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Color Harmony

When personalizing your car or boat with graphics, I've found much too often, people don't choose colors that harmonize with each other. In addition to colors chosen, these colors also need to work with your surface color. As we will see, color matching is not always what you think. However, when colors are chosen correctly, the results can be stunning.

Color is one of the elements artists use to create a piece of work. The elements are the "things" an artist can use in his/her work to send a message or express an emotion.

In car design, shape, line, form, space and texture are all used to create what sits in your driveway today. These elements do not exist independently. They rely on each other to effectively create a feeling.

To make our cars look the best they can with graphics, one must understand color schemes. Color schemes are a way of organizing colors. There are no absolute rules about which colors "go together" and which clash. It is often a matter of personal taste. If it looks good, it IS good.

Here are some of the most commonly used schemes:

	Complementary colors are opposite each other on the color wheel. For example, red is the complement for green and blue is the complement for orange. Yes, if your car is blue orange would be a killer color to use! When two pure complementary hues are placed next to each other, the design seems to vibrate. They create an exciting feeling that quickly attracts attention.
	Colors next to each other on the color wheel that have a common hue are referred to as analogous colors. Red-purple, purple and blue-purple is one set of analogous colors because they all have purple in common. The common hue creates a feeling of unity in the design by tying together each part of the design.
	Color triads is a color scheme composed of three colors spaced equally apart on the color wheel. Primary colors form one triad ( red, blue, yellow). A high-intensity version of this triad is often an uncomfortable color combination for viewers.
	Secondary colors (orange, green, purple) form another triad. This color scheme is less "disturbing."
	A split complement combination is created when a hue and the two colors on either side of its complement are used together. The effect of this color scheme is similar to using complementary colors, except that it offers the artist a little more variety with which to work.
	Warm and cool colors are two specific sets of analogous colors. Blue, green and purple are cool colors. Red, orange and yellow are warm colors. Warm colors create a warm, sunny feeling.
	The use of cool colors produces a cold, icy feeling. When used together, cool colors seems to move away from the viewer while warm colors moved toward the viewer.
	A monochromatic color scheme is a one that uses shades, tints and tones of only one color. Although using such a limited palette runs the risk of creating a boring design, it also causes an immediate unifying or harmonious effect. In other words, all parts of the design have something in common, which therefore pulls it all together.