Designing with Color: How to Select Harmonious Colors

What music is to the ear, color is to the eye. Different colors are put together to create a color scheme much in the same way notes are put together to make music.

If you strike a note, and add certain sounds to follow, a chord is created that is pleasing to the ear whether harmonious or discordant. Notes and chords are strung together, producing a beautiful musical piece.

Similarly, if you select a favorite color, there are certain other colors that when added, produce a chromatic scheme that is pleasing to the eye.

Great music is composed by specialists with the tools, skills, experience, and techniques. A color composition should also be composed by a professional Interior Designer. Whatever your color preference, there are several ways for trained experts to find inspiration and create a perfect color composition for your home or business.  



Colors share three basic traits
Hue is the basic color – the colors of the rainbow: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet.

Value is a description the lightness or darkness, or the amount of white to black (the gray scale). For example, white is the lightest and pure black is the darkest color. Each color has a value within this range.

Chroma is the intensity or saturation of a color. The purity of a color which determines its brightness or dullness.

How do we select harmonious colors? 

Select colors that share one or more of the three traits.





Colors that are the same hue, but vary in value will almost always harmonize.
 
Colors that have a similar chroma even if they are a different hue, work the same way.

Those with similar values are generally compatible. Purchasing a color wheel will help you greatly in determining harmonious color combinations.



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