Color Wheelin' and Dealin'

Color can be such a powerful element on your scrapbook pages. The colors that you choose for your pages help convey the message that you are trying to get across. Often scrapbookers have difficulty choosing which colors to use on their layouts. This is where the color wheel comes into play. It is an invaluable tool for selecting colors.

The first thing most scrapbookers do when selecting a color scheme is to look at their photos—and that is a great place to start. However, it is only the beginning. Once you have selected your main color, find it on the color wheel and decide what color scheme you might like to work with.

There are several color schemes with which to work. The four most common color scheme approaches are:

Monochromatic - varying shades of a single color

Analogous - any colors that are next to each other on the color wheel

• purple and blue
• red and purple
• yellow and green
• red and orange
• orange and yellow
• etc.

Complementary - colors that are directly opposite one another on the wheel

• red and green
• blue and orange
• purple and yellow

Triadic - any 3 colors that create a triangle on the wheel

• red, yellow and blue
• purple, orange and green

When I created the layout "Ready," I knew I wanted to pick up the purple in my daughter's swimsuit. I then used my color wheel to decide which direction I was going to take the layout. I could go with a monochromatic color scheme by using any shade, tint or tone of purple. Or I could use varying shades of blue and purple as part of an analogous color scheme. However, the movable guide on my color wheel showed me that the colors in my photo (purple, orange and green) are actually part of a triadic color combination. I decided to go with that color scheme. It best suited the cheerful and exuberant message I was trying to convey on my layout, that my daughter is ready for anything.

Here are four easy steps to guide you in using a color wheel:

1. Select one or two colors from your photos.
2. Locate the colors on the color wheel.
3. Determine the relationship between these colors. a. Are they shades of the same color, and therefore monochromatic?
   b. Are they analogous?
   c. Are they two parts of a triadic color scheme?
   d. Are they complementary?
   
4. Choose papers and embellishments in the color scheme.

A good color wheel features a spectrum of 12 colors in several different values as well as a guide to help you create successful color combinations for your scrapbook pages. Some examples are:

Pocket Color Wheel, The Color Wheel Company
Rainbow Color Selector, EK Success

Remember that there is no such thing as a perfect color combination, and there is more than one color combination that will work on any given page. However, using the color wheel to choose color combinations will improve the sense of balance to your scrapbook pages.