Johannes Itten wrote several books regarding theories of color. The most influencial was The Art of Color. The book deals with contrast, saturation, hue and just about any other aspect of color. Itten bases his theory on science and techniques of the masters. He created color wheels, stars, triangles and spheres to support his points.(Itten, p.4-93) The color wheel was later incorporated into many systems including computer operating systems, which organize color.

Itten established a structural approach to the study and use of color based primarily on the light-dark opposition. The cold-warm contrast is probably the most important. The red-yellow color range is warm and the blue-green range is cool. Itten also cites complementary and simultaneous contrasts. A visual statement can be sharpen by these statements in color.(Dondis, p.100)