Graphic Design: The New Basics

Colour can convey mood, describe reality or codify information.
Colour can be used to make things stand out or to make them disappear.
Our perception of colour depends on the pigmentation of physical surfaces as well as the brightness and character of ambient light. It also depends on the colours around it - the same colour can appear different when placed with lighter/darker colours.
Colour changes meaning in different cultures - in the West, white signifies purity where as in the East it signifies death.
In 1665, Isaac Newton discovered that a prism separates light into a spectrum of colours.
On the colour wheel, colours next to each other are analogous - using them together provides minimal colour contrast and natural harmony (related colour temperature).
Two colours opposite each other are complimentary - each colour contains no element of the other and they have opposing temperatures.
The colour wheel is split into primary, secondary and tertiary colours.
Attributes of colour:

Hue is the place of the colour within the spectrum.
Intensity is the brightness or dullness of a colour.
Value/tone is the light or dark character of the colour.
Shade is a variation of hue produced by adding black.
Tint is a variation of hue produced by adding white.
Saturation/chroma is the relative purity of the colour as it neutralises to grey.

Surfaces absorb certain light waves and reflect back others to the colour receptors in our eyes - this is the light we see.
The true primaries of visible light are red, green and blue - not yellow.
Printing uses CMYK because the light reflected off the pigments mixes more purely into new hues.
When two colours are very close in value, a glowing effect occurs.
Must understand how colours interact for design.
Creating colour systems supports strong communication in design - palettes often consist of black, white and one or two accent colours.