Complementary Colors: What They Are, Examples, and How to Use Them
Complementary colors are pairs of colors positioned directly opposite each other on a color wheel. Because the two hues are separated by the greatest possible distance around the wheel, they create strong visual contrast when placed together. Common examples include blue and orange, red and green, and yellow and purple, although the exact pairs depend on whether you are using a traditional RYB artists' wheel or an RGB/HSL digital color wheel.
What are complementary colors?
A complementary color is the color directly opposite another color on the color wheel. If you select one hue and move halfway around the wheel, you reach its complement.
Complementary colors provide strong hue contrast. This makes them useful when you need two elements to feel clearly different, such as a background and accent, two categories in an illustration, or a call-to-action button that needs to stand apart from surrounding colors.
The exact pair depends on the color model being used.
Complementary colors on the RYB color wheel
The traditional RYB artists' wheel uses red, yellow, and blue as its primary colors. Its three familiar complementary pairs are:
- Red and green
- Blue and orange
- Yellow and purple
These relationships are common in painting, illustration, traditional art education, and discussions of pigment-based color mixing.
For example, a blue such as #2563EB can be paired with an orange such as #F97316. The exact HEX values are design choices, because the traditional RYB wheel does not define specific digital coordinates.
Complementary colors on the RGB and HSL wheel
Digital color systems produce different complementary relationships.
On an RGB/HSL wheel, a complementary hue is found by moving 180 degrees around the hue circle. A hue at 20 degrees therefore has its complement at 200 degrees.
The major digital pairs are:
- Red and cyan
- Green and magenta
- Blue and yellow
For example, pure red #FF0000 has cyan #00FFFF as its RGB complement. Pure blue #0000FF is complemented by yellow #FFFF00.
You can see both relationships on the interactive color wheel instead of calculating hue positions by hand.
Six complementary color pairs
Here are six useful starting points for complementary palettes.
Blue and orange
Try blue #2563EB with orange #F97316.
This combination creates obvious separation between cool and warm colors. You can make blue dominant and reserve orange for buttons, highlights, or small graphic elements.
Red and green
Try red #DC2626 with green #16A34A.
This is the familiar complementary relationship on the traditional RYB wheel. Because the pairing also carries strong seasonal associations, consider the context before making both colors equally prominent.
Yellow and purple
Try yellow #FACC15 with purple #7E22CE.
Yellow is naturally light while purple can be much darker, giving this pair differences in both hue and lightness. That makes it useful when you need a colorful palette with a clear hierarchy.
Red and cyan
Pure RGB complements are red #FF0000 and cyan #00FFFF.
At maximum saturation, this combination is extremely intense. Softer versions preserve the basic relationship without producing the same visual vibration.
Green and magenta
Pure green #00FF00 and magenta #FF00FF form another RGB complementary pair.
For practical design work, you will usually prefer less saturated versions. Instead of pure green, start with a darker or more muted green and adjust the opposing hue to match.
Blue and yellow
Pure blue #0000FF and yellow #FFFF00 sit opposite each other on the RGB/HSL hue circle.
Changing their lightness and saturation makes the combination easier to use across larger areas of a layout.
Why complementary colors can appear to vibrate
Two highly saturated complementary colors create strong simultaneous contrast. When large areas of both colors have similar visual weight, the boundary between them can appear unusually intense or visually unstable.
You do not need to abandon the complementary relationship to solve this problem.
One approach is to desaturate one color. A vivid orange can sit against a quieter, less saturated blue rather than another equally intense hue.
Another approach is to change lightness. A dark blue paired with a lighter orange creates additional separation beyond hue alone. A color scale gives you tints and shades of each color to choose from.
You can also use the 60-30-10 rule. Let the main color occupy roughly 60 percent of the composition, a supporting neutral around 30 percent, and reserve the complementary accent for roughly 10 percent.
These percentages are guidelines, not requirements.
Where complementary colors are used
Sports teams often use strongly contrasting colors because the combination helps uniforms, logos, signage, and graphics remain visually distinct.
Calls to action can also use complementary relationships. If a page is dominated by blue, an orange button stands apart from surrounding elements. You should still test text and button combinations with a contrast checker, because complementary hues do not automatically provide readable contrast.
Film and photography frequently use complementary relationships in color grading. Orange skin tones against blue or teal environments are a familiar example of using warm and cool colors to separate subjects from backgrounds.
Complementary palettes also appear in packaging, posters, illustrations, dashboards, and brand systems whenever strong color separation is useful.
How to find the complement of any color
Start with your base color in the color wheel. Its complementary color is positioned directly across the wheel.
You can also enter your starting color into the harmonizer and select the complementary relationship. This is useful when you already have a specific HEX color and want to build a palette around it.
For an HSL calculation, take the hue and add 180 degrees. If the result exceeds 360 degrees, subtract 360. The hex to hsl converter shows the hue angle of any HEX value.
Once you have the complementary hue, adjust saturation and lightness for the actual design rather than assuming both colors need to remain equally vivid.
FAQ
What are complementary colors?
Complementary colors are colors positioned opposite each other on a color wheel. They create strong hue contrast when used together.
What are the three traditional complementary color pairs?
On the traditional RYB artists' wheel, the main complementary pairs are red and green, blue and orange, and yellow and purple. Digital RGB/HSL wheels use different relationships: red and cyan, green and magenta, blue and yellow.
How do I find the complementary color of a HEX color?
Enter the color into the harmonizer or locate it on the color wheel. On an HSL wheel, the complementary hue is 180 degrees from the original hue.
Should complementary colors be used equally?
Usually they are easier to control when one color dominates and the other acts as an accent. You can also reduce saturation or change lightness to prevent the combination from becoming visually overwhelming.