Additive Color: An additive color model involves light emitted directly from a source or illuminant of some sort. The additive reproduction process usually uses red, green and blue light to produce the other colors. Combining one of these additive primary colors with another in equal amounts produces the additive secondary colors cyan, magenta, and yellow. Combining all three primary lights (colors) in equal intensities produces white. Varying the luminosity of each light (color) eventually reveals the full gamut of those three lights (colors). The most common use of additive light is the projected light used in theatrical lighting (plays, concerts, circus shows, night clubs, etc.).

Asymmetrical Balance: placement of non-identical forms to either side of a balancing point in such a way that the two sides seem to be of the same visual weight.

Atmospheric perspective : a technique used by painters for representing three-dimensional space on a flat two-dimensional surface by creating the illusion of depth, or recession within a painting or drawing. Atmospheric perspective suggests that objects closer to the viewer are sharper in detail, color intensity, and value contrast than those farther away. As objects move closer to the horizon they gradually fade to a bluish gray and details blur, imitating the way distant objects appear to the human eye. Also called aerial perspective.

CMYK: the abbreviation for cyan (C), magenta (M), yellow (Y) and black (K). These are the colors used in a four color printing process.

Color: The quality of an object or substance with respect to light reflected by the object, usually determined visually by measurement of hue, saturation, and brightness of the reflected light; saturation or chroma; hue.

Color Schemes: In color theory, a color scheme is the choice of colors used in design for a range of media. For example, the use of a white background with black text is an example of a basic and common color scheme. Color schemes are used to create style and appeal. Colors that create an aesthetic feeling when used together will commonly accompany each other in color schemes. A basic color scheme will use two colors that look appealing together. More advanced color schemes involve several colors in combination, usually based around a single color; for example, text with such colors as red, yellow, orange and light blue arranged together on a black background in a magazine article.

Color Wheel: a diagram that shows the placement of colors in relationship to each other. It is from the color wheel that color schemes are defined.

Composition: the arrangement of the design elements within the design area; the ordering of visual and emotional experience to give unity and consistency to a work of art and to allow the observer to comprehend its meaning.

Digital Media: Images and other documents created on computers is primarily based on the binary numeral system. In this case digital refers to the discrete states of "0" and "1" for representing arbitrary data. Computers are machines that (usually) interpret binary digital data as information and thus represent the predominating class of digital information processing machines. Digital media like digital audio, digital video and other digital "content" can be created, referred to and distributed via digital information processing machines. Digital media represents a profound change from previous (analog) media.

Hierarchy of Importance: The hierarchy of importance helps establish a visual structure of what is important to look at on a given page and what is not. This is frequently found in typography and other design.

Hue: The property of light by which the color of an object is classified as red, blue, green, or yellow in reference to the spectrum.

Johannes Itten: Johannes Itten (11 November 1888 – 27 May 1967) was a Swiss expressionist painter, designer, teacher, writer and theorist associated with the Bauhaus school (Staatliches Bauhaus). Together with German-American painter Lyonel Feininger and German sculptor Gerhard Marcks, under the direction of German architect Walter Gropius, Itten was part of the core of the Weimar Bauhaus.

Negative Space: Negative space refers to the shapes around objects.

Positive space: Positive space refers to the shapes of objects.

RGB: Red, Green and Blue, the primary colors of digital media. The combination of Red, Green and Blue create all the different colors seen on a monitor.

RYB: Red, yellow and Blue, the primary colors of traditional media. The combination of Red, Yellow and Blue create all the different colors seen in print or on canvas.

Saturation: Vividness of hue; degree of difference from a gray of the same lightness or brightness. Also called intensity.

Shade: A color darkened with black; a color of less than maximum purity, chromo, or saturation. This often increases the color's value.

Subtractive Color: Subtractive color is typically used in print and painting. If you you add the primary colors together, you get black. Items here have no color of their own and the way we see them is made of reflected light. For example a red apple is only seen as red because of its pigment and the light reflecting off of it, reflects that color and then you see the color red. It needs an external source of light in which to be seen.

Symmetrical Balance: A vertical axis is required to achieve balance with symmetry. Symmetrical balance is also called formal balance because a form (formula) is used -- a mirror image about an axis. The results look formal, organized and orderly. There is a strong emphasis on the center axis in symmetry since all of the information is reflected from there. This should be taken into consideration when designing with symmetry. It is easy to over emphasize the center. Symmetrical balance guarantees left to right balance, which is the most important aspect of balance. But there is more to balance than that. Top to bottom balance is also important.

Tint: A color diluted with white; a color of less than maximum purity, chromo, or saturation. This often decreases the color's value.

Traditional Media: Traditional, pigment color is also referred to as subtractive color, where you add the primary colors together and you get black. Items here have no color of their own, the way we see them is made of reflected light. The primary colors in the traditional color wheel are Red, Yellow and Blue. These are mixed together to create all the other colors. This color wheel was invented by Johannes Itten, a Swiss color and art theorist. The traditional color wheel is what is taught in most schools.

Value: The quality of lightness and/or darkness of a color. If something is darker it has a higher number on the value scale. 1 is the lightest where 10 is the darkest.