Color wheel
Use our interactive color wheel tool to play with shades across the spectrum and find the right color combination for any project. Whether you're a designer, artist, or simply a color enthusiast, the color wheel is your gateway to creative inspiration.
Play with color
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Using the wheel to explore color theory
Color theory is a fundamental aspect of design and art, providing a framework for understanding how colors interact and influence each other. At the heart of color theory lies the color wheel, a visual representation that organizes colors in a circular format. This wheel helps artists and designers identify relationships between colors, such as complementary, analogous, and triadic schemes. The color wheel chart is an invaluable tool for selecting harmonious palettes, whether you're using a HEX or RGB color wheel picker to efficiently apply colors to a project, or exploring a creative color wheel online for inspiration.
The concept of complementary colors is central to color theory. These are pairs of colors located directly opposite each other on the color spectrum wheel, such as red and green or blue and orange. When used together, they create high contrast and vibrant visuals. The color wheel spinner can be an engaging way to experiment with these combinations.
For color combinations with less contrast, the color theory wheel also highlights analogous colors—those that sit next to each other on the wheel—and triadic schemes that form a triangle within the circle. These arrangements offer balanced yet dynamic palettes for various creative projects.
Understanding the principles of the color wheel theory allows you to spin the wheel of color with confidence, picking hues that enhance your work's aesthetic appeal and elevate your artistic endeavors.
Understanding color relationships
Complementary colors
Pairs of colors located directly opposite each other on the color wheel are known as complementary colors. They create a high contrast and vibrant look, making them ideal for creating standout designs.
Split-complementary colors
This type of color scheme starts with a base color, and incorporates the two colors on either side of the base’s complement, creating a soft contrast that doesn’t overwhelm the viewer.
Monochromatic colors
A monochrome color palette involves variations in lightness and saturation of a single color. It provides a cohesive and soothing palette, perfect for minimalist designs.
Analogous colors
These are groups of three colors that sit next to each other on the color wheel. They usually match well and create serene and comfortable designs.
Triadic colors
A triadic color scheme uses three colors evenly spaced around the color wheel. It offers a vibrant yet balanced palette, often used to create dynamic visuals.
Tetradic colors
Also known as double complementary, this combination involves four colors arranged into two complementary pairs. It offers plenty of possibilities for variation but requires careful balance to avoid overwhelming the design.
Primary, secondary, and tertiary colors
Primary colors
These are the foundation of all other colors on the color wheel. Traditionally, they include red, blue, and yellow.
Secondary colors
Created by mixing two primary colors, these include green (blue + yellow), orange (red + yellow), and purple (red + blue).
Tertiary colors
Formed by mixing a primary color with a secondary color, resulting in hues like red-orange or blue-green.
Warm and cool colors
Warm colors
These include reds, oranges, and yellows. They evoke warmth and energy, often associated with sunlight and heat.
Cool colors
Comprising blues, greens, and purples, these colors convey calmness and tranquility reminiscent of water or sky.
Hue, saturation, and luminance
Hue
Refers to the pure spectrum colors found on the color wheel—essentially what we commonly refer to as "color."
Saturation
Describes the intensity or purity of a color. High saturation means vivid colors while low saturation results in muted tones.
Luminance (or Lightness)
Indicates how light or dark a color appears. Adjusting luminance can affect how prominent or subdued a color looks in design contexts.
Shades, tints, and tones
Shades
Created by adding black to a base hue to make it darker. Shades add depth to designs without altering the hue's core characteristics.
Tints
Formed by adding white to a base hue to make it lighter. Tints provide softness and can create airy or pastel effects in designs.
Tones
Achieved by adding gray to a base hue. Tones offer subtlety and complexity by reducing the intensity of the original color.
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FAQs
What is a color wheel?
A color wheel is a circular map of hues that shows how colors relate and how harmony is created across a spectrum. It arranges reds through yellows, greens, blues and purples in a loop so you can see natural transitions and the distance between any two hues. Designers often reference a classic twelve-part model, yet a digital wheel is effectively continuous, which makes subtle shifts possible without breaking harmony.
Common relationships on the wheel include:
Complementary for strong contrast across the circle.
Analogous for neighboring colors that blend well.
Triadic for three evenly spaced hues with lively balance.
Monochromatic for one hue explored with tints tones and shades.
Tetradic for two complementary pairs that give range.
In Wixel, you can export your chosen palette as a PDF, then apply those hex codes in any tool, like the free invitation maker, to keep colors consistent across projects.
How do I use the color wheel to build color schemes?
Use the color wheel by choosing a base color on the wheel or pasting a HEX code, then selecting a scheme from the dropdown so matching colors appear automatically. Fine-tune how light or dark each swatch appears by dragging the outer ring, check the balance at a glance, and keep the colors you want. Follow these steps to create a color palette:
Click the wheel to set your base or paste a HEX code.
Choose a scheme such as complementary, analogous, triadic, split-complementary, monochromatic or tetradic.
Review the auto-generated swatches with their hex values.
Drag the outer ring to lighten or darken for readability and mood.
Download your custom palette as a PDF.
Bring your custom color palette into Wixel and pair it with tools like the resume builder to add a personal touch grounded in proven color theory. Use your chosen hues for headers, accents and backgrounds to make templates feel uniquely yours.
What is the color wheel terminology?
Color wheel terminology gives you a shared language for choosing and explaining colors with confidence. It covers the basic properties of a color and the most common harmony types you will use when building a palette. Use this shortlist to stay clear and consistent in your work:
Hue: The color family you select on the wheel.
Saturation: How vivid or muted the color appears.
Complementary: Opposite hues for strong contrast.
Analogous: Neighboring hues for smooth cohesion.
Triadic: Three evenly spaced hues for lively balance.
Tetradic: Two complementary pairs for broad range.
For help finding and reusing exact HEX code and RGB values in your designs, see the Wix Help Center guide on finding color values.
How do I know what colors go together?
Start by picking a base on the wheel with a click, or paste a HEX code if you already have one. Choose a scheme from the dropdown and Wixel generates companion colors automatically. Use the outer ring to nudge each swatch lighter or darker until the mood and readability feel right. Then download your palette as a PDF for handoff or reference.
Refer to this list as a quick guide:
Complementary for bold contrast and standout CTAs.
Analogous for calm, cohesive interfaces.
Triadic for lively balance across multiple elements.
Monochromatic for minimal layouts with clear hierarchy.
Bring your custom palette into Wixel and apply it to the likes of our social media templates to give posts, covers and stories a personal touch rooted in color theory.
How many colors are on the color wheel?
There isn’t a fixed number. On screens the color wheel behaves like a smooth continuum, so you can pick virtually any hue. Designers often reference a twelve-part model to explain the relationships between colors, with three primaries, three secondaries and six tertiaries, but that’s a teaching shortcut rather than a hard limit.
In Wixel you click anywhere on the wheel to choose a base or paste a hex code if you have one. The matching colors appear automatically based on the scheme you select. Use the outer ring to make shades lighter or darker, then export your palette as a PDF.
If you'd prefer to build a palette from an image, try the color palette generator—simply upload a reference image and extract the exact colors you like.
How much does it cost to use the color wheel online?
It’s free. You can click to pick a base hue or paste a HEX code, choose a harmony, adjust light or dark with the outer ring, and download your palette as a PDF at no cost. No account needed for exploring color or exporting palettes.
If you want to take that palette into Wixel’s design tools, create a free account and start applying your colors in the AI image generator and beyond.
What is the best color wheel tool for designers?
The best color wheel tool helps you move from idea to usable palette fast. It should feel immediate to use, show clear HEX codes, and export cleanly for handoff. Wixel focuses on speed and clarity so you can click to pick a base, paste a HEX code when needed, choose a scheme from the dropdown, and see companion colors appear automatically. The outer ring lets you nudge light or dark without breaking the relationship, then you export the palette as a PDF in one step.
What to look for in a great color wheel tool:
Click selection plus optional HEX code input.
Harmony presets that auto-generate companion colors.
A simple control to adjust light and dark.
Hex swatches you can copy at a glance.
One-click PDF palette export in the browser.
Once you have your palette, try it against real content. Use the image cropper to test how accents, backgrounds, and subject framing work together before you commit to layouts.
Why is it important to understand the color wheel for design?
Because it lets you control contrast, hierarchy, and mood with intent, so your work reads clearly and feels on brand. The wheel shows which hues support or challenge each other, so you can pick a base on the wheel or paste a HEX code, choose a scheme that fits the job, and get companion colors that make headlines pop and backgrounds feel calm.
The outer ring helps you nudge light or dark until text is readable and icons sit comfortably against their surfaces, then you export the palette as a PDF for handoff. Bring that palette into Wixel and style real components in the form builder so buttons, inputs, and states reflect your choices.
What’s the difference between RGB and RYB color wheels?
RGB is a light based model used for screens, while RYB is the traditional pigment model used for paints. Because the primaries differ, the way colors mix and which pairs feel complementary also change.
RGB uses red, green and blue to build every hue you see on a display, which is why digital palettes are defined with HEX codes or RGB values. RYB uses red, yellow and blue, which suits physical media like inks and paint.
Wixel’s wheel works in HEX and RGB, so click to pick a base color or paste a HEX code, choose a scheme, adjust light or dark on the outer ring, then export your palette as a PDF.