Design: Graphic Design

This article is Part I of a quick reference on color theory for digital displays. It is the first in a series of articles about the use of color in application program user interfaces and on Web sites.

Primary Colors of Additive Color Synthesis

Computer monitors display information using the RGB (Red-Green-Blue) color model. An RGB monitor synthesizes colors additively by selectively illuminating each of its pixel’s red, green, and blue phosphor dots at varying levels of intensity. The light from a pixel’s three phosphor dots blends together to synthesize a single color. In additive color synthesis, all hues of the visible spectrum of light are mixtures of various proportions of one, two, or three of the primary colors of light. Read More

red

(#FF0000)

green

(#00FF00)

blue

(#0000FF)

This article is Part II of a quick reference on color theory for digital displays. It is the second in a series of articles about the use of color in application program user interfaces and on Web sites.

Contrast Effects

Our perception of hues, values, and chroma levels depends upon their interaction with adjacent hues, values, and chromas, which can result in color-contrast, value-contrast, and chroma-contrast effects, respectively.

While you can achieve good design by using any color-contrast, value-contrast, or chroma-contrast effect, unintentional effects caused by the interaction of contrasting colors can be visually distracting and can even diminish the readability of the text in a user interface or on a Web page. Read More