The color wheel

The color wheel arranges hues in a circle so you can see how they relate. For a logo palette, you choose one base hue and then pick companion hues by their position on the wheel: opposite, adjacent or evenly spaced. The wheel only selects hues. Lightness, saturation, contrast and the color values defined for each output medium decide whether the palette works in finished vector artwork.

Terms you need before using the wheel

• Hue: the color family itself, such as red, blue or yellow-green. It is the property the wheel arranges.
• Saturation (also called chroma or intensity): how pure or muted a hue is.
• Value (lightness): how light or dark a color is. The flat wheel does not show it, but it drives legibility.
• Tint, shade and tone: a hue mixed with white, black or gray. These give you variations without adding new hues.
• Swatch: a saved, named color in a design file.
• Global swatch: a swatch linked to every object that uses it. Editing it once updates the whole logo.
• Process color: a color printed by combining cyan, magenta, yellow and black (CMYK) inks.
• Spot color: a premixed ink, often specified from a matching system, printed as a single ink.

A simple color wheel and why there is more than one

A simple color wheel usually has twelve hues. Three are primaries. Three are secondaries, each made by mixing two primaries. Six are tertiaries, each made by mixing a primary with a neighboring secondary. The traditional painter's wheel uses red, yellow and blue (RYB) as primaries. Digital tools often base their wheels on red, green and blue light (RGB), and print theory uses cyan, magenta and yellow.

These models place hues differently, so the opposite of a given hue changes with the wheel. Red's complement is green on an RYB wheel and cyan on an RGB wheel. Before you apply a harmony rule, check which model your software's color picker or palette generator uses, and use the same model for every decision.

Harmony schemes and how they suit logos

Scheme | Position on the wheel | Typical logo use | Watch for

Monochromatic | One hue in different tints, shades and tones | Restrained marks; easy one-color reproduction | Parts can blur together unless the values differ clearly

Analogous | Neighboring hues | Cohesive, calm palettes | Neighboring hues can have similar values and lose contrast

Complementary | Two directly opposite hues | Strong emphasis for an accent or icon | Equal amounts at full saturation can look harsh; let one color dominate

Split-complementary | One base hue plus the two hues beside its complement | Contrast with less tension than a direct complement | Needs a clear dominant color

Triadic | Three evenly spaced hues | Playful or energetic identities | Three strong hues compete; mute or reduce two of them

Tetradic (rectangle or square) | Two complementary pairs | Larger brand systems more than the mark itself | Hard to balance inside a small logo

Step by step: from the wheel to a logo palette

• 1. Choose a base hue that fits the brand's purpose and its competitors. The wheel cannot make this choice for you.
• 2. Pick a harmony scheme from the table above, based on how much contrast and energy the mark needs.
• 3. Give each color a role: a dominant brand color, an accent and a neutral for text or backgrounds. Most marks need fewer colors than a scheme offers.
• 4. Adjust value and saturation. Shift colors lighter or darker until each element of the logo stands out from its neighbors.
• 5. Test the logo in grayscale. If shapes or letterforms merge, the palette relies on hue alone and needs more value contrast.
• 6. Build the palette in your vector file as named global swatches, and apply only those swatches to paths, fills, strokes and type.
• 7. Define the values for each output medium: RGB or hex for screens, CMYK for process print and a spot color reference where the job calls for one.
• 8. Create one-color, reversed (light on dark) and black versions so the mark still works when full color is not available.

Preparing the palette in vector artwork

Set the document color mode to match the main delivery. Converting a palette between RGB and CMYK can shift colors, and bright screen colors in particular may fall outside what process inks can reproduce. Soft-proof the CMYK version in your software. Treat the printer's specifications and a physical color reference as the final authority for print values. This guide does not supply conversion values or spot color matches. Take those from the matching system or the printer.

If you take a palette from an existing logo file, do not assume the file extension tells you what is inside. An SVG, EPS or PDF can contain embedded raster images, unnamed colors or mixed color modes. The extension also says nothing about whether you have permission to reuse the mark. Open the file, inspect the objects and swatches, and confirm usage rights separately.

Verifying the result

• Every colored object uses a named global swatch, with no stray unnamed colors.
• The grayscale and one-color versions keep every shape and letterform distinct.
• Text and key details have enough contrast against their backgrounds. Check this with a contrast checker based on an accessibility standard such as WCAG.
• The logo holds up at its smallest intended size, where thin strokes in similar values tend to disappear.
• The RGB, CMYK and spot values are written down together in one palette specification, so designers and printers work from the same numbers.
• Printed proofs have been compared with the on-screen version under consistent lighting.

What the color wheel does not settle

The wheel describes how hues relate to each other. It does not account for cultural meanings of color, how close a palette sits to competitors, or the readability of a specific mark. No brand-specific evidence, color measurements or print specifications were supplied for this guide. Any recommendation here therefore needs testing against your own artwork, audience and production requirements.