matter most.
Start with a job, not a favourite colour
Before choosing colours, decide what the composition needs to communicate. A notice about an event might need a clear title, a readable date and a quieter background. A drawing of a room might need to separate the foreground from the distance. Write down the main job in one sentence. This gives you a reason to accept or reject a colour choice.
Separate hue, value and chroma
Hue describes the colour family, such as red or blue. Value describes how light or dark it appears. Chroma describes its intensity or departure from a neutral appearance. These properties work together, but they are not interchangeable. Two different hues can look similar in greyscale if their values are close. A small, intense accent may attract more attention than a large muted area.
Choose a hierarchy
Give the viewer a starting point. You can create emphasis through a change in value, hue, intensity, size or placement. Avoid making every element equally demanding. Begin with one dominant colour family, a supporting area and a smaller accent. This is a practice constraint, not a universal ratio or a rule that all successful designs must follow.
Test colour in context
A swatch can appear different beside different backgrounds. Place the proposed title colour on the actual background rather than judging the two separately. Check whether neighbouring areas remain distinct. If you are designing information, do not rely only on a red or green difference: add labels, shapes or another cue so the meaning survives a change in colour perception.
Review the whole arrangement
Step back from the work and look at it at a smaller size. Is the first thing you notice also the most important thing? Try a greyscale version to examine value hierarchy. Greyscale is useful for this specific check; it does not tell you everything about colour relationships. Return to the colour version and ask whether any accent is distracting or unnecessary.
YOUR TURN / ORIGINAL PRACTICE
Make it your own.
Design two versions of a small poster for a sketchbook exhibition. Keep the words and layout identical. In one version, make the title dominant; in the other, make the date dominant. Change only colour, value and intensity. Add a short note explaining how you moved the emphasis.
Review your work
- Can you identify the intended focal point immediately?
- Does the message remain readable without relying on hue alone?
- Can you explain the purpose of each colour?