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 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!

• 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)

If you like this, you might like our Elements of Design Quick Reference Poster too! Enjoy!