Analysis of the colour wheel

The colour wheel is designed so that the colours that you pick from the spectrum will look pleasing together. Over decades, multiple variations have been created; however the most common version of the colour wheel is one of 12 colours as shown below. Traditionally, there are a number of colour combinations that are considered especially pleasing to the eye, and these are called colour harmonies or colour chords and consist of two or more colours with a fixed relation in the colour wheel.

The colour wheel was originally created by Sir Isaac Newton, and is categorised into 3 sections. Primary colours, secondary colours and tertiary colours.

Primary colours are ONLY Red, Yellow and Blue.

The three secondary colours are green, orange and purple. These are created by mixing 2 primary colours together.

Finally the 6 Tertiary colours  are created by mixing primary and secondary colours together.   

As well as these 3 sections, there are also ‘Warm colours’ and ‘Cool colours’. Warm colours are seen as energetic and vivid and tend to advance in space, whereas cool colours give an impression of a calm atmosphere and create a soothing impression. However, black, white and grey are considered to be neutral colours.

Cool colours give an impression of calm, and create a soothing impression.