Colors can be categorized in many different ways. Some common ways to categorize colors include by hue, shade, tone, temperature, and psychology. Understanding the different color categories and systems can help designers, artists, and anyone who works with color choose palettes and understand how colors interact. In this article, we’ll look at the main color categories and characteristics that are used to group and describe colors.
Color Categories by Hue
One of the most basic ways to categorize colors is by hue or color family. The main hue categories are:
- Reds – Red hues include colors like crimson, scarlet, vermilion, and burgundy.
- Oranges – Orange hues include colors like peach, pumpkin, coral, and amber.
- Yellows – Yellow hues include colors like lemon, gold, canary, and saffron.
- Greens – Green hues include colors like mint, olive, emerald, and lime.
- Blues – Blue hues include colors like aqua, navy, cobalt, and azure.
- Purples – Purple hues include colors like lavender, orchid, lilac, and violet.
These are the main spectral or chromatic hues that correspond to the colors of the visible spectrum of light. All other hues are mixtures or variations of these main hue families. For example, red-orange or blue-green are hybrid hues that fall in between the main categories.
Color Categories by Shade
In addition to hue, colors can be categorized by their lightness or darkness, which is referred to as shade. Some main shade categories include:
- Tints – Tints are light or pale shades of colors made by adding white to a hue. For example, baby blue, peach, and lavender are tints.
- Tones – Tones are pure hues without any black or white added. For example, ultramarine blue, canary yellow, and crimson are tones.
- Shades – Shades are dark values of a color made by adding black to it. Navy blue, forest green, and burgundy are examples of shades.
Tint, tone, and shade describe the relative lightness or saturation of a hue. Shades are the darkest, tints are the lightest, and tones fall in between.
Color Categories by Temperature
Colors can also be grouped into warm or cool categories based on their temperature appearance. Warm colors seem to advance visually and remind us of things like sunlight, fire, and heat. Cool colors recede visually and make us think of water, ice, and shadows.
- Warm colors – Reds, oranges, yellows
- Cool colors – Blues, greens, purples
Some key characteristics of warm and cool colors:
| Warm Colors | Cool Colors |
|---|---|
| Energizing, exciting | Calming, soothing |
| Suggestive of heat or fire | Suggestive of water or sky |
| Advancing, appears closer | Recceeding, appears distant |
Of course, any hue can be made warmer or cooler by adding warm or cool colors to it. A warm red tone can be cooled down by adding blue, for example. And a cool blue green can be warmed up by mixing in yellow. So temperature is relative.
Color Categories by Tone
Tone refers to a color’s brightness or dullness. Bright, vivid colors are said to be high-key, while muted, grayish colors are called low-key. Some examples:
- High-key colors – Neon green, lemon yellow, fuchsia
- Low-key colors – Mustard, olive, charcoal
Tone is related to but different than shade. For example, a light tint can be high-key if it’s very bright and intense. And a darker shade can be low-key if it’s very grayish or muted. Generally, though, darker shades will be lower in tone than light tints.
Color Categories by Psychology
Color psychology looks at how different hues make us think and feel emotionally. While reactions are somewhat subjective, some general psychological associations have been found for the main hue categories:
| Color | Psychology & Emotions |
|---|---|
| Reds | Excitement, passion, love, intensity |
| Oranges | Enthusiasm, creativity, vibrance |
| Yellows | Optimism, happiness, youthfulness |
| Greens | Calmness, renewal, balance, growth |
| Blues | Stability, serenity, professionalism, sadness |
| Purples | Royalty, spirituality, mystery, luxury |
Of course, color psychology depends a lot on personal experiences and cultural associations too. But understanding these general impressions can help designers choose hues to evoke certain moods.
Other Color Categories
In addition to the major systems above, some other ways of categorizing colors include:
- Primary, secondary, and tertiary colors – Primaries are red, blue, and yellow. Mixing two primaries makes the secondaries of orange, green, and purple. Mixing a primary and secondary makes the tertiaries like red-orange or blue-green.
- Complementary colors – Complementary colors sit opposite each other on the color wheel, creating high contrast and vibrance when paired together. Common complements are red & green, blue & orange, and yellow & purple.
- Analogous colors – Analogous colors sit next to each other on the color wheel, creating harmonious palettes with low contrast. Examples include yellow, yellow-orange & orange or blue, blue-violet & violet.
- Neutral colors – Neutrals include black, white, gray, beige, and brown. They are extremely versatile and can both mute and enhance brighter colors.
Categorizing colors by their relationships helps build color harmonies and systems for everything from art to design to photography.
