Color Tool
Color Wheel
Plan your next favorite color scheme. Pick a base color and a harmony type to see which hues pair beautifully together on the color wheel.
Harmony
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Split-Complementary
Reading the wheel
Angle is hue, distance from the centre is saturation. Two colors close together in angle share a family; colors across from each other contrast most strongly. Everything color theory calls a 'scheme' is a shape drawn on this wheel.
The wheel does not show lightness. That is why two colors can look correct on the wheel and still fail as a text pairing: they differ in hue but not in luminance.
Frequently asked
- What is the difference between the RGB and RYB color wheels?
- RYB is the traditional artists' wheel, where red, yellow, and blue are primary and mixing is subtractive like paint. RGB is the additive wheel screens use, where red, green, and blue are primary. This tool uses the RGB wheel because it matches what a browser actually renders.
- Where are complementary colors on the wheel?
- Directly opposite, 180 degrees apart. Red sits opposite cyan, green opposite magenta, blue opposite yellow.
- Why do colors in the centre look washed out?
- Distance from the centre is saturation. At the centre saturation is zero, which is grey regardless of hue.