BELLA+CANVAS
color 101: understanding how color impacts apparel design
hi everyone my name is Tia and the art director here at Bella campus last week
we introduced how color evokes emotion in this video of our color series we
break down the basics of color and how it can influence buying decisions for
apparel color plays a vital role in design and everyday life it can draw
your eye to an image evoke a certain mood or emotion even communicate
something important without using words at all so how do we know what colors
look good together and which ones don't the answer is simple color theory
artists and designers have followed color theory for centuries but anyone
can learn more about it it can help you feel confident in many different
situations whether it's choosing colors for design or putting together the
perfect apparel collection with a little insight you'll be looking at color in a
whole new way
color 101
first let's start with the basics of color there are two main
categories for how colors can work together these are primary and secondary
colors primary colors are red blue and yellow secondary colors are the colors
in between the primary colors orange green and purple if we mix primary
colors with secondary colors we get more in between shades like red orange yellow
green and so forth all together they form what is called a color wheel if we
go one step further we start to look at hue saturation and value these terms
will help you understand more nuanced colors like the little paint chips
you'll find at a home-improvement store hue is basically another word for color
or shade here are different hues of the color blue saturation refers to the
intensity in other words whether the color appears more subtle or more
vibrant highly saturated colors are brighter or richer while D saturated
colors have less pigment here are different saturations of the color blue
value has to do with how dark or light the color is ranging from black to white
this gives us many different shades in between
creating color schemes
so how do we put this all together to create professional-looking schemes
there are formulas already created based on something called color harmony that
can help color harmony uses the color wheel to illustrate different color
combinations some of the most common types of color combos are as follows
monochromatic design is an easy way to form harmony especially with your
apparel collection pick one spot color and adjust the saturation and values
making it lighter or darker to make different variations when choosing this
color scheme you're guaranteed to match because the colors are all from the same
family you'll see this use of color on apparel from your favorite brands in
retail stores today analogous color schemes use colors that are next to each
other on the wheel like blue and greens complementary colors are colors that are
opposite each other on the color wheel for instance red and green you can add
variety to these color selections by including lighter darker or desaturated
tones a split complementary color scheme uses the colors on either side of the
complement when using three colors that are evenly spaced on the color wheel
this is a triadic color scheme and it forms a perfect triangle and finally
tetradic color schemes form rectangles on the wheel using two complementary
color pairs this formula works best if you let one color dominate while the
other one serves as an accent it's all about balance when choosing your
different color combinations for your next apparel collection the more colors
you use the more complicated it gets to balance your artwork my advice don't
complicate things too much contrasting colors can create balance when used
correctly where text or typography is concerned make sure you preserve the
contrast between text and background color to ensure legibility of the text
which is really important to convey your message effectively and professionally
colors that clash or don't contrast well can be jarring on the eyes whether
you're looking to start your very first apparel line or you're wanting to add
more to your collection understanding these key color rules will help you
curate the perfect collection these color rules are great to use when
designing and merchandising as well if you have any questions for me about
applying color theory for your next apparel project comment below and I'll
help you out or direct you to another useful resource for more educational
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