How to use the colour wheel to find the perfect colour combination

Colour makes designs come alive. It can help catch people's attention, influence their choices and emotions, and direct them to the important bits of information.
It's hard enough choosing your primary colour, but real trouble comes when you're trying to match it to a second or even a third one! It's not always easy to find colours that work well together and that have enough contrast.
This is where the colour wheel comes in handy! The colour wheel is an invaluable tool for any graphic designer (or anybody who needs to work on a design) as it clearly shows the relationship between colours. So if you know the principles behind the wheel, you can use it as a reference for how colour combinations work.
The primary colours are red, blue and yellow. Between the primary colours you will find the secondary colours, made from an equal mixture of the two primary ones: orange (red and yellow), green (yellow and blue), purple (blue and red). Tertiary colours are all the possible mixtures in between.
There are many techniques for combining colours - here are some examples.




I hope this article has inspired you to start using the colour wheel to create some stunning colour combinations for your designs!
Get in touch if you want to find out more about how to match colours.