Interactive Color Wheel

Explore color relationships, discover harmonious combinations, and create accessible palettes for your designs

Try the Color Wheel → Learn About Color Harmonies

Interactive Color Wheel

Select colors and explore different harmony relationships

Harmony Type

Selected Color

Generated Color Palette

Based on complementary harmony

Contrast Ratios

Select any two colors from the palette to check their contrast ratio for accessibility.

No colors selected yet

Understanding Color Harmonies

Learn how different color relationships create visual harmony

Complementary

Colors that are opposite each other on the color wheel. They create high contrast and vibrant looks, perfect for creating emphasis and visual interest.

Analogous

Colors that are next to each other on the color wheel. They create harmonious, comfortable designs that flow naturally from one color to the next.

Triadic

Three colors equally spaced around the color wheel. They offer vibrant contrast while maintaining harmony, creating a balanced and colorful design.

Tetradic (Rectangle)

Four colors arranged into two complementary pairs. Offers rich color possibilities but can be challenging to balance. Works best when one color dominates.

Monochromatic

Different shades, tints, and tones of a single color. Creates a cohesive and sophisticated look that's easy to manage and always harmonious.

Split-Complementary

A base color plus two colors adjacent to its complement. Offers strong visual contrast with less tension than complementary schemes, making it more versatile.

Color Wheel FAQs

Common questions about using the color wheel in design

What is a color wheel?

A color wheel is a circular arrangement of colors that shows relationships between primary colors (red, yellow, blue), secondary colors (orange, green, purple), and tertiary colors. It's a fundamental tool for understanding color theory and creating harmonious color combinations for any design project.

How do I use the color wheel for accessibility?

When selecting colors for accessible design, use the color wheel to find combinations that have sufficient contrast. Complementary colors (opposite on the wheel) typically provide good contrast, but always verify with a contrast checker to ensure WCAG compliance. Our tool automatically calculates contrast ratios to help you create accessible designs.

What are color harmonies?

Color harmonies are sets of colors that work well together based on their positions on the color wheel. Common harmonies include complementary (opposite colors), analogous (adjacent colors), triadic (three evenly spaced colors), tetradic (four colors in a rectangle), and monochromatic (variations of a single color).

How can I create accessible color palettes?

Start with a base color, use the color wheel to find harmonious combinations, then check contrast ratios to ensure accessibility. Aim for a minimum contrast ratio of 4.5:1 for normal text and 3:1 for large text to meet WCAG AA standards. For AAA compliance, aim for 7:1 for normal text and 4.5:1 for large text.

What's the difference between HSL and RGB color models?

HSL (Hue, Saturation, Lightness) is a color model that's more intuitive for humans to understand and work with. Hue represents the color's position on the color wheel (0-360°), saturation is the intensity (0-100%), and lightness is how light or dark the color is (0-100%). RGB (Red, Green, Blue) is more computer-oriented, representing colors as mixtures of red, green, and blue light values (0-255).

How do I export colors from the color wheel?

Our color wheel tool allows you to export your generated palette in multiple formats including CSS variables, SCSS variables, and JSON. You can also save the palette directly to our Color Palette Generator tool for further refinement, or copy individual colors by clicking on them.