Color is such a vast and variable element that it can be difficult to cover it fully in any one post. It can also be a little overwhelming when trying to implement it into your designs. Below are some sample color palettes, taken from classic color theory based combinations.
The color wheel is one of the first places I turn for color inspiration and guidance when choosing a color scheme. Color charts and pre-made palettes are nice, but the color wheel is simple and easy to understand and use.
Complimentary Combinations
Complimentary colors are easy to pick out; they are hues that are directly across from each other on the color wheel.
Red and Green
Red and green is one of the more difficult combinations to work with because it tends to remind everyone of Christmas. This is also a combination that is difficult for those with certain types of color blindness. To get away from the connotations with Christmas, try a darker shade of one color and a lighter tint of the other. Or use tints of both. This can have a very fresh, new feeling.
Yellow and Purple
For a richer twist, try making the yellow more of a gold.
Blue and Orange
Blue and orange are a very bold combination.
Although I’ve only listed the primary color combinations, any color that is directly across from another on the color wheel is a complimentary color. Notice how each cool color—blue, purple, green—has a corresponding, complimentary warm color—yellow, red, orange.
Triad Combinations
Triad means three, and these are also easy to figure out—just pick a color from the color wheel and go to the other two colors that are exactly a third of the way around the wheel.
Red, Yellow and Blue – The Primary Triad
These are the primary colors and generally coincide with children’s items (take a look at kids’ games, cartoons and toys).
Green, Purple and Orange – The Secondary Triad
These are secondary colors, created from the primary colors. The other colors along the wheel (tertiary colors) are blendings of the primary and secondary colors. The tertiary colors can also be combined into triad palettes.
Split Complimentary
These are different than triads, although they, too, have three colors. For a split complimentary, you take the two colors on either side of the color wheel from the direct complimentary.
Green, Red-Orange and Red-Purple
The direct complimentary of green is red, but on either side of red we have red-orange and red-purple. A split complimentary is half way between a full complimentary and a triad.
Orange, Blue-Purple and Blue-Green
You don’t always have to have a primary color in your palette!
Double Complimentary
Be careful with choosing a double complimentary color palette because too many colors can overwhelm the eye. Used strategically, though, this can be very effective.
Red, Green, Yellow and Purple
Isn’t it interesting to observe that you can’t have a double complimentary with all of the primary colors? The complimentary of a primary is a secondary color.
Yellow-Orange, Blue-Purple, Blue-Green and Red-Orange
Notice how this is similar in its base colors to the double complimentary above, but has a different mood.
More color palette explorations on Creative Curio
Things to Remember or Expert Advice
For more complex color combinations that are still harmonious, create shades (adding black), tints (adding white) and tones (adding grey) to the classic combination hues listed above.
Most colors can have multiple meanings. What blue says to the viewer, for example, whether sad or peaceful, is influenced by the other elements of design and the message of the piece.
The neutral colors like grey, brown and even white can enhance the unity of the rest of the colors if you give them a slight hue. Instead of pure grey, for example, add a touch of blue for a cool appearance, or as a less stark option for white, mix in some yellow or orange.
The warm colors—yellow, orange and red—are good attention grabbing colors and can be effectively used to highlight important information. This would be a good way to use a double complimentary palette; make these brighter colors less prominent. It’s probably not a good idea to make the actual text yellow, though, but rather have some other sort of highlight—an arrow or background box—signal the need for attention.
Other Color Resources
This has been the seventh and final installment in Real World Examples of the elements of design. Previously covered have been line, shape, space, scale, texture, value and color (part 1).
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Color holds the most critical appeal to emotions out of all the elements of design. It is important to choose your colors wisely!
Aesthetic Apparatus’ Doombuddy (Codename Mr. Tibbets)
Red, blue and yellow are the primary color triad and often associated with children. Tints (adding white), shades (adding black) and tones (adding grey) are often effective ways to dissipate the juvenile qualities of this primary triad, as seen in this Mister Tibbets poster from Aesthetic Apparatus, a design studio focused in the music industry.
Red is a passionate color, riddled with emotional connotations and deep meaning. Red is the color of blood, fire, rage, love and power. It is the most eye-catching of colors and should always be used mindfully because it can produce unexpected reactions if allowed to run amuck.
Blue is the color of sky and water (a reflection of the sky). Blue can be sad, serene, cold, refreshing, loyal (“true blue”) and calm.
Yellow is another color that jumps off the page. Here it is actually the color of the paper (usually white is the color of paper). Yellow is a happy color. It is cheerful, good-natured, warm and inviting. Compare the mood of Mister Tibbets with other Doombuddies like Doombuddy II (blue, foul mood) and Doombuddy III (green, sick?).
White (here used as a color) is pure and clean. Be careful with white, though, too much of it and the design can appear stark and sterile.
This Mister Tibbets poster is friendly, cheerful and slightly childish.
Homebase by Turner Duckworth
This Homebase product line by Turner Duckworth uses the colors orange and green, two pieces of a triad (purple would be the other one). This produces an interesting and often unexplored combination; it’s not quite a complimentary, but the colors still go well together.
Green is inarguably a fresh, clean color. Green can also be a restful color, and it definitely has a positive vibe, at least in this cheerful tint. There is also the term “green with envy,” but that conjures up images of a deeper, darker green. Green is a cool color that tends to recede into the background, so it makes a good base color, as seen above.
Orange is also a refreshing color. Citrus is a clean scent that is translated into the visual spectrum very well in this layout. Orange is a warm color that pops from the page so it is usually best used as an accent color.
The color choices for this packaging make the product look easy, no-nonsense and practical.
Tina Colada by FLO
You may think at a glance that the colors from Tina Colada go really well together but just can’t quite figure out why. It’s a little difficult to see right away, but this poster is composed of the complimentary of blue and orange, but here orange is a shade (added black) and appears as dark brown.
Blue is peaceful, tranquil and serene. The tint of blue seen here has a nice value contrast with the dark brown, too.
Brown is a deep, earthy, wholesome color. Chocolate and soil are brown, and it can be a warm and comforting color.
From the choice of colors, it seems that Tina is a calming, beautiful and nurturing force in the artist’s life.
Nimbupani Designs
The Nimbupani Designs blog is a strange half triad, half complimentary of yellow and blue (the primary triad) and green (complimentary of red, which would normally complete the primary triad). The links are in a dark red-purple. The effect of all these bright colors is a cheerful and inviting design, although my “designy sense” still kinda resists the unorthodox use of cyan, yellow, lime and red-purple as main colors.
This has been the sixth installment in Real World Examples of the elements of design. Previously covered have been line, shape, space, scale, texture and value. Next, we’ll go over color in a little more detail.
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Value is not color. Value is also not contrast, which is a separate principle of design. Contrast can be found in any element—texture, shape, size/scale, space, color, line or value—which is why it is a principle, not an element. Value is the tone of a color; it has more to do with dark and light than red or blue. The visual spectrum of value ranges from black to white. It can dramatically alter the mood of a design depending on the amount of contrast present.
Value is used to create
- Mood
- Visual interest
- Emphasis
- Depth
- Direction
Nanan
Low contrast can be boring, but it can also be indicative of harmony or balance of the subjects. This Nanan ad doesn’t have a lot of contrast of value—there are no deep shadows or dark colors—and an innocent atmosphere is created.
Take a look at the Nanan logo, too. It has a very light and airy presence on the page because although it is dark, it is not visually heavy (thick). Value has not only to do with the actual dark or light, it can also be reflected in the visual weight of an element of the layout.
Henkel Perlana Panther
Value, like size, is relative to the elements around it. Take this Henkel Perlana ad, for example. The black areas used to create the nose and brow of the sweater panther appear light when compared to the rest of the ad, but if you took that value and put it into the Nanan ad, it would seem pretty heavy and dark (not to mention out of place).
The product image and tag line at the bottom contrast in value with the rest of the ad, making them stand out pretty significantly. It also competes with the panther’s button eyes for dominance in the layout. Yes, it draws attention, but too much perhaps? What would a lighter grey for the type accomplish for this layout?
The Spiderwick Chronicles Poster
The Spiderwick Chronicles Poster is a great example of using value to emphasize. The darker areas towards the bottom and edges frame the center of the layout and push the eyes towards the middle. Makes you wonder what is beyond in that mysterious light, doesn’t it?
There is such a dynamic range of value in this poster and the designer did an excellent job of using value to create a mood. High contrast in value is very dramatic. It is eerie, intriguing and magical all at the same time. There isn’t too much contrast within the central area of the layout, though; only enough to give a rough idea that the shapes are trees, but not too much so as to be distracting.
This has been the fifth installment in Real World Examples of the elements of design. Previously covered have been line, shape, space, scale and texture. Next, we’ll go over color.
Have you subscribed to Creative Curio? (What is RSS?) Email subscriptions are available, too, and as always, both subscription options are absolutely free!
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Tags: Elements of Design
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