Color Harmony Compendium

46 Color Harmony Compendium

Moods and Color

Nothing creates a mood faster than

color. It affects our senses, our outlook,

even our behavior. Fiesta brights at a

party make you hungry for food and fun.

The steely grays of a lawyer’s office sug-

gest you should quietly take a seat. The

icy blues of a swimming pool invite you

to cool off.

Interesting color combinations can

stop you in your tracks, change your per-

spective, or make you look at a product

in a whole new way. After all, would you

want to dive into a red and orange pool

on a hot summer’s day?

The dilemma facing most people

is figuring out how to choose the right

colors. If you have chosen a main color,

how do you choose accent colors? How

do you create a color palette that is both

aesthetically appealing and sends the right

message to the world? What messages do

colors convey?

This chapter provides you with more

than 1,000 different color combinations,

using one-, two-, and three-color palettes.

Each palette range is based on a specific

mood adjective, which helps the reader

find the right color palettes for his or her

chosen mood or style. Each palette is

illustrated with an evocative image that

helps the reader determine the feeling he

or she is looking for and, once the right

mood is chosen, the provided palettes

demonstrate the available colors and

how they work together.

So while you are reviewing the vast

array of color combinations in this book,

keep both aesthetics and mood in mind.

You are now armed with the basics of color

theory from the first half of this book so,

whether you’re looking for a tone that is

cheerful, elegant, somber, refreshing,

calming, or energizing, you can now let

color harmony be your emotional guide.

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