What are primary colors?

Imagine yourself back in elementary school. Remember the thrill of discovering new colors by mixing red and blue paint to create purple—or adding blue and yellow to make green? When you blended pigments to make a new hue, you got hands-on experience with primary colors and color theory.

Now, fast forward to today. Primary colors are more than fun fingerpaints—they're essential tools in any designer's digital toolbox. But what are they exactly, and how can they make your designs impactful?

Read on to learn:

• What primary colors are, and four brands that use them effectively
• How primary colors work in digital design, plus key considerations such as color models, gamut, and accessibility
• Four pro tips to ensure primary color consistency
• How to put the power of primary colors to work for your designs with Figma

What are the 3 primary colors?

Traditional color theory establishes three primary colors: red, yellow, and blue (RYB). These primary colors are opposite each other on the color wheel. Mixing primary colors produces secondary colors like orange, green, and purple. Secondary colors blend to create six tertiary colors. With color mixing, you can create an entire color spectrum from primary colors.

3 major brands that use primary colors effectively

From branding and web design to UI, primary colors can help create powerful user experiences. Consider these four real-world examples, which show how major brands use RYB primary colors for impactful, memorable product design and user engagement.

• DoorDash. The popular food delivery service uses a distinct red color in its app and branding elements. According to color symbolism, red evokes feelings of excitement and a sense of urgency. This aligns with DoorDash's mission to deliver your favorite meals quickly. The use of warm red also makes the DoorDash app appear welcoming, setting the brand apart in the competitive food delivery market.
• Snapchat. Snapchat’s bright yellow logo and app interface stand out amid. Yellow represents energy, youth, and happiness, which aligns with Snapchat’s Gen Z target audience and the spontaneous nature of content shared on the platform.
• Facebook. Facebook’s primary color is a distinctive, saturated blue, dominating its logo and interface. Blue represents reliability, trust, and communication, which are key to the social network’s platform. But Facebook's vivid hue sets it apart from the boring blues of legacy tech brands like IBM.

How primary colors work in digital design

Scientists continue to revise color theory, including the concept of primary colors and how they appear on our computer screens and digital devices. The human eye perceives colors through photoreceptors (specifically, cone cells) that react to different wavelengths of light. This sensitivity helps people to perceive red light, green light, and blue light (RGB). When the brain processes information about reflected light from these receptors, users can see the “full gamut” of colors displayed by devices—from deep reds and blue-greens to vibrant yellow-green hues.

Why RGB matters in digital design

RGB is the primary tool to bring colors to life on digital screens. By adjusting light sources and experimenting with the intensity of red, green, and blue visible light, designers can create a custom palette that stands out and resonates with users. Adjusting RGB is an additive process that drives how visuals appear, making them look sharp on small mobile devices and large monitors alike.

Which color model should you use for your design?

Before you choose the color palette for your next design, consider the two main color models: additive color model (RGB) and subtractive color model (CMYK). Understanding the distinction between these two modern models is essential for all designers.

Choose the RGB model for digital. The additive primary colors red, green, and blue allow you to create any color for full-spectrum digital screens. This additive model begins with black, and gradually adds light to produce colors. When all three colors are at their highest intensity, white is the result. You can see how the RGB model works on any computer, TV, or mobile phone screen. Each pixel on these screens emits light in different colors, depending on how much of each primary color is released (measured in RGB values).

Go with the CMYK color model for color printing. Think of dyes or inks: the more colors you mix, the darker the color gets. This is sometimes called “subtractive color mixing” because CMY (cyan, magenta, and yellow) are subtractive primary colors that absorb (or subtract) white light. The reflected light is what we perceive as color. The K (key) in the CMYK color model was introduced to create richer blacks for printing. You can see this subtractive model at work in traditional art and print media, from postcards to billboards.

A brief history of color theory

The concept of primary colors has evolved over centuries with advancements in science, art, and technology. In his 1704 book Optiks, English physicist Isaac Newton noted that a prism could split a light beam into a rainbow spectrum of colors—now known as ROYGBIV (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet).

But German polymath Johann Wolfgang von Goethe disagreed with Newton in his 1810 book Theory of Colors. He argued that color was subjective, influenced by perception of both light and darkness. Goethe's theory that color is a degree of darkness was disproved, but his color wheel helped establish red, yellow, and blue as primary colors.

Albert H. Munsell introduced a refined perspective on color in the early 20th century, further defining colors and how they relate. The Munsell color system created a standard to accurately identify colors based on three dimensions: hue, value, and chroma.

What is gamut—and why does it matter in design?

The concept of gamut is key to mastering color reproduction across devices. Gamut defines the range of colors a device (like a laptop or a smartphone) can display accurately. Since each device has a unique color gamut, the same design can look different across various screens. Knowing a device’s gamut helps ensure that colors in your designs appear consistently.

Color and accessibility

Mastering the RGB color model is crucial for designers who want color consistency across all digital platforms. But even with careful calibration, humans often perceive colors differently, and millions of users worldwide experience color vision deficiencies (CVD). To improve usability for all, designers apply accessibility principles instead of relying on color alone to convey essential information.

4 pro tips to ensure color consistency with Figma

When you design a distinctive color palette, you’ll want to preserve the integrity of those colors across different displays and devices. You can use Figma’s pro tools to ensure color consistency in four ways:

• Select and apply specific color profiles (sRGB or Display P3) to meet specific visual requirements.
• For easy color application and updates, define primary colors as variables and apply color variables to designs.
• Use Figma's color style feature to apply colors to fill, strokes, and background. You can quickly experiment with alternatives and prototype your design in a few clicks, as shown in this video.
• Convert and export assets within your chosen color profiles for precise visual output using Figma's color management tools.

Put the power of primary colors to work with Figma

From creative exploration through product launch, you can make an impact with a cohesive, consistent color scheme that shows your color theory know-how. Here's how:

• Use Figma's free color wheel to experiment with color schemes, ranging from primary to tertiary colors.
• Try popular color plugins from Figma's design community to create professional color palettes to share with your team.
• Streamline the design process with Figma's readymade UI kits, applying distinctive brand colors and bold primary colors as needed to guide user behavior.
• Dive deeper into color theory with tutorials and examples from the Figma community.

Ready to make designs more impactful with color?