Choosing colors rev 09/10/2016

Go to color.adobe.com

Here is the opening screen:

You should see Five squares. The middle one is termed the Base color. You should also five lines, CMYK a color wheel , a Color Rule dropdown, and color values in RGB, CMYK and other models.

CMYK :Cyan Magenta Yellow Black…color used by printers

RGB: Red Green Blue…color used by display devices

You will probably see a different set of colors.

Color Rule

  • Open the Color Rule to reveal:

  • A few definitions:
  • Note: To reduce saturation, move any of the color sticks towards their center.
  • Hue refers to the major color that makes up the specific color being discussed. For example, the color pink has a red hue
  • The term tint is used when more white has been added to a color,
  • shade is used to refer to the addition of black to a color.
  • tone is used when black and white are used together to mix with another color. In essence, the original color's value is changed by adding gray.
  • Analogous colors are next to each other on the color wheel.
  • They usually match well and create serene and comfortable designs
  • Complementary colors are opposite each other on the color wheel (example: red and green). The high contrast of complementary colorscreates a vibrant look especially when used at full saturation.
  • Triad colors are three colors equidistant around the color wheel

  • Example-

complementary color

  • Assume you have a base color of EFEFFA (Maybe the color of the background of a web site, or a printed brochure)

And you want complementary colors

  • Enter the value as the base color(middle) and choose Complementary as the mode ’
  • Here is the result

Switch to analogous…what happened?

Or,

Make this the base color:

And record the four adjacent colors

or

pick colors from most used:

  • Let’s say you like theme 31: ( You can choose any theme)
  • Click on the name: (See above)
  • The associated five-swatch group appears:

To see the hexadecimal color values, you can also pause over the color you want. For example:

You would write down the hex values.

You can also create a theme from scratch

Assume you want the body background to be color #cccccc. Type that in under the base (middle) square

  • Click Analogous
  • Observe the 5 colors.

So, use those color values on your website (or brochure) or …

  • Now, you decide you want the color the leftof the base (see above) to be another color.
  • Click the square
  • Move the color stick and watch the values, and colors, change

Typically want four Web colors: Body Text, Body Background, Banner background color, Banner text color. Write down the four hex values

Example values

  • Text on the banner #EFEFFA
  • Banner Background #9DB2F3
  • Body Background: # EFEFFA
  • Body Text: #666666

Use your “camera” to have adobe select the best set of colors for a site (Need adobe ID)

  • Click it (upper right)
  • Browse to any image on your thone
  • I have a photo I took at Meadowcroft village. Color selected 5 best colors for a calm mood Color:Mood, I moved the circles

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