Color Wheel

A color wheel or color circle is an abstract illustrative organization of color hues around a circle that
shows relationships between primary colors, secondary colors, tertiary colors etc.

Some sources use the terms color wheel and color circle interchangeably; however, one term or the other
may be more prevalent in certain fields or certain versions as mentioned above. For instance, some reserve the
term color wheel for mechanical rotating devices, such as color tops or filter wheels. Others classify various
color wheels as color disc, color chart, and color scale varieties.

The arrangement of colors around the color circle is often considered to be in correspondence with
the wavelengths of light, as opposed to hues, in accord with the original color circle of Isaac Newton. Modern
color circles include the purples, however, between red and violet. Color scientists and psychologists often use
the additive primaries, red, green and blue; and often refer to their arrangement around a circle as a color circle
as opposed to a color wheel.

Color of the Color wheel

The typical artists' paint or pigment color wheel includes the blue, red, and yellow primary colors. The
corresponding secondary colors are green, orange, and violet or purple. The tertiary colors are redorange, red
violet, yelloworange, yellowgreen, blueviolet and bluegreen.

A color wheel based on RGB (red, green, blue) or RGV (red, green, violet) additive primaries has cyan,
magenta, and yellow secondaries (cyan was previously known as cyan blue). Alternatively, the same
arrangement of colors around a circle can be described as based on cyan, magenta, and yellow subtractive
primaries, with red, green, and blue (or violet) being secondaries.

Color Scheme
 Color scheme is the choice of colors used in design for a range of media. For example, the
"Achromatic" use of a white background with black text is an example of a basic and commonly default color
scheme in web design.

Color schemes are used to create style and appeal. Colors that create an aesthetic feeling when used
together will commonly accompany each other in color schemes. A basic color scheme will use two colors that
look appealing together. More advanced color schemes involve several related colors in "Analogous"
combination, for example, text with such colors as red, yellow, and orange arranged together on a black
background in a magazine article. The addition of light blue creates an "Accented Analogous" color scheme.

Color schemes can contain different "Monochromatic" shades of a single color; for example, a color
scheme that mixes different shades of green, ranging from very light (white), to very neutral (gray), to very dark
(black).

Monochromatic colors
are all the colors (tints, tones, and shades) of a single hue. Monochromatic color schemes are derived
from a single base hue, and extended using its shades, tones and tints (that is, a hue modified by the addition of
black, gray (black + white) and white. As a result, the energy is more subtle and peaceful due to a lack of
contrast of hue.

Complementary colors
For the mixing of colored light, Newton's color wheel is often used to describe complementary colors,
which are colors which cancel each other's hue to produce an achromatic (white, gray or black) light mixture.
Newton offered as a conjecture that colors exactly opposite one another on the hue circle cancel out each other's
hue; this concept was demonstrated more thoroughly in the 19th century.
A key assumption in Newton's hue circle was that the "fiery" or maximum saturated hues are located on
the outer circumference of the circle, while achromatic white is at the center. Then the saturation of the mixture
of two spectral hues was predicted by the straight line between them; the mixture of three colors was predicted
by the "center of gravity" or centroid of three triangle points, and so on.
Split-Complementary
The split-complementary (also called Compound Harmony) color scheme is a variation of the
complementary color scheme. In addition to the base color, it uses the two "Analogous" colors adjacent to its
complement. Split-complementary color scheme has the same strong visual contrast as the complementary color
scheme, but has less pressure.
Achromatic colors
Any color that lacks strong chromatic content is said to be unsaturated, achromatic, or near neutral.
Pure achromatic colors include black, white and all grays; near neutrals include browns, tans, pastels and darker
colors. Near neutrals can be of any hue or lightness.
Analogous colors
 Analogous colors (also called Dominance Harmony) color scheme are groups of colors that are
adjacent to each other on the color wheel, with one being the dominant color, which tends to be
a primary or secondary color, and two on either side complementing, which tend to be tertiary.
The term analogous refers to the having analogy, or corresponding to something in particular. An
analogous color scheme creates a rich, monochromatic look. Its best used with either warm or cool colors,
creating a look that has a certain temperature as well as proper color harmony. While this is true, the scheme
also lacks contrast and is less vibrant than complementary schemes.
Red, yellow and orange are examples of analogous colors
Accented analogous
An accented analogous complementary scheme utilizes related hues lying adjacent on the color wheel
with a hue directly opposite to these. This direct complement becomes the accent color, used to create a
dominant color grouping of three similar colors accented with the direct complement (or the near complement)
of one of them. The complementary accent color creates an interesting contrast against the dominant color
grouping. This scheme is frequently used to put a warm accent color with a cool analogous color pallet, or a
cool accent color with a warm pallet.
Triadic colors
The triadic color scheme uses three colors equally spaced around the color wheel. The easiest way to
place them on the wheel is by using a triangle of equal sides. Triadic color schemes tend to be quite vibrant,
even when using pale or unsaturated versions of hues, offers a higher degree of contrast while at the same time
retains the color harmony. This scheme is very popular among artists because it offers strong visual contrast
while retaining balance, and color richness. The triadic scheme is not as contrasting as the complementary
scheme, but it is easier to accomplish balance and harmony with these colors.
Tetradic colors
The tetradic (double complementary) colors scheme is the richest of all the schemes because it uses four
colors arranged into two complementary color pairs. This scheme is hard to harmonize and requires a color to
be dominant or subdue the colors.; if all four colors are used in equal amounts, the scheme may look
unbalanced.

Polychromatic colors
The term polychromatic means having several colors.
It is used to describe light that exhibits more than one color, which also means that it contains radiation
of more than one wavelength. The study of polychromatics is particularly useful in the production of diffraction
gratings.
Colors of the color wheel

The typical artists' paint or pigment color wheel includes the blue, red, and yellow primary colors. The
corresponding secondary colors are green, orange, and violet or purple. The tertiary colors are redorange, red
violet, yelloworange, yellowgreen, blueviolet and bluegreen.

A color wheel based on RGB (red, green, blue) or RGV (red, green, violet) additive primaries has cyan,
magenta, and yellow secondaries (cyan was previously known as cyan blue). Alternatively, the same
arrangement of colors around a circle can be described as based on cyan, magenta, and yellow subtractive
primaries, with red, green, and blue (or violet) being secondaries.

Most color wheels are based on three primary colors, three secondary colors, and the six intermediates
formed by mixing a primary with a secondary, known as tertiary colors, for a total of 12 main divisions; some
add more intermediates, for 24 named colors. Other color wheels, however, are based on the
four opponent colors, and may have four or eight main colors.

Goethe's Theory of Colours provided the first systematic study of the physiological effects of color
(1810). His observations on the effect of opposed colors led him to a symmetric arrangement of his color wheel,
"for the colours diametrically opposed to each other are those that reciprocally evoke each other in the eye."
(Goethe, Theory of Colours, 1810 ). In this, he anticipated Ewald Hering's opponent color theory (1872).
Color scheme

In color theory, a color scheme is the choice of colors used in design for a range of media. For example,
the "Achromatic" use of a white background with black text is an example of a basic and
commonly default color scheme in web design.

Color schemes are used to create style and appeal. Colors that create an aesthetic feeling when used
together will commonly accompany each other in color schemes. A basic color scheme will use two colors that
look appealing together. More advanced color schemes involve several related colors in "Analogous"
combination, for example, text with such colors as red ,yellow, and orange arranged together on a black
background in a magazine article. The addition of light blue creates an "Accented Analogous" color scheme.

Color schemes can contain different "Monochromatic" shades of a single color; for example, a color
scheme that mixes different shades of green, ranging from very light (white), to very neutral (gray), to very dark
(black).

Use of the phrase color scheme may also and commonly does refer to choice and use of colors used
outside typical aesthetic media and context, although may still be used for purely aesthetic effect as well as for
purely practical reasons. This most typically refers to color patterns and designs as seen on vehicles, particularly
those used in the military when concerning color patterns and designs used for identification of friend or foe,
identification of specific military units, or as camouflage.

Monochromatic colors
are all the colors (tints, tones, and shades) of a single hue. Monochromatic color schemes are derived
from a single base hue, and extended using its shades, tones and tints (that is, a hue modified by the addition of
black, gray (black + white) and white. As a result, the energy is more subtle and peaceful due to a lack of
contrast of hue.

Complementary colors
For the mixing of colored light, Newton's color wheel is often used to describe complementary colors,
which are colors which cancel each other's hue to produce an achromatic (white, gray or black) light mixture.
Newton offered as a conjecture that colors exactly opposite one another on the hue circle cancel out each other's
hue; this concept was demonstrated more thoroughly in the 19th century.
A key assumption in Newton's hue circle was that the "fiery" or maximum saturated hues are located on
the outer circumference of the circle, while achromatic white is at the center. Then the saturation of the mixture
of two spectral hues was predicted by the straight line between them; the mixture of three colors was predicted
by the "center of gravity" or centroid of three triangle points, and so on.
Split-Complementary
The split-complementary (also called Compound Harmony) color scheme is a variation of the
complementary color scheme. In addition to the base color, it uses the two "Analogous" colors adjacent to its
complement. Split-complementary color scheme has the same strong visual contrast as the complementary color
scheme, but has less pressure.
Achromatic colors
Any color that lacks strong chromatic content is said to be unsaturated, achromatic, or near neutral.
Pure achromatic colors include black, white and all grays; near neutrals include browns, tans, pastels and darker
colors. Near neutrals can be of any hue or lightness.
Analogous colors
Analogous colors (also called Dominance Harmony) color scheme are groups of colors that are
adjacent to each other on the color wheel, with one being the dominant color, which tends to be
a primary or secondary color, and two on either side complementing, which tend to be tertiary.
The term analogous refers to the having analogy, or corresponding to something in particular. An
analogous color scheme creates a rich, monochromatic look. Its best used with either warm or cool colors,
creating a look that has a certain temperature as well as proper color harmony. While this is true, the scheme
also lacks contrast and is less vibrant than complementary schemes.
Red, yellow and orange are examples of analogous colors
Accented analogous
An accented analogous complementary scheme utilizes related hues lying adjacent on the color wheel
with a hue directly opposite to these. This direct complement becomes the accent color, used to create a
dominant color grouping of three similar colors accented with the direct complement (or the near complement)
of one of them. The complementary accent color creates an interesting contrast against the dominant color
grouping. This scheme is frequently used to put a warm accent color with a cool analogous color pallet, or a
cool accent color with a warm pallet.
Triadic colors
The triadic color scheme uses three colors equally spaced around the color wheel. The easiest way to
place them on the wheel is by using a triangle of equal sides. Triadic color schemes tend to be quite vibrant,
even when using pale or unsaturated versions of hues, offers a higher degree of contrast while at the same time
retains the color harmony. This scheme is very popular among artists because it offers strong visual contrast
while retaining balance, and color richness. The triadic scheme is not as contrasting as the complementary
scheme, but it is easier to accomplish balance and harmony with these colors.
Tetradic colors
The tetradic (double complementary) colors scheme is the richest of all the schemes because it uses four
colors arranged into two complementary color pairs. This scheme is hard to harmonize and requires a color to
be dominant or subdue the colors.; if all four colors are used in equal amounts, the scheme may look
unbalanced.

Polychromatic colors
The term polychromatic means having several colors.
It is used to describe light that exhibits more than one color, which also means that it contains radiation
of more than one wavelength. The study of polychromatics is particularly useful in the production of diffraction
gratings.