The Colour Wheel & All It Encompasses

In the past Digital Media lecture, we discussed colour schemes and various terminologies associated with the colour wheel. Therefore, I have decided to discuss all aspects of the colour wheel in great detail. The colour wheel is said to be a visual representation of the underlying color theory which is a set of principles used to create harmonious colour combinations. The colour wheel was first invented by Sir Isaac Newton in 1706, who associated each colour with a note of a musical scale. Sir Isaac Newton began this colour wheel by splitting white sunlight into a variety of colours. His original colours included red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, and blue light beams. After making these distinctions, Sir Newton joined the two ends of the spectrum together which showed the progression of the colours. A century after Sir Isaac Newton made his discovery, Johann Wolfgang Goethe decided to take a deeper look into the psychological effect that colours seem to have on people. He observed that yellow gives the feeling of warmth whereas blue gives the feeling of coolness. He then divided the colour wheel into a plus side and a negative side. Colours on the plus side of the spectrum appeared to produce excitement and cheerfulness such as red, yellow, and orange. Colours on the negative side are associated with weakness and unsettled feelings such as blue, green, and purple.

The colour wheel most commonly used today was developed by Johannes Itten, who is a Swiss color and art theorist. His colour wheel is based on red, yellow, and blue as the primary colours and includes twelve hues. The twelve hues are made up of the three primary colours, three secondary colours, and six tertiary colours that are made up between the primary and secondary colours.

There are six major colour schemes that are most commonly associated with the colour wheel. The first is a monochromatic colour scheme. This scheme uses variations in lightness and saturation of a single color. It looks clean and can go well together with other monochromatic schemes of a different color, and it is especially easy on the eyes in the hues of green or blue. The second is an analogous color scheme. It uses colours that are adjacent to each other; one color is dominant while others around it are used to enhance the image. The third colour scheme is a complementary colour scheme. This consists of two colours that are opposite of each other on the colour wheel. It's best utilized when you compare a warm colour against a cool colour since it creates a high contrast. The split complementary colour scheme is the fourth major colour scheme. It's a variation of the standard complementary colour scheme, but it not only uses colours opposite each other on the colour wheel, it includes the colours adjacent to them as well. It provides a high contrast like the complementary scheme, but with less tension. A fifth common colour scheme is the triadic colour scheme. It uses three colours equally spaced around the colour wheel and is popular due to retaining harmony and rich colors. The last common colour scheme is known as the tetradic colour scheme. This is the most varied colour scheme because it uses two complementary colour pairs. A characteristic of this scheme is that it is hard to harmonize.

By learning the background of the colour wheel and all the various colour schemes, I now have a better understanding of Digital Media. This information will help me when it comes to creating visual projects such as the poster or CD cover. I will be able to utilize the colour schemes in order to make my projects visually stimulating. I look forward to incorporating the colour wheel and all that it produces into my future Digital Media projects.




Works Cited:
http://www.color-wheel-pro.com/color-theory-basics.html