Lesson 4: Presentation Attributes-The Use of Color

Color Schemes

Monochromatic

This uses a single pure hue with a number of tints and shades to provide variety.

Pros: Extremely unified and harmonious. Effective for establishing an overall mood.

Cons: Can be dull because of the lack of variation and therefore can lose the interest of the viewer.

 

Tiradic-Red/Green/Blue

This scheme uses three different colors that are evenly spaced around the color wheel. Most effective color scheme consists of the three primary colors. The extreme contrast has immense visual impact.

Pros: Extremely stable, each color perfectly balances with the other tow. the bold nature makes for a vibrant color scheme and is useful for presenting information in bold decisive patterns.

Cons:The vibrancy may be too garish and detract from the message.

Analogous

This uses two or three colors next to each other on the color wheel.

Pros: Great selection of possible combinations makes this scheme versatile. The similarity of colors makes the schemes harmonious.

Cons: The use of more than three colors can dilute the overall effect of this scheme.

Complementary Color Scheme

Colors that are directly opposite from each other on the color wheel make up this scheme.

Pros: Extremely eye-catching and vibrant, sometimes more so than the triadic scheme.

Cons: The limited number of colors in complementary schemes means the colors are easily digested and then discarded by the viewer.

Split Complementary

One of the complement colors is broken into two colors that are adjacent to it.

Pros: This scheme has more variety than a simple complementary color scheme.

Cons: It is less vibrant and eye-catching. It is difficult to harmonize the colors.

 

Double Split Complementary

Two of the complement colors are split.

Pros: More varied than split complementary.

Cons: Less vibrant than split and harder to harmonize.

 

Proceed on to Lesson 4: Color Terms after you've completed this section.