Graphics Programs Reference
In-Depth Information
Feel warm and stay cool
It's useful to understand that colors can be broadly categorized in terms of their relative
warmth and coolness. Colors closer to red, orange, yellow, and brown are warm, and
colors closer to blue, green, and violet are cool. Warm colors tend to pop out a bit and
come toward you. Cool colors tend to fade into the background. For this reason, cool
colors are often used for backgrounds and warm colors are often used for foreground
elements.
Artists use warm and cool colors to create depth and volume in paintings, and we can do
the same by observing the relationship between warm and cool colors in a design. You
can use warm colors for backgrounds as long as you adjust the value and saturation
appropriately. As a general principle, however, remember that warmer colors come to
the foreground, so it's usually a good idea to use those colors for emphasis.
Beyond this, people develop certain feelings about warm and cool colors. Many of our
color impressions may be learned (for example, reading the previous information about
the emotions tied to colors may influence the way you think about them). Nonetheless,
people's feelings and associations about color are genuine. For example, some people
associate blues and greens with cool aspects found in nature such as grass, trees, and
the clear blue sky. Warm colors of orange and yellow are associated with the heat of the
sun. Red may be associated with hot things in nature like lava, fire, and “red hot” chili
peppers (the hottest ones are actually not red, but they'll turn your face quite red indeed).
You can work those emotional aspects of color into your slide designs if they make
sense and support your message.
In this slide, I took two scenes from nature—one blue and cool and one orange and warm—and layered them
differently. You can see how cool colors fade to the background and warm colors pop, despite their placement
on the slide.
Lights on or off?
