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ribbons at the NYC Race for the Cure® fundraiser
for breast cancer survivors. See Figure 7-19.
Black
Black is technically the absence of all color and is
associated with elegance and formal sophistication. It is
a sign of mourning in the United States and of rebellion
among youths. Associated with mystery and authority,
black provides contrast with most other colors.
Color Wheel
As color is science and wavelengths that are
interpreted by the mechanics of our eyes, to discuss
color we must work from the three primary colors:
red, green, and blue. A color wheel is a visual tool that l
illustrates the basics of color. It is an arrangement of
colors that provides a means of identifying colors in a
consistent manner. See Figure 7-20.
Contrary to what you may have learned in grade
school, red, yellow, and blue are only primary colors
when it comes to paint. For the color we see and
the color we work with in a digital environment,
all things come from the additive colors of red,
green, and blue. If you mix all of the primary colors
together, you get white. See Figure 7-21A.
Subtractive colors are a result of mixing
together the additive primary colors next to each
other. As shown in Figure 7-21B, the middle of the
color wheel shows a neutral. Subtractive colors—
cyan (C), magenta (M), and yellow (Y)—are also
called process colors because they are the ink
colors used in traditional offset printing. Mixing the
subtractive colors together results in black (muddy
brown). Because inks are not pure, black was added
Goodheart-Willcox Publisher
Figure 7-19. Pink has become the international color to
represent breast cancer awareness, started by the Susan G.
Komen® organization in 1991.
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Figure 7-20. The digital color wheel.
R
C
G
Y
N
M
B
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Figure 7-21. A—Additive colors. B—Subtractive colors.
A
B
G R
B
M C
Y