The short-wavelength, cool colors range from green (#00FF00), with a wavelength of 500 millimicrons, through violet (#9933FF), with a wavelength of 400 millimicrons. The long-wavelength, warm colors range from red (#FF0000), with a wavelength of 700 millimicrons, through light chartreuse, with a wavelength of 535 millimicrons. The solid triangle in the center indicates the relative positions of the primary colors the inverted triangle, the secondary colors and the triangular color swatches represent the intermediate colors.Ĭolor temperature is the relative warmth or coolness of a color.

In Figure 2, the color wheel shows the primary, secondary, and intermediate colors. Because the Web palette comprises only 216 colors, the hexadecimal values of intermediate colors result from only approximately equal proportions of the primary colors. While it’s no longer necessary to restrict one’s use of color on the Web, doing so in these examples simplifies their scope.

Note-Throughout this article, I’ve used colors from the Web-safe palette in the examples. Intermediate colors- light chartreuse, orange, hot pink, bright violet, azure blue, and chrysoprase green-consist of equal proportions of adjacent primary and secondary colors, as follows: green The complementary color for a secondary color is the primary color that does not comprise part of the mixture that forms the secondary color.įor more information about complementary colors, see Color Harmony. Secondary colors- cyan, yellow, and magenta-consist of equal proportions of two primary colors, as follows: green The complementary color for a primary color is the secondary color of which it does not comprise a part.įor more information about complementary colors, see Color Harmony. Equal proportions of all three primary colors combine to create white (#FFFFFF). In additive synthesis, equal proportions of two primary colors combine to create the secondary colors. Figure 1-Primary and secondary colors of additive synthesis Figure 1 shows how the primary colors combine to create the secondary colors.

Primary colors on the color wheel