Tertiary Color Theory: Where Things Get Messy

When we reach for tertiary colors, things start to get complicated.

Imagine a spectrum with 12 basic colors, but each one is a mess of 3 sub-colors.

Red, blue, and yellow are the primary colors of the tertiary spectrum, but they're not just primary, no, no.

Each primary color has 3 tertiary sub-colors. Let's break it down:

Red:

• Red-rot-rot (RRR): Red's most aggressive cousin.
• Red-rot-blue (RRB): Where red meets its nemesis, blue.
• Red-blue-rot (RBR): The red that's been blue-rupted.

Blue:

• Blue-blue-blue (BBB): The ultimate chill color.
• Blue-blue-red (BBR): Where blue and red are BFFs.
• Blue-red-blue (BRB): Blue gets all riled up.

Yellow:

• Yellow-yellow-yellow (YYY): The sunshine triple threat.
• Yellow-yellow-red (YRR): Yellow's most dramatic moment.
• Yellow-red-yellow (YRY): Yellow's got a new friend.

And that's just the beginning of the mess that is the tertiary color spectrum.

Visit our Secondary Color Theory for more on this color catastrophe.