Colors are like spices; too many ingredients drown your tastebuds in opposing flavors. Too few and the dish is remarkably bland. There’s a lot to digest.
Please the palate [palette?] with this guide on cooking up a striking color scheme.
There are six types of color relationships
Monochromatic: Variations of the same color
Complementary: Opposite colors on the color wheel
Split Complementary: Color + two neighbors of the complement color
Double Complementary: 2 sets of opposite colors
Analogous: neighbors on the color wheel
Triad: 3 colors equally spaced around the wheel
Some schemes just begin with picking a home base on the color wheel and using simple relationships between colors to judiciously build complexity.
Generally I like to pair a cool color and a warm color together when making a presentation. Using the tone of a cool color is a great backbone for your presentation but can come off as very serious. By pairing it with the tint of a warm color, you gain contrast but in a soft and manageable amount.
When using your two colors, I find that light text on dark backgrounds makes a powerful statement, but thoughts get crowded quickly and word count becomes a concern.
If you find yourself with a lot of information to express, accent colors are a great way to separate your thoughts and establish a visual hierarchy. Your audience will appreciate the visual break that the color provides, and they will be able to grasp the concepts that you are emphasizing without straining to read everything at once.
Here you can see I used a split complementary color scheme.
By mixing together
1 pt. warm color (pale yellow)
1 pt. cool color (dark blue-purple)
⅓ pt. accent color (red-purple)
I get a nicely balanced color scheme that is both unique and professional.
But don’t just take my word for it, try creating a scheme yourself!
