Graphic Design: What are the primary, secondary and tertiary colors

Colour is everywhere, and how you use it can make or break a design. In this article I'll cover the basics: the colour wheel, primary, secondary and tertiary colours, and what different colours tend to suggest. For more on choosing colours for a website, see How to Choose the Right Colour Scheme for Your Website.

Colour theory and the colour wheel

Colour theory is a mix of art and science that helps designers understand which colours work well together. Combinations that work are called colour harmonies, and the colour wheel is the basic tool for finding them. Canva's colour wheel is a handy way to explore them.

The traditional colour wheel used in art and design is based on red, yellow and blue. (Screens use a different system, red, green and blue light, and printers use cyan, magenta and yellow ink, but the traditional wheel is still the most common way to learn colour relationships.)

The 3 primary colours

The primary colours are red, yellow and blue. In the traditional model, they can't be mixed from other colours, and all the other colours on the wheel come from them.

The 3 secondary colours

The secondary colours are green, orange and purple. Each is made by mixing two primaries: blue and yellow make green, red and yellow make orange, and red and blue make purple.

The 6 tertiary colours

Tertiary colours are made by mixing a primary colour with a neighbouring secondary colour. There are six: yellow-orange, red-orange, red-purple, blue-purple, blue-green and yellow-green. Their names tell you which two colours they come from.

Together, the 3 primary, 3 secondary and 6 tertiary colours make up the 12 colours of the standard colour wheel.

What colours suggest

Colour psychology gets a lot of attention in marketing and design, but the research behind it is limited, and much of what's claimed is anecdotal. Our reactions to colour are also personal and shaped by culture. White, for example, stands for purity and weddings in much of the West, but is linked with mourning in parts of East Asia. So treat the associations below as common tendencies, not rules.

Black

Black suggests power, authority and sophistication, and it's a staple of fashion and luxury design. It can also feel heavy, mysterious or even sinister, which is why villains so often wear it. In design, it works well for elegant, high-contrast looks, but large areas of it need balancing with space and lighter tones.

White

In Western cultures white is linked with purity, simplicity and cleanliness, which is why it's traditional for wedding dresses. It's neutral and goes with everything. In design, white space gives content room to breathe and makes pages easier to read.

Red

Red is one of the most emotionally intense colours. It's linked with love, passion, energy and determination, but also with anger and danger, which is why it's used for stop signs and warnings. It's also associated with importance, as in the red carpet. In design, red works well as an accent to draw attention, but it can overwhelm if overused. Brighter reds feel energetic; darker reds feel richer and more elegant.

Orange

Orange is warm, energetic and friendly. In muted shades it suggests autumn and the earth, and it's often linked with change and movement. In design, it grabs attention without feeling as aggressive as red, so it's popular for buttons and highlights.

Yellow

Yellow is the brightest of the warm colours and is linked with sunshine, happiness and optimism. It can also be tiring to look at in large amounts, and yellow text is hard to read on a light background. It carries different meanings in different places: in Japan it's associated with courage, and in some places with caution. In design, bright yellow feels cheerful and energetic, while softer yellows feel calm and gentle.

Green

Green is the colour of nature, growth and renewal. It feels calm and balanced, and darker greens can suggest wealth and stability. It can also stand for envy ("green with envy") or inexperience ("greenhorn"). In design, bright greens feel fresh and lively, olive greens feel natural and earthy, and dark greens feel stable and established.

Blue

Blue is linked with trust, calm and loyalty, which is why it's so popular with banks and tech companies. It can also feel cold, and in English it's associated with sadness ("feeling blue"). Light blues feel relaxed and friendly, bright blues feel fresh, and dark blues feel strong and dependable, which suits corporate and professional brands.

Purple

Purple has long been associated with royalty and wealth, partly because purple dye was once extremely rare and expensive. Today it often suggests luxury, creativity and imagination. In Thailand it's traditionally a colour of mourning. In design, dark purples feel rich and luxurious, while lighter purples like lavender feel soft and romantic.

A note on colour therapy

Some ancient cultures, including the Egyptians and Chinese, believed colours could heal. Red was used to stimulate the body, yellow to purify it and blue to soothe pain. Most psychologists today are sceptical of colour therapy, and studies suggest our emotional reactions to a colour can be strong at first but fade with exposure. Even so, the long history of these associations shows how deeply colour is woven into the way we see the world.