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Originally published: 2007 | Last updated: June 2025 - This foundational guide has been refined over 20 years of teaching color characteristics: hue value chroma, with enhanced explanations and updated examples.
Every color you see has three fundamental characteristics that work together like a secret language. Master these color dimensions, and you'll unlock the ability to see, describe, and work with color like a true colorist.
Color Characteristics Hue Value Chroma
Just as each person has distinct characteristics that make them unique, every color has three defining traits: hue, value, and chroma. The better you understand these characteristics, the more successful you'll become at creating beautiful, harmonious color combinations that truly sing together.
Hue: The Color Family
Hue is what distinguishes one color from another – red, blue, yellow, green, orange, purple. It's the pure color itself, described using common color names.
When you see a fire truck and a strawberry, they share the same hue (red) even though they might look different in brightness or intensity.
Key insight: Hue is the color's position on the color wheel—its pure essence. Black, white, and gray are not hues—they're neutrals without a place on the spectrum, yet they play crucial supporting roles in the color story.
Value: How Light or Dark
Value describes how light or dark any color appears. It's measured by how close a color is to white (high value) or black (low value).
Navy blue has a lower value than sky blue. Pink has a higher value than maroon. Both pairs share the same hue but differ dramatically in value.
Why value matters: Your brain uses value differences to perceive depth, dimension, and spatial relationships. A flat circle transforms into a three-dimensional sphere when you add lighter and darker values. Value contrast is what makes objects appear to rest on surfaces rather than float mysteriously in space.
Chroma: How Pure and Intense
The closer to pure red, the higher the chroma: the closer to black, white or gray, the lower the chroma
Chroma measures a color's purity – how much of the pure hue it contains versus how much it's been mixed with other colors.
- High chroma: Pure, intense, vivid colors
- Low chroma: Muted, grayed, dusty colors
Fire engine red has high chroma—it practically vibrates with intensity. Dusty rose has low chroma—it whispers rather than shouts. Both are red, but one is pure while the other is mixed with other colors, creating entirely different moods and messages.
How Hue Value Chroma Work Together
These three characteristics operate independently:
- Same hue, different values: Light blue vs. navy blue
- Same hue, different chromas: Bright red vs. brick red
- Same value, different chromas: Pure red and gray can have identical values but vastly different chromas
Pure Hues Have Different Values
Here's something that surprises many people: pure hues don't all have the same value. Yellow is naturally lighter than violet. Blue is darker than orange. Understanding this helps you create more sophisticated color relationships.
The Foundation for Everything
When you described a color as "light blue-gray" or "deep olive green," you were already using hue, value, and chroma – you just didn't know the technical terms.
Mastering these three concepts gives you the foundation for understanding color harmony, creating effective contrasts, and describing colors precisely. Every advanced color theory principle builds on hue, value, and chroma.
Your Next Steps - Hue Value Chroma
Start noticing these three characteristics in the colors around you. Ask yourself:
- What hue family does this belong to?
- Is it light or dark in value?
- Is it pure and intense, or muted and grayed?
The more you practice identifying hue, value, and chroma, the better you'll become at seeing subtle color differences and creating color combinations that truly work together. You're developing your unique color sense-ability—and that's the foundation of becoming a remarkable colorist.
Did You Find this Lesson on Hue Value Chroma Helpful?
Leave a comment below and tell me which color property (hue, value, or chroma) you find most challenging to identify. Your insights help me create better resources for the color community we're building together.
Feature Image Credit: Jacobolus [CC BY-SA 3.0]
