A question we often get asked at Chieftain Fabrics is what colour do we recommend to match to a particular vinyl? The simple answer is, it all depends.
Certain colours work well together, yet contrasting colours can be used to give effect.
Complementary Colours Schemes
According to ‘On The Theory of Light and Colours’, complementary colours are pairs of colours which, when combined, cancel each other out. This means that when combined, they produce a grey scale colour like white or black. When placed next to each other, they create the strongest contrast for those particular two colours.
Some complementary colours in our Just Colour range include:
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- Just Colour Rouge with Just Colour Blue Steel
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- Just Colour Ultraviolet with Just Colour Wasabi
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- Just Colour Fudge with Just Colour Lupin
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- Just Colour Golden Honey with Just Colour Lupin
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- Just Colour Sea Green with Just Colour Rosso
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- Just Colour Almond with Just Colour Dolphin
Analogous Colour Schemes
Tigercolor.com highlights that analogous colour schemes use colours that are next to each other. They usually match well and create serene and comfortable designs. Analogous colour schemes are often found in nature, are harmonious and pleasing to the eye.
Some analogous colours in our Just Colour range include:
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- Just Colour Rouge, Koala & Marigold
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- Just Colour Bubblegum, Candy & Ginger snap
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- Just Colour Ultraviolet, Lupin & Grape
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- Just Colour Tangerine, Greyfriar & Eden
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- Just Colour Scrubs, Citrus Green & Lupin
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- Just Colour Deep Rose, Grape & Golden Honey
Triad
Again, Tigercolor.com, indicates that a triadic colour scheme uses colours that are evenly spaced around the colour wheel. Triadic colour harmonies tend to be quite vibrant, even if you use pale or unsaturated versions of your hues. To use a triadic harmony successfully, the colors should be carefully balanced – where one colour is used to dominate and the two others for accent.
Some triad colours in our Just Colour range include:
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- Just Colour Likoni, Candy & Citrus Green
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- Just Colour Applemint, Lilac & Elephant
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- Just Colour Bubblegum, Citrus Green & Ocean blue
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- Just Colour Damson, Moss & Wasabi
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- Just Colour Sunblush, Scrubs & Grape
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- Just Colour Rusty, Applemint & Ultraviolet
We also asked our inhouse design team to pick some suggestions from our ranges and suggest colours that work well together, some Chieftain Vinyl Colour ideas include:
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- Lionella Boysenberry, Lionella Beaver, Lionella Sand Dune & Chieftain Subtle Green
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- Just Colour Eden, Lionella Glacier & Lionella Deep Sea
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- Lionella Pearl, Lionella Gothic & Chieftain Casco Apple
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- Lionella Sand Dune, Lionella Dusk Grey, Lionella Titanium, Lionella Sable & Lionella Air Force Blue
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- Just Colour Aquamarine, Just Colour Cocoa, Lionella Boysenberry, Just Colour Mikado & Just Colour Lemon
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- Lionella Pear, Lionella Ecru, Just Colour Aquamarine & Lionella Deep Sea
Colours vary from screen to screen as no two viewing configurations are the same. To learn more about this phenomena we suggest reading this short article ‘Is Your Computer Colour Blind?’.
Finally, Wikipedia notes that a person’s perception of colour is a subjective process whereby the brain responds to the stimuli that are produced when incoming light reacts with the several types of cone cells in the eye. In essence, different people see the same illuminated object or light source in different ways.
Edit: 19 June 2015
Also worth reading in relation to colour: http://www.newrepublic.com/article/121843/philosophy-color-perception
References
Young, T. (1802). The Bakerian Lecture: On the Theory of Light and Colours. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, 92(0), pp.12-48.
Tigercolor.com, (2015). Color Harmonies: complementary, analogous, triadic color schemes. [online] Available at: http://www.tigercolor.com/color-lab/color-theory/color-harmonies.htm [Accessed 21 May 2015].
Wikipedia, (2015). Color vision. [online] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_vision [Accessed 22 May 2015].