The additive primaries are red, green, and blue (hence the commonly
heard RGB when referring to definition of screen colors). Mix equal amounts of red, green,
and blue light and you end up with white; mix secondaries from the primaries and you end
up with magenta, yellow, and cyan.
In print, a subtractive system is used, similar to that used in the natural world. This works
by absorbing colors before they reach the eye??”if an object reflects all light it appears
white, and if it absorbs all light, it appears black. Inks for print are transparent, acting as filters
to enable light to pass through, reflect off the print base (such as paper), and produce
unabsorbed light. Typically, the print process uses cyan, magenta, and yellow as primaries,
along with a key color??”black??”since equal combination of three print inks tends to produce
a muddy color rather than the black that it should produce in theory.
Although the technology within computers works via an additive system to display colors,
digital-based designers still tend to work with subtractive palettes when working on
designs (using red, yellow, and blue primaries), because that results in natural color combinations
and palettes.
Creating a color scheme using a color wheel
Even if you have a great eye for color and can instinctively create great schemes for websites,
it pays to have a color wheel handy. These days, you don??™t have to rely on reproductions
in books or hastily created painted paper wheels.
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