Color Schemes

Creating a palette of colors for web design

Ok, so you have a base color that you like. What other colors go with it? How can you create your own color schemes?

The online color scheme generator by Color Schemer is an excellent place to start.

The scheme is based on the Color Schemer Color Wheel. The color wheel, shown below, places Red at the 12 o’clock position and Green at the 6 o’clock position. Orange is at 2, yellow 4, blue 8, and Purple 10.

Color Wheel

Enter a base RGB or HEX value of a color into the schemer and hit the appropriate SET button. The Color Schemer will create a palette of sixteen(16) colors with the base color located in the top left corner. Colors horizontally along the top row are colors that are found moving clockwise around the color wheel. Vertical from the base color, the colors move counterclockwise around the colorwheel. Colors diagonal from the base color are complimentary colors.

Color Schemer Diagram

The palette displays both the RGB and HEX value of the color.

The Color Schemer site also has a Gallery of Schemes. This gallery consists of user submitted schemes. Its a great place to get other ideas for colors. These schemes are typically from 4 to 10 colors and are available to be downloaded and used within the Color Schemer Studio desktop tool. The desktop tool is not a part of this review. The beginner should begin with the online version. An investment in the more robust tool should only be made if there is a great need (i.e. your doing this for a living).

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