If you’re anything like I was before we created Palette Scout, color theory is a term that might make you squirm a bit. Perhaps it reminds you of an art class that confused you (or an art class you didn’t take), or just a general idea that other people are better at color than you are.

In our yarn shop, we hear from many customers that they just don’t feel confident choosing colors that will go well together. Many artists, makers, and DIYer across a wide range of hobbies and professions—from quilters, to decorators, to illustrators, to embroiderers, to fashionistas—want to feel more confident putting color combinations together.

The key to developing this confidence is understanding color theory. We designed our card deck, Palette Scout, to make learning about color theory fun and intuitive for everyone. It’s a deck of 180 colors and shades, with a unique method of repeating shapes around the color wheel that make it easy to mix and match colors together. In this blog post, we’ll share the basics of color theory and how to choose colors that look great together. We’ll be sharing examples from Palette Scout along the way, so if you have a Palette Scout deck we encourage you to take it out and recreate the examples while you are reading through the post.

The Color Wheel

First we’ll dive into the color wheel, which is what Palette Scout and all of color theory is built around. The color wheel is a circular diagram that organizes colors in a structured way based on their relationships to each other. It was invented by Sir Isaac Newton in 1666, when he noticed how light reflected off of a prism. Color wheels are now an essential tool used by a wide spectrum of artists and designers to understand color interactions and combinations.

The color wheel in Palette Scout has 18 colors, or hues, going around the wheel. A hue is the dominant color family of a particular color, meaning it is the pure color with no white, black, or gray added. The hue is the color you see going around the color wheel below.

 

What Are Primary Colors?

A color wheel consists of primary, secondary, and tertiary colors. Primary colors are the foundational colors that all other colors are made from. In traditional color theory, the primary colors are red, blue, and yellow. These colors cannot be created by mixing other colors together.

 

What Are Secondary Colors?  

Secondary colors are created by mixing equal parts of two primary colors. The secondary colors are green (mixing blue and yellow), orange (mixing red and yellow), and purple (mixing red and blue).

 

What Are Tertiary Colors?

Tertiary colors are colors formed by mixing a primary color with a neighboring secondary color. For example, mixing blue with purple creates a blue purple color, and mixing red with orange creates a red-orange color.

 

Why Does the Palette Scout Color Wheel Have Shapes?

The reason we used repeating shapes around the color wheel is so that you can easily glance at the color wheel and orient yourself to where the primary and secondary colors are by looking for the triangles, and where the tertiary colors are by looking for the squares and circles. Using shapes on the color wheel is a unique “hint” available on our tool and not something you will find on other color wheels.

 

Values, Tints, and Shades

What is Value in Color Theory?

Understanding value is a really important part of becoming confident in choosing colors that go well together, and it’s not as intuitive as it might seem at first glance. Value refers to the lightness or darkness of a color.

Values are crucial for creating depth and contrast in color palettes. If you choose all colors with a similar value, even if they are different hues, they will look muddy and blend together.

Some pure hues are naturally darker than others. For example, with a blue and a yellow, you can pretty intuitively tell that the blue has a much darker value than the yellow. 

 

By snapping a picture and turning to grayscale, you can check to see if that intuition is right. Sure enough, in the photo below we can see that there is a strong value contrast between these two hues because the shades of gray are quite distinct.

 

 

Other hues are trickier to intuitively tell which has a darker or lighter value. For example, greens and reds are often close to each other in value.  

 

In the photo below, you can see that the values are pretty close because the grays are very close to each other. If you were to create a piece of art with just these two hues together, it would appear muddy even though the colors are complementary and distinct, because there isn’t good value contrast.

 

What is a Shade and a Tint? 

You can also make a hue darker or lighter by adding black or white to it. A shade is created by adding black to a pure hue, resulting in a darker version of the original color. Shades are commonly used to add depth, richness, and drama to your work. They can evoke feelings of mystery, sophistication, and seriousness.

 

 

A tint is created by adding white to a pure hue, resulting in a lighter version of the original color. Tints can create a sense of airiness, freshness, and positivity in artworks and designs, where something soft and delicate is desired. 

 

 

When developing a color palette it’s important to have a range of values so you have good contrast. A color palette made up up only of very light tints or very dark shades would show up as muddy because it would lack enough value contrast. If you can’t tell just by looking, taking a photo and switching it to grayscale is a great way to check your values.

 

Pure Intensities and Tones

Shades and tints are pure hues with white or black added. A tone is created by adding white and black (ie: gray) to a pure intensity. Pure intensities and tones are both important for creating visually engaging color palettes. We use pure intensities to create bold statements, express emotions, and draw the viewer's eye. We use tones to evoke feelings of complexity and sophistication, adding richness and subtlety to your color palette. We can combine both pure intensities and tones for more depth and complexity in your color palette. In the Palette Scout deck, there is a tone for each color in the deck, so you can explore how adding gray changes the feel of a color. In the photo below, the pure intensities are on the top row, and the tones of these colors are on the bottom row.

 

Types of Color Palettes

The color wheel is the primary tool for understanding color relationships. Colors that are positioned close to each other on the color wheel, called analogous colors, often harmonize well together because they share similar undertones and create a smooth transition. On the other hand, colors that are opposite each other on the color wheel, called complementary colors, provide strong contrast and can create vibrant and dynamic compositions. In this section, we are going to make five different types of color palettes.

What is a Monochromatic Color Palette? 

Monochromatic color palettes consist of different shades and tints of a single hue. By varying the lightness and darkness of the color, monochromatic palettes create a harmonious and visually cohesive look. Monochromatic palettes offer a sense of unity and simplicity, perfect for creating elegant and understated compositions. Don’t forget that if you want to add a bit more complexity or sophistication to your palette by incorporating some tones.

 

What is a Complementary Color Palette?

Complementary color palettes are made of colors that are opposite each other on the color wheel. The high contrast between these colors creates a dynamic and visually striking effect. Complementary palettes are perfect for making elements stand out and grab attention.

 

What is an Analogous Color Palette?

Analogous color palettes are made of colors that sit next close to each other on the color wheel, creating a smooth and flowing transition between colors. Analogous palettes are pleasing to the eye and evoke a sense of harmony and coherence. They are commonly used in nature-inspired designs, where the soft blending of colors mimics the subtle gradations found in the natural world.

 

 

What is a Split Complement Color Palette?

Split complement palettes are a variation of the complementary palette. Instead of selecting one color and its direct complement, split complements involve choosing one color and the two colors adjacent to its complement. This results in a palette with a strong visual contrast, while also offering a wider range of colors to work with. Split complement schemes strike a balance between harmony and dynamism.

 

What is a Triadic Color Palette?

Triadic color palettes are formed by selecting three colors that are evenly spaced around the color wheel, creating a triangle. These palettes offer a balanced combination of colors while still providing enough contrast to create visual interest. They are popular choices for creating vibrant and dynamic designs, where multiple colors work together harmoniously to create a cohesive palette.

 

 

Putting Color Theory Into Practice

If you’re someone who has always felt that they didn’t “get” color, and couldn’t figure out how to make color choices they were confident in, Palette Scout is the key to exploring color in a fun and intuitive way. Understanding how colors work together across the color wheel will transform your relationship with color and your confidence in making color choices you’ll be happy with. The more you play with your Palette Scout deck, the more you’ll start to intuitively understand color relationships, and be able to spot them out in the real world!