In the marketing world, knowing exactly what to post is key to getting people’s attention. To succeed, we need to be skillful content creators and promote creatives that are worth a second look. So how exactly do we know what is worthy of posting up onto the brave new world of Social Media?
That’s right, the colour wheel. As it is for many graphic designers, the colour wheel is a rather majestic, circular rainbow that brings life to all of our designs.
In this article, I will walk you through all you need to know about colour theory and how to use the wheel as a good reference guide.
The Trio of Colour Wheel
The first and possibly most important thing to note is that the wheel is made up of three colour sections: Primary, Secondary and Tertiary colours.
Primary colours are red, yellow and blue. These are the essential colours with only one pigment, which means they can’t be created by mixing other colors. You can consider them as the parents of all colours.
Next, we have the Secondary colours. They are orange, purple and green. You can think of them as the children of the primary colours. To achieve them, you can mix these colours together:
- Yellow + Red = Orange
- Red + Blue = Purple
- Blue + Yellow = Green
Lastly, we have the Tertiary colours. They are the remaining 6 colours and you can see them as the six grandchildren of the primary colours. They are also known as the ‘in-betweens’.
From here, we can understand from the basics of Colour Theory, that each tertiary color is produced by mixing one primary color with one of its nearest Secondary colors. And we will get a colour that is in between.
- Yellow + Green = YELLOW/GREEN
- Red + Orange = RED/ORANGE
- Blue + Purple = BLUE/PURPLE
- Red + Purple = RED/PURPLE
- Blue + Green = BLUE/GREEN
- Yellow + Orange = YELLOW/ORANGE
Here, we also notice that the wheel is split into 2 parts: Warm and Cool.
It may all seem rather intimidating but it is actually simple to understand. Knowing Colour Theory by heart will make it easier for us as marketers to send our messages across to our target audiences.
In fact, a research was done by University of Toronto that people tend to find it more appealing when there are only 2 or 3 colours used in an ad. The key point here? Simplicity is the key to marketing success. Your content is easier to understand when there isn’t a need to interpret through an overuse of colours.
So you may wonder, how do you choose those 2 or 3 colors? Here’s where the colour wheel comes into play.
Complementary Colours
Complementary color combinations are “oppostite” colours and are often used to make things stand out. They lie across each other on the colour wheel, meaning that is the one colour they lack. Using complementary colours can provide a sort of visual tension and create an extremely pleasing visage. For instance, if you are taking photos of oranges, using a blue background will make the fruits stand out.
Opposites truly attract!
Remember:
- Red is the opposite of green.
- Blue is the opposite of orange.
- Yellow is the opposite of purple.
Split Complementary Colours
Split complementary colours refer the use of using 3 colours by capitalising on the complementary colours with third option. To achieve this, you will need to choose one dominant colour and two colours adjacent to its opposite.
Monochromatic Colours
Monochromatic colours are all the shades of a single colour from the lightest to the darkest. Using this range of colours are especially great with a single complementary colour. If you notice on our Intangibles blog site, we utilised a monochromatic scheme with the shades of bluish green. This helps us to be more recognisable with our brand colour.
Analogous Colours
Analogous colours sit beside each other on the colour wheel. They are somewhat akin to relatives, a part of the same family that aim to please when used together simple because they aren’t completely clashing. When used properly, analogous colours can be perfect for subtle and calming content.