The Bauhaus teachers knew that color was not decoration but structure. Josef Albers spent a career demonstrating that colour is the most relative medium in art — the same hue looks completely different against different neighbours. This is the first and most important lesson: colour never exists in isolation.
Colour theory divides into two broad territories: the physics of colour relationships (complementary, analogous, triadic) and the psychology of colour perception (warmth, weight, cultural meaning). Great colour work sits at the intersection — choosing palettes that are visually harmonious and emotionally resonant for the specific audience and context.
In digital design, the conversation has shifted toward accessibility and system-thinking. A colour is not just a hex code — it is a token in a system, a role in a hierarchy (primary, secondary, surface, error), and a variable that must work across light and dark contexts. The best design systems treat colour as a semantic layer, not a stylistic choice.