becomes harder to read. Choose those that complement each other and do not create color dissonance.
Follow these rules and you will be able to create an appealing presentation.
