The Language of Color Recap

In the Language of Color video presented in class, all things pertaining to the color wheel were expressed.  Red, yellow and blue are the primary colors, and no other colors can be made without these colors. Hue, saturation and value are presented as the most important things to think about when dealing with color. Hue is the color, saturation is how bright or muted the color is and value is how light or dark the color is. Without value there is no color. Another important item that was discussed was calibrating under consistent lighting, as a laptop and a desktop monitor show color differently. There are professional calibration tools that can be purchased to assist with this. Additionally, RGB, CMYK and Spot Color are elaborated on. RGB stands for red, green and blue, and this is used primarily for designs made for the web (light-based for on screen use). CMYK stands for cyan, yellow, magenta and black, and is used for designs meant for print. Spot Colors, on the other hand, are pre-mixed colors of ink as seen in the swatch menus in programs such as InDesign and Illustrator. Lastly, the video advocates the use of the right color. The right color will be good for the target audience, it will represent the client’s product, and it will be original (it won’t be a color used by a competitor).