The color wheel is a 360 degree circle, and you can find different hues as you travel around the circle.

Color Hue: The definition of hue is kind of complex, but at its core, it refers to the colors you see on the color wheel.

As you move between color values, you’re manipulating these three properties. The color picker on this page generates colors using hue, saturation and luminance (HSL). Additionally, using black ink helps prevent the muddying of colors that can occur when attempting to create black by combining equal amounts of cyan, magenta, and yellow. Black ink is used to enhance the depth and contrast of images and text.

Key (K) or Black: The 'K' in CMYK stands for 'Key,' which refers to the black component.

Yellow ( Y): Yellow absorbs blue light, resulting in a yellowish color when printed.

It absorbs green light, leading to the perception of a reddish-purplish hue.

Magenta (M): Magenta is a purplish-red color.

When cyan ink is applied to a surface, it absorbs red light, making it appear blue-green to the human eye.

Cyan (C): Cyan is a bluish-green color.

These ‘subtractive colors’ absorb wave lengths of light, which more clearly matches the pigments found in the real world. On the other hand, the CMYK model is the foundation for all print design. These ‘additive colors’ can be mixed into the array of colors that we interact with on our screens everyday. The roots of this color model are based in human perception of colors and the way our eyes interact with light. The red, green, blue (RGB) color model is the foundation for pretty much all design that uses a screen. The four color models used on this page are: Color modelsĪ color model is a system that helps represent colors using numerical values. Notice how the meditation app Calm primarily uses the color blue? It’s intentionally chosen to evoke a sense of peace. On the other hand, cool colors like purple, blue, and green show feelings of relaxation. Warm colors like red, orange, and yellow are known to depict feelings of intensity.

The color wheel can also be split between warm and cool colors. Understanding the nuances of color theory will help make your next design project stand out. For something a little softer on the eyes, a monochromatic color scheme can be created. Want to build a sharp product that grabs your user’s attention? A color wheel could help you find a complementary color scheme. It helps artists see the relationship between colors, in order to find a palette that best suits their UI needs. The color wheel is more than just a beautiful circular rainbow. With this color wheel picker, you can build contrasts and color combinations to find harmony for your designs. Change up the palette, and the end user might get a completely different impression from the product.

Want to build a product that conveys class and luxury? There are palettes for that. Since then, the most powerful designs have been built by paying attention to color. Later, scientists continued to explore the wheel to find standard combinations like complementary, or monochromatic colors that could be used to depict particular emotions.

Mixing different ratios in the wheel resulted in hues that cohesively displayed all colors. While we’ve worked with colors for millennia, Sir Isaac Newton presented the first color wheel in the 17th century to depict the relationship between colors.

Color wheel picker google