Appreciating Color Design & Understanding Color Theory

Do you know how influential color is and how it affects your mood, buying habits, and appetite? Yes, designers and artists of all kinds have studied color theory deeply and use its psychological edge to their advantage in artwork, advertising, retail packaging, clothing trends, interior decorating, and design color schemes.

Learn more about the fascinating world of color and its uses from the following Websources that explore the fundamentals of color design and theory, cultural meanings and gestalt of color, color trends, and related topics of special interest to graphic artists, interior designers, and other creatives who use the power of color in their work.

Color Instruction, Design & Theory Websources

Behr ColorSmart Style, Color, and Inspiration
Although intended to coordinate paint colors and home decorating elements, Behr's site offers excellent advice and inspiration sections on color with topics on practical, artistic, emotional, fashionable, and historical suggestions and meanings. Plus it features their interactive ColorSmart tool to help you create coordinating color schemes for your home and other projects.

COLOURlovers: Monitoring & Influencing Color Trends
"COLOURlovers gives the people who use color — whether for ad campaigns, product design, or in architectural specification — a place to check out a world of color, compare color palettes, submit news and comments, and read color related articles and interviews."

Art Foundations: Let's Study Color
Fully-illustrated educational and instructional information from the Art Window on the color wheel, color classifications, and painting practices. Includes topics on value, tints, shades, and color neutralization.

Color Contrast & Dimension in Design
An interactive Flash-based presentation that explains color theory and shows how to use it in design through examples and exercises. Covers the power of color; the physiology and theory of color; color, contrast, and dimension; and color on the Web.

Color Matters
"Color plays a vitally important role in the world in which we live. Color can sway thinking, change action, and cause reactions." Learn how color affects our minds, psychology, and culture; how color affects our actions and reactions; and color's role in design and art.

Nita Leland's Exploring Color & Creativity
Explore the use of color and creativity through Nita Leland's art, painting, and collage Web site. Features painting with three colors, creating a mood with colors, using a basic palette, value contrast, line and color, and drawing and design techniques.