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Colour Wheel Basics

17 April 2013

Our design team provide a few simple techniques to help you select colours on your next job.

by Katherine Nimmo & Jeremy Kose

Colour Wheel

These six standard colour schemes are a great way to get you started. Whilst colour balance is important, remember to still have fun when choosing your next colour scheme.

MonochromaticMonochromatic
A single colour with variation to the lightness or saturation.

Analogous

 

Analogous
Uses adjacent colours.
Centre colour dominates, others used to highlight.

 

Complementary

 

Complementary
Two colours which are directly opposite.
Warm against cool works best.

 

Split Complementary

 


Split Complementary

Two colours which are directly opposite.
Then the two adjacent of one colour.

 

Triadic

 

Triadic
Three colours equally spaced.
A softer scheme than the complementary.

 

Tetradic

 

Tetradic
Two complimentary pairs.
Ensure you choose a dominant colour to avoid a messy scheme.

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