Several factors affect the way we perceive color. One of those factors can be shown by the position of colors on the color wheel in relation to other colors.
- Adjacent colors appear next to each other on the color wheel. Two or more adjacent colors harmonize with one another. They work well together (usually but not always). Learn more about adjacent colors.
The term harmonize sounds nice, pleasant. But some harmonizing colors may appear washed out (yellow/green) or too dark and similar (blue/purple) to work well together.
- Contrasting colors appear in different segments of the color wheel (divide it in quarters to help visualize this). The further apart from one another in hue, saturation, or value, the more contrast. Learn more about contrasting colors.
While contrast is often needed to provide optimum readability (such as high contrast between background and text) some contrasting colors when printed side by side can appear to vibrate and be very tiring on the eye.
- Complementary colors appear on opposite sides of the color wheel, directly or almost directly across from one another. Learn more about complementary colors.
Complementary is often confused with complimentary. Different meanings. Two colors that compliment (flatter) each other may or may not be complements of each other.
Adjacent, contrasting, and complementary color combinations can often be improved by the use of shades and tints or creating additional contrast with black or white. See the next page for more color combining basics.
