Hue is simply the name of a color, (red, yellow, and blue, etc.)
Brightness refers to the intensity and strength of the color. The lightness and darkness to a color is the value.
Value deals with how light reflects off of objects and how we see it.The more light, the higher the value. This is a very important element of design, especially in painting and drawing, to be able to create the illusion of light with contrast.
Spectrum
The visible spectrum is the part of the electromagnetic spectrum that can be seen by the human eye. The wavelength of visible light ranges from 390 to 700 nm.
RGB color model and CMYK color model
RGB color model
The RGB color model is an additive color model in which red, green and blue light are added together in various ways to reproduce a broad array of colors. The name of the model comes from the initials of the three additive primary colors, red, green, and blue.
A representation of additive color mixing. Projection of primary colorlights on a white screen shows secondary colors where two overlap; the combination of all three of red, green, and blue in equal intensities makes white.
CMYK color model
The CMYK color model (process color, four color) is a subtractive color model, used in color printing, and is also used to describe the printing process itself. CMYK refers to the four inks used in some color printing: cyan, magenta, yellow, and key (black).
Color printing typically uses ink of four colors: cyan, magenta, yellow, and black.
Complementary colors
On the traditional color wheel developed in the 18th century, used by Claude Monet and Vincent van Gogh and other painters, and still used by many artists today, the primary colors were considered to be red, yellow, and blue, and the primary–secondary complementary pairs are red–green, blue-orange, and yellow–purple.
When placed next to each other, they create the strongest contrast for those particular two colors. Due to this striking color clash, the term opposite colors is often considered more appropriate than "complementary colors".
Complementary colors in the RGB color model.
Complementary colors in the traditional RYB color model.
Starry Night by Vincent van Gogh (1889) features orange stars and an orange moon.
Impression, Sunrise by Claude Monet (1872) featured a tiny but vivid orange sun against a blue background. The painting gave its name to the Impressionist movement.
In this self-portrait (1889), Vincent Van Gogh made the most of the contrast between the orange of hishair and the blue background.
Practical applications
The use of complementary colors is an important aspect of aesthetically pleasing art and graphic design. This also extends to other fields such as contrasting colors in logos and retail display. When placed next to each other, complements make each other appear brighter.
Complementary colors also have more practical uses. Because orange and blue are complementary colors, life rafts and life vests are traditionally orange, to provide the highest contrast and visibility when seen from ships or aircraft over the ocean.
Red and cyan glasses are used for viewing Anaglyph 3D three-dimensional images on the Internet or in print.
Red and cyan glasses are used in the Anaglyph 3D system to produce 3D images on computer screens.
Color psychology
Color psychology is also widely used in marketing and branding. Many marketers see color as an important part of marketing because color can be used to influence consumers' emotions and perceptions of goods and services.
Companies also use color when deciding on brand logos. These logos seem to attract more customers when the color of the brand logo matches the personality of the goods or services, such as the color pink being heavily used on Victoria's Secret branding. Colors are also important for window displays in stores. Research shows that warm colors tended to attract spontaneous purchasers, despite cooler colors being more favorable.
Color is a very influential source of information when people are making a purchasing decision. Customers generally make an initial judgment on a product within 90 seconds of interaction with that product and about 62%-90% of that judgment is based on color.
Since color is an important factor in the visual appearance of products as well as in brand recognition, color psychology has become important to marketing. Recent work in marketing has shown that color can be used to communicate brand personality.
