The Building Blocks of Color: Exploring the Fundamentals of Color Theory

Intro

Color plays a crucial role in our lives, influencing our emotions, perceptions, and overall experiences. Whether it's the vibrant hues of a sunset or the calming shades of a serene landscape, colors evoke different moods and feelings. Understanding the fundamentals of color theory dramatically enhances your ability to create visually appealing designs, whether you're an artist, designer, or simply someone who appreciates the beauty of colors.

What is Color Theory?

Color theory is a set of principles and guidelines that explain how colors interact, how they can be combined, and how they can be used to create harmonious compositions. It encompasses various aspects such as color mixing, color psychology, color schemes, and color harmony. By understanding these concepts, you’ll effectively use colors to communicate messages, create balance, and evoke specific emotions.

The Color Wheel

The color wheel is at the heart of color theory, visually representing the relationship between colors. The color wheel consists of primary, secondary, and tertiary colors.

Primary colors: These are the basic colors that cannot be created by mixing other colors. The primary colors are red, blue, and yellow.
Secondary colors: These are created by mixing two primary colors. The secondary colors are orange, green, and purple.
Tertiary colors: These are created by mixing a primary color with a secondary color. For example, combining red and orange makes a reddish-orange color.

The color wheel is a helpful tool for understanding color relationships and creating color schemes. It allows you to quickly identify complementary colors (colors that are opposite each other on the wheel), analogous colors (colors that are adjacent to each other), and triadic colors (colors that are evenly spaced on the wheel).

Color Harmony

Color harmony refers to the pleasing arrangement of colors in a design. Achieving color harmony involves selecting colors that work well together and create a sense of balance and unity. Various color schemes can be used to acquire color harmony:

Monochromatic: This color scheme uses variations of a single color. It creates a harmonious and cohesive look.
Analogous: This color scheme uses colors adjacent to each other on the color wheel. It creates a sense of harmony and is often found in nature.
Complementary: This color scheme uses colors opposite each other on the color wheel. It creates a high contrast and dynamic effect.
Triadic: This color scheme uses three evenly spaced colors on the color wheel. It creates a vibrant and balanced composition.

Color Psychology

Colors evoke specific emotions and associations. This is known as color psychology. Different colors have different effects on our mood and behavior. For example, warm colors like red and orange evoke energy and excitement, while cool colors like blue and green create a sense of calmness and relaxation. Understanding the psychological effects of colors helps you effectively convey your desired message or produce a specific atmosphere in your designs.

Wrapping up

Color theory is a powerful tool that significantly enhances your ability to create visually appealing designs. By understanding the fundamentals of color theory, you’ll effectively use colors to evoke emotions, develop balance, and communicate messages. Whether you're a designer, artist, or simply interested in the world of colors, exploring color theory will open up a new world of possibilities for your creative endeavors.

So, next time you're working on a design project or choosing colors for your living space, remember the fundamentals of color theory and let the magic of colors elevate your creations.

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My flexible pricing model

Working with traditional freelancer/agency pricing can get complicated. My pricing model is simpler.

Simply hire me by the month at a fixed cost.

Need to pause the work? That’s fine. Since there aren’t any long-term contracts, we can pick things up later when the time is right.

Schedule a consultation call to discuss my specific rates, go over any questions you have, and walk through the next steps.

Prefer email instead? Reach out to me at hello@timhaskins.design

A little about me

With deep roots in brand, design, and technology, I specialize in delivering best-in-class UX & UI. I've done this for hundreds of companies around the globe over the past 25 years.

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Client history

I've worked with many types of clients worldwide. From small startups all the way up to Nike, Adidas, Xerox, Williams-Sonoma, and Lowe's — to name a few.

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My purpose

Everything I do is centered around helping people live fuller lives — a driver for what gets me up each morning. That can take many shapes, such as pro-bono work for non-profits, mentoring other designers, or designing products that impact lives.

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Life-altering moment:

In 2015, I suffered a life-altering traumatic brain injury and lost my ability to do much of anything. Without the ability to fully comprehend language, living with constant vertigo and depression, and the loss of my creative problem-solving skills — my life was turned upside down.

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Fast-forward to today. I consider myself one of the lucky few who fully recovered from an injury like that. I have a deeper appreciation for life now; from mundane tasks to relationships to my craft — which shows in the quality of my work.

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My superpowers

Translating strategy into a marketable product, simplifying the complex, pinpointing a person's hidden pain, and breathing new life into outdated UIs.

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Additional facts:

I live in Portland, Oregon, once had a 30-person design agency for over a decade, launched my own SaaS products, and am raising 3 boys (the latter being the hardest but most rewarding!)

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FAQ

Do you have a team of people or is it just you?

When we work together, I will be the one designing your product and your sole point of contact.

My ideal client prefers working with an individual rather than an agency or team. They want someone experienced who focuses on their project and communicates directly with them — without the bureaucracy or cost of a large team.

From time to time, I'll bring in additional specialists to the project for unique deliverables like branding, illustration, animation, etc. In those cases, I will direct the creative and ensure it's on-brand and at the quality I'm known for.

What is your pricing model?

My pricing model is based on a monthly engagement rather than an hourly rate or a long-term project contract. My clients love this model because they don’t get nickel-and-dimed for changes or feel beholden to a woefully outdated contract.

As you’ve likely experienced, when building a product there are multiple changes, discoveries, and pivots that can occur. That requires a flexible pricing model that can ebb and flow with you.

Within my model, I offer four pricing tiers, starting at $1,500/month (USD). You choose from one of the monthly pricing tiers depending on the amount of work and types of deliverables needed in that given month.

Can you work within a fixed budget amount?

While my model is based on a monthly engagement to optimize my client’s budgets, I have made exceptions in the past. Some of my clients have had fixed budgets that they need to work within, and in certain cases, I can work within that structure. Let’s talk more about your situation and see if it will work.

How happy are your clients?

What tells me my clients are happy (and see value in my work) is that I have 100% client repeat rate — something I strive for — which is reflected in my approach, style, and work ethic.

This means that every client has come back a second time to continue our work together. They wouldn’t do that if they didn’t see value or weren’t happy.

How do you manage projects and communication?

I use a platform called ClickUp to manage and communicate project updates. It also hosts documentation, Gantt charts, and Kanban boards.

Slack is the primary communication tool for me and my clients, though I can potentially use other tools like Teams.

Often my clients have their own platforms, like Jira, Monday, or Trello. I’ve used those and many others and am happy to explore what it would look like for me to use your tools.

What do you deliver?

What I deliver can vary depending on your needs. The most common deliverables are flow diagrams, wireframes, and dev-ready Figma design files (including Design System documentation.)

Secondary deliverables include items such as interactive prototypes, animated UI concepts, custom icons, and audits/user research documentation.

Do you specialize in our industry?

Over the past 25 years, I have worked in dozens of industries versus specializing in just one. My ideal client values this because they want fresh ideas and someone thinks differently. They want their product to be unique and innovative, not follow the same tired strategies.

When we collaborate, I take a deep dive into your business and industry, understanding it thoroughly. This way, I can provide insights that significantly enhance your product's design and user experience.

We need designs yesterday — can you help us?

I hear this often and I totally get it. You have a real sense of urgency and could already be behind on your goals due to one factor or another.

As you’ll see, I can turn around designs very quickly and we can get some quick wins if need be. But to make a product that really stands out, one that meets your goals, and users love, takes time, thought, and research. And while I do have a thorough process for getting us there, my process is designed to be flexible for getting quick wins and long-term success.

Why wouldn’t we just hire a cheap designer from one of those freelancer sites?

Sure, you can hire a designer on platforms like Fiverr or Upwork, but they likely won’t meet your expectations and you’ll typically get what you pay for.

Some clients I've spoken to tried that route before working with me. They found that the design quality was not up to par, and the designers mainly followed instructions without offering innovative ideas. It’s a gamble.

My clients need someone who will deeply engage with their project, show enthusiasm for their product, and propose creative solutions, rather than simply executing tasks as instructed.