- Tip 1: Pay Attention!
- Tip 2: Understand Hue, Saturation, and Value (HSV)
- Tip 3: 'Value' Has the Highest Value of All
- Tip 4: The Color Wheel Is Your Friend
- Tip 5: Establish and Enforce Hierarchy
- Tip 6: There Are No Bad Color Combos (Just Wrong Value/Saturation)
- Summary
Tip 6: There Are No Bad Color Combos (Just Wrong Value/Saturation)
Any pair or set of hues can look good together. To promote favorable relationships between hues, you just need values that allow the colors to show up clearly against each other, and levels of saturation that ensure that each color contributes to a pleasing overall sense of visual hierarchy.
Keep this rule in mind the next time you're troubleshooting an unsightly color scheme. Start by seeing what happens when you darken or lighten the values of some or all of your palette's colors. (Given the importance of value, it should be no surprise that value-related issues are at the root of most troubled palettes' visual woes.) If value adjustments don't entirely cure your color scheme of its poor looks, try adjusting the hues' levels of saturation. Finally, think about swapping out certain colors for others. The solution is there somewhere-it's just a matter of calibrating one, two, or all three components of color: hue, saturation, and/or value.