The Color Of Design - Important Points About Color Theory

Guest post by Simon Ward from Pingable Blog, where he writes about blogging tips, SEO and web design.

Some color combinations work and others look absolutely terrible; this is a subject that anyone interested in design should consider examining. The following article looks at different types of color schemes, how to use them and why they work.

1. Complementary or Contrasting
   Colors that are on the opposite side of the color wheel from each other are called complementary colors. e.g. yellow and purple or orange and blue. Complementary colors provide good contrast to each other, so if they’re used effectively, designs using complementary colors really stand out. The main difficulty with this scheme is finding the balance of colors, as using such strong colors can create a very gaudy appearance.
   
   _{Source: Wiki Commons}
2. Monochromatic
   A monochromatic color scheme involves a single color used in combination with it’s tints and shades. If you lighten a color, you obtain it’s tint. If you darken a color, you obtain it’s shade. This can be used to create very neutral designs that look balanced and visually appealing. The disadvantage of this scheme is that it often lacks contrast and it is not as vibrant as the complementary scheme.
3. Analogous
   Colors that are next to each other on the color wheel are called analogous colors. E.g. Purple and dark blue. As the colors are very similar to each other, it can be difficult to create areas of focus, however, they can be used very effectively to create an overall warm or cool feel to a site (see color temperature below).
4. Triadic
   A triadic color color scheme uses three colors equally spaced around the color wheel. It looks best if one color is used more than the others. The triadic color scheme offers high contrast while retaining harmony.

Experiment
To experiment with different color schemes the following site has a Color Scheme Generator which is ideal for trying out various schemes to see how effective they are.
Color Temperature
Colors can be warm, hot or cold in appearance. Warm colors, such as red and orange, tend to come forward. Cool colors, such as green and blue, tend to blend better. Overusing warm colors can agitate your audience, for example a design that is almost entirely red would be very hard on the eyes. Similarly, over using cold colors is not a good idea.
Final Thoughts
With a little experimentation you can easily create a very effective design. Have a play with the generator mentioned in this article. But don’t get too carried away, as it’s usually a good idea not to use more than two or three colors in a design.