It’s always good to be able to articulate design choices to your clients; why you put something where, why you chose the color scheme you did, etc. This knowledge is one of the biggest differences between a designer and a non-designer. But there is a lot to remember when it comes to the realm of graphic design – so much so that it’s pretty much impossible to remember everything from all the theories of graphic design, to web design best practices to Photoshop keyboard shortcuts.
With that in mind, I decided it would be useful for me to have all of the basics of color theory contained in one place – specifically, a cool infographic-esque poster. This way, I can quickly reference things that may have slipped to the back of my mind since design school. The end result is this: The Color Theory Quick Reference Poster for Designers.
*Edit: we now have an Elements of Design Quick Reference Poster as well as a Principles of Design Quick Reference poster too!*
The idea is that this graphic can be either printed out or used as a desktop wallpaper. During meetings, phone calls, or any other sort of client interaction, you can reference this poster if you need to – either for your own benefit, or to point something out to your client.
The graphic contains info on:
- the basic color wheel
- passive vs. active colors
- cool vs. warm colors
- subtractive vs. additive color
- color types
- color relationships
- meanings attached to colors
- basic terms pertaining to color
Hopefully this will be as useful to you as I’m hoping it will be to me. Here are the various files for download – please share, but don’t pass off as your own! Note: if you’re having issues getting the PDF, right-click and choose “Save Link As”.
- Print-ready, PDF (11″ by 17″, 300DPI)
- Print-ready, white background, PDF (11″ by 17″, 300DPI – click to view)
- 1920X1200 Wallpaper
- 1680X1050 Wallpaper
- 1440X900 Wallpaper
- 1280X800 Wallpaper
- EPS file (if you want to make your own changes)
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If you like this, you might like our Elements of Design Quick Reference Poster too! Enjoy!
Thanks so much for this! I’m referring all my students to it!
No problem – good to hear!
so wonderful, thank you!
[...] Paper Leaf Design in Edmonton designed this quick reference poster, to be printed out, or even used as a screen saver, with the whats and whys of color theory. Clever, practical and free. The trifecta of good design. [...]
[...] Very useful! And it’s downloadable here [...]
[...] agency Paper Leaf has created this quick reference poster about color theory, intended as a tool for designers or for anyone who appreciates colors and color theory. The poster [...]
[...] handy. Click the image to zoom in. You can thank the good people at Edmonton-based design firm Paper Leaf. They were even generous enough to offer it as a pdf, desktop wallpaper, and even an EPS you can [...]
[...] Color Theory Quick Reference Sheet [...]
[...] Paper Leaf uraczył nas niedawno projektem, który prezentuje podstawowe zagadnienia z teorii koloru. Niby nic wielkiego, ale czasem cieszy. Dostępny jest on w formnie tapet 1920X1200, 1680X1050, 1440X900, 1280X800, dwóch plików PDF01, PDF02 (białe tło) oraz oryginalnego edytowalnego EPSa. [...]
[...] handy. Click the image to zoom in. You can thank the good people at Edmonton-based design firm Paper Leaf. They were even generous enough to offer it as a pdf, desktop wallpaper, and even an EPS you can [...]
Excellent resource. Thanks very much
[...] A tutorial on color theory (with a nice poster for reference here) [...]
[...] all in the color; teal is a mix of blue & green. Blue = cold, green = growth (this is what the Color Theory Reference Poster tells us!): a good combination for the month of March, as we’re starting to sneak out of [...]
[...] Free Color Theory Quick Reference Poster [...]