Color Theory for NIFT , NID, UCEED and CEED

Understanding Color theory is an important part of the Design entrance exam preparation. Many questions are based on Color theory. Some questions are asked directly, others indirectly. Let's see how color theory is asked in the exams.

Colour Theory in Design Entrance Exam

Colors not only add spice to our lives but can do the same to your sketch if you know how to use them. The secret to the right color usage is contained in color theory. So, you must understand color theory. The study of how different colors work together and affect human perception is known as Color Theory. If one understands the color theory well, it will help in understanding colors, communicating ideas, messages, emotions, etc.

According to the color wheel invented by Sir Issac Newton, colors may be categorised into THREE groups.

1. Primary red, blue, and yellow.
2. Secondary mixes of primary colors
3. Tertiary or intermediate - mixes of primary and secondary colors

What is a Color Wheel?

The foundation of color theory is based on the color wheel. It consists of Primary colors, Secondary colors, and Tertiary Colors.

• Primary colors: These are colors that cannot be created by mixing other colors. These include red, blue and yellow.
• Secondary colors: There are those colors which can be formed by mixing two primary colors. For example, orange can be formed by mixing red and yellow, green can be formed by mixing yellow and blue, pink can be formed by mixing red and white, etc.
• Tertiary Colors: There are such colors that are formed by mixing a primary color and a secondary color. For Example, mixing red and orange, mixing yellow and green, mixing red and pink, etc.

What are Warm and Cool Colors?

Warm colors include Red, orange and yellow. These colors create a feeling of energy, warmth and happiness. These are often used in advertisements, festivals to attract people.

Cool Colors are colors that create a sense of calmness, peace, trust, and serenity. These are used in resorts, healthcare, environmental design, eco-friendly packaging, etc. Some of the colors include blue, green, and violet.

What are Hue, Value and Saturation?

Now, you need to learn what is hue, value and saturation. 

• Hue - It is an attribute that helps distinguish colors into various types - red, blue, green, yellow, etc. Any color on the color wheel is of a different hue.
• Value - The relative lightness or darkness, or grayscale, is defined by its value. Using the value element, you can create depth, contrast, etc.
• Saturation - The purity or intensity of a color is represented by its saturation. A pure color will be fully saturated in contrast to an impure (desaturated) color. 

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Psychological Effect of Colors

Colors are said to affect human emotions and mood. A designer must know about this. Let's check some of the colors and effect on humans.

These are some of the basic concepts related to color theory, which have many other key concepts that you need to learn and master. Other key concepts you will need to learn include warm and cool colors, design harmony, etc.

Type of Questions based on Color Theory

The questions in Design exams, like NIFT, NID and UCEED are asked indirectly. Check how it is asked.

• Colour composition exercises
• Design situation questions
• Creative ability tests
• Fashion and communication design concepts
• Visual Storytelling
• Observation drawing
• Studio and Situation test
•  Visualization questions
• Design sensitivity problems
• Colour relationship concepts

Also Read:

• Sketching and Coloring Questions for Design Entrance Exams

Prep Tips to learn about Color Theory

Check out the prep tips to prepare Color Theory.

• Learn the colour wheel thoroughly.
• Practice creating colour combinations.
• Observe colour usage in advertisements, logos, fashion, and products.
• Study famous brand colour identities and understand their purpose.
• Experiment with watercolours, poster colours, and digital colour palettes.
• Create mood boards using different colour schemes.
• Solve previous-year design aptitude questions related to colour and visual perception.

Questions Based on Color Theory

Check out some of the questions asked in popular design entrance exams like NIFT, NID DAT, UCEED and CEED.

1. ‘Eco’ or ‘green’ products are
   a. Green in color
   b. Having Minimum environmental impact
   c. having only raw material which is from nature
   d. all the above 
2. Architecture, like design or fashion, is often hard for people to perceive as an art form, for so much of it is wrapped up not only in purely aesthetic terms—
   appearances, colors, beauty—but also in feats of engineering. That is, form in architecture, by definition, has to follow function. Take the skyscraper. It is necessarily
   tall because of the limited amount of space on Earth. Its form—that is its impressive height—follows its function: to fit as much building as possible into a small lot. But
   the architect takes it further. Instead of merely building a lifeless, monolithic structure, she inserts art into the design, so that each skyscraper has its own character, its
   own ambience, its own
   essence. Thus, the Chrysler Building, with its art deco façade, presents a stark contrast to the functional modernism of the Seagram Building, even though both
   structures stretch into the sky a mere ten blocks from each other in Midtown Manhattan. Their functions are the same, but both solve the problems of function
   differently and using radically contrasting forms.
   As used in the middle of the passage, the word monolithic most nearly means
   a. huge and drab
   b. cheery and opulent
   c. giant and inventive
   d. characterless and unimpressive
3. Night-time flowering plants are typically_________ in colour, but have a pleasing smell, as insects do not see at night time but get attracted to their smell. Identify the correct colour.
   (A) Purple (B) Red (C) White (D) Yellow
4. In the given box, make a poster of crows demanding their right to drink juices from juice shops. You may use colour.
5. A triad colour scheme contains 3 colours. Considered to be the most basic type of color scheme, a triadic color scheme is defined as any three colors located 120 degrees from each other on the color wheel. In some way, triadic schemes can be considered the most flexible of the three combination-types, as there are many directions you can go in to measure 120 degrees. Given is a picture of a color wheel.

Color Wheel

        (A) Yellow + Yellow-Green + Green
        (B) Violet + Yellow + Orange
        (C) Blue Violet + Red-Orange + Yellow-Green
        (D) Green + Orange + Blue Violet

6. Which of the options is/are correct according to pigment colour theory? 

Color Wheel

7. Identify the correct silhouette of the coloured dragon.

Color of dragon

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