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The Colour Wheel The colour wheel is a colour circle, based on red, yellow and blue, is traditional in the field of art.

PRIMARY COLOURS Red, Yellow and Blue In traditional colour theory, these are the 3 pigment colours that can not be mixed or formed by any combination of other colours. All other colours are derived from these 3 hues

SECONDARY COLOURS Green, Orange and Purple These are the colours formed by mixing the primary colours.

TERTIARY COLOURS Yellow-orange, red-orange, red-purple, blue- purple, blue-green and yellow-green.

Colour Harmony When working with colour it is important to create colour harmony, ie something that is pleasing to the eye.

Some Formulas for Colour Harmony A colour scheme based on analogous colours Analogous colours are any three colours which are side by side on a 12 part colour wheel, such as yellow-green, yellow, and yellow-orange. Usually one of the three colours predominates.

A colour scheme based on complementary colours Complementary colours are any two colours which are directly opposite each other, such as red and green and red-purple and yellow-green. In the illustration above, there are several variations of yellow-green in the leaves and several variations of red-purple in the orchid. These opposing colours create maximum contrast and maximum stability.

A colour scheme based on nature Nature provides a perfect departure point for colour harmony. In the illustration above, red yellow and green create a harmonious design, regardless of whether this combination fits into a technical formula for colour harmony.

Colour Context Colour context is how colour behaves in relation to other colours and shapes is a complex area of colour theory. Compare the contrast effects of different colour backgrounds for the same red square. Red appears more brilliant against a black background and somewhat duller against the white background. In contrast with orange, the red appears lifeless; in contrast with blue-green, it exhibits brilliance. Notice that the red square appears larger on black than on other background colours.

Four formulas for success with colour on your web pages: 1.Convert images to the correct file format. 2.Select the most appropriate colours by analysing the store’s products or services and the target market. 3.Use colour to create the most functional user-interface design. For example, use colour to direct the eye to the most important areas on the page. 4.Use colour harmony principles to create a pleasant visual experience. In other words, all the colours of the components — the navigation system, banners, buttons, and text — as well as the images of the merchandise (if they exist), must all work well together.

Computer Colours (additive colour) On a computer monitor and on a television colours work differently. They create colours based on a special set of 3 primary colours: red, green, and blue (R,G,B). Each colour on a computer specifies how much (R) red (G) green and (B) blue is in the image. When combined, red and green light rays produce yellow, blue and green produce cyan, red and blue produce produce magenta and when you mix them all together you get white (light). This is called "Additive Colour" and is completely different from how colours are mixed in the world of paints and pigments.

The Web-safe Palette The web-safe palette consists of 216 colours as there are only 216 colours that are common to all computers and all web browsers. (Each browser sees 256 colours but only 216 of them are common to all web browsers.)

Useful Web sites: - very good general information about colourhttp:// - lets you try out colours togetherhttp:// introduction-to-color-theory-for-web-designers-- webdesign good examples of how colours work together and can focus attentionhttp://webdesign.tutsplus.com/articles/an- introduction-to-color-theory-for-web-designers-- webdesign good web palletteshttp://design-seeds.com/