Color. It plays an essential role in design and in everyday life. It can draw your eye to an image… evoke a certain mood or emotion… even communicate something important without using words at all. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an Original Essay So how do you know which colors go well together and which don't? The answer is simple: color theory. Artists and designers have followed color theory for centuries, but anyone can learn more. This can help you feel confident in many different situations, from choosing colors for a design to putting together the perfect outfit. All it takes is a little insight, and you'll see color in a whole new way. Let's start at the beginning with a reminder of the basics. Do you remember learning about primary and secondary colors in school? Then you already have some knowledge of color theory. Red and yellow give orange; yellow and blue make green; and blue and red give purple. If we mix these colors, we get even more intermediate shades, like red-orange and yellow-green. Together they form what is called a color wheel. (You can probably see where it gets its name.) Now let's go even further with hue, saturation, and value. These are terms you might not encounter in everyday life, but they're key to understanding more nuanced colors, like all those little paint chips at the home improvement store. Hue is the simplest; it's basically just another word for "color". Saturation refers to intensity, meaning whether the color appears more subtle or vibrant. The value depends on how dark or light the color is, ranging from black to white. As you can see, this gives us many different shades, from deep reddish brown... to light pastel pink. So how can we bring it all together to create professional-looking color combinations? There are actually proven formulas based on something called color harmony that can help. All you need is the color wheel. The simplest harmony formula is monochromatic because it uses only one color or hue. Simply choose a spot on the color wheel and use your knowledge of saturation and value to create variations. The best thing about monochrome color schemes is that they are guaranteed to match. An analogous color scheme uses colors that are next to each other on the wheel, like reds and oranges...or cooler colors, like blues and greens. Don't be afraid to play with the palette and create your own unique interpretation. That's what these formulas really are: starting points to guide and inspire you. Complementary colors face each other on the wheel; for example, blue and orange... or the classic red and green. To avoid overly simplistic complementary color combinations, add variety by introducing lighter, darker, or desaturated tones. A split-complementary color palette uses colors on either side of the complement. This gives you the same level of contrast, but more colors to work with (and potentially more interesting results). A triadic color palette uses three evenly spaced colors, forming a perfect triangle on the wheel. These combinations tend to!