Colour

I'm in the process of choosing colours for a new project.
I need two which complement each other...



Colours are chosen very carefully in design,
due to the attachment of emotion and tone that they carry.

Red - Energy, passion and attention.
Blue – Associated with trust, security, stability and peace.
Green – Freshness, growth, vitality, calm, wealth, prestige
Yellow – Light, optimism, motivation, warmth, positive
Purple – Sophistication, royalty, sentimentality, mystery, spirituality
Pink – Energy, fun, youth, excitement, affection, romance, sentimentality
Orange – Fun, vitality, youth, health, exuberance.
Brown - wholesomeness and earthiness. While it might be considered a little on the dull side, it also represents steadfastness, simplicity, friendliness, dependability, and health.
Black – Power, class, seriousness, drama, sophistication, boldness
White – Purity, peace, cleanliness, freshness


Which colours suit your creativity and inspire you?

Colour Relationships
In addition to understanding colour meanings, it helps with mixing and matching colours to know the relationship of adjacent, harmonizing, contrasting, and complementary colours.

Adjacent or harmonizing colours appear next to each other on the colour wheel. Harmonizing colours often work well together but if too close in value they can appear washed out or not have enough contrast. A harmonizing trio could be something like blue, light blue, and cyan or perhaps red, orange, and yellow.

Contrasting colours are separated from each other by other colours -- they come from different segments of the colour wheel. The further apart, the more the contrast. Red (from the warm half of the colour wheel) contrasts with green and blue (from the cool half of the colour wheel). Shades of purple contrast with shades of green.
Contrasting colours that are directly opposite each other on the colour wheel may be described as clashing colours.
Despite the name, colours that clash are not always a bad combination if used carefully.
They provide great contrast and high visibility.

Complementary colours are on opposite sides of the colour wheel - they are each half of a pair of contrasting colours. For example, blue is a complementary colour to yellow. Green is complementary to purple and magenta. A pair of complementary colours printed side by side can sometimes cause visual vibration (clash) making them a less than desirable combination. However, separate them on the page with other colours and they can work together. Note the spelling. These are not complimentary colours. They don't always flatter (compliment) one another but they do complete (complement) each other.

Cool Colour Meanings (calming): Blue, Green, Turquoise, Silver
Warm Colour Meanings (exciting): Red, Pink, Yellow, Gold, Orange
Mixed Cool/Warm Colour Meanings: Purple, Lavender, Green, Turquoise
Neutral Colour Meanings (unifying): Brown, Beige, Ivory, Gray, Black, White