What are complementary colors?

From orange and blue sunsets to green and red traffic signals, complementary color schemes inspire and inform us every day. Complementary colors stimulate photoreceptors, so they're naturally eye-catching. With a few pro tips from Figma designers, you can find the right complementary color combination to attract attention—without clashing or causing eyestrain.

Read on to learn:

• What complementary colors are and how they work
• Benefits of complementary colors—and three brands that use them effectively
• Pro tips to maximize your impact with complementary colors
• How to use complementary colors in your designs with Figma

What are complementary colors, and how do they work?

The secret to complementary colors is simple: opposites attract. On Isaac Newton’s classic RYB (red, yellow, blue) color wheel, you'll find complementary colors directly opposite each other.

You'll notice three complementary color pairs that include primary colors:

• Red and green
• Blue and orange
• Yellow and purple

You can also find complementary colors among the six tertiary colors and their opposite hues:

• Blue-green and red-orange
• Yellow-green and red-purple (aka red-violet)
• Blue-purple (aka blue-violet) and yellow-orange

How complementary colors work in design

When you put opposite colors side by side, they create a strong contrast, with high visual impact. See for yourself: put two complementary paint color swatches next to each other. You'll notice a two-way effect called simultaneous contrast, where each color appears brighter and more vibrant.

Choosing the right complementary colors for your medium

To find the right complementary color scheme for your design, start with the right color model for your medium. For digital screens, use the RGB color model. When you're working on graphic design for print, apply the CMYK color model.

RGB (used for digital screens) is an additive color model that combines red, green, and blue light to create colors by mixing wavelengths of light. For example, red and blue light combine to produce magenta, found opposite green. In RGB, the complementary pairs are:

• Red–cyan
• Green–magenta
• Blue–yellow

CMYK (used for print materials) is a subtractive color model using cyan, magenta, yellow, plus key (black) to create different colors or pigments. This model's complementary color pairs are:

• Magenta–green
• Yellow–blue
• Cyan–red

Benefits of complementary colors in design

Designers know complementary colors can do more than just attract the eye. By pairing contrasting hues, designers can create vibrant visuals that inform and engage broad audiences. With their inherent high contrast, complementary colors are powerful tools to guide the user's focus to key elements, and enhance text readability to meet accessibility standards.

3 brands that use complementary color schemes effectively

With exciting contrasts and clever color symbolism, distinctive complementary colors can forge an emotional connection with a brand. Here are three real-world examples that create memorable experiences with highly recognizable complementary color schemes:

• Duolingo. The Duolingo app is recognizable by its vibrant interface and owl mascot. Green is the primary color, representing growth and learning. Adding red accents creates a color contrast to help users identify correct and incorrect answers.
• LA Lakers. Branding for the Los Angeles Lakers features a dynamic combination of purple and yellow. Purple conveys royal status, while yellow shines with optimism. In the Lakers app, this complementary color scheme captures the team's energy and excellence.
• Firefox. The Firefox logo features fiery orange as its dominant color, complemented by blue color accents. The orange evokes warmth, energy, and innovation, while blue connotes reliability and trust. A hint of yellow is added to these strong colors for balance, creating a harmonious triadic color scheme. Together, they signify Firefox as a gateway to the web.

4 pro tips for using complementary colors in design

Explore complementary pairs with Figma’s Color Palette Generator, and consider these four pro tips to apply color effectively to your design:

1. Use warm and cool colors. Mix warm colors (like reds and oranges) with cool ones (like blues and greens) to grab attention. For a striking contrast, try pairing a warm red-orange with a cool blue-green. Combining warm and cool colors adds energy to type-heavy pages and monochromatic color schemes.
2. Experiment with tints and shades. Try using lighter tints (add white) and darker shades (add black) of your complementary colors. This can make your design more complex and intriguing.
3. Balance your palette. Make sure your colors work well together by adjusting their brightness and intensity, or saturation. You want your design to be harmonious, not jarring or too dull.
4. Exercise restraint. Use the bold complementary colors for the most important parts of your design, like buttons or key info. This makes sure those elements stand out without overwhelming everything else. Google’s logo combines two warm colors (red and yellow) with two cool colors (green and blue) in a high-visibility, tetradic brand color scheme – but this combination is used sparingly against a stark white background.

How to soften complementary color contrasts

If complementary color combinations are too vivid for the look you’re going for, you can use the color wheel to create a split complementary color scheme. A split complementary color scheme softens the contrast of complementary colors, but maintains the lively interplay of hues.

Here’s how it works: From the color wheel, choose one base color. Find its direct opposite, then select the two colors adjacent to that color. This color palette is still harmonious, but with less tension than the stark contrast of direct complementary colors. For example, if your main color is blue, instead of pairing it with orange, choose the colors on each side of orange: red-orange and yellow-orange.

Unlock the power of complementary colors with Figma

The full spectrum of complementary colors is at your fingertips with Figma's color tools and pro tips. Enhance these your design process with these color resources:

• Find complementary color pairs and explore variations with Figma's intuitive color palette picker.
• Apply the principles of color theory, including pro tips on primary and secondary colors, analogous color schemes, and more.
• Explore plugins from Figma’s design community to integrate complementary colors into your projects.
• Create consistent, visually appealing designs faster with Figma’s handy UI Kits.
• Check your colors and palette designs using our color contrast checker.

Ready to make designs stand out with complementary colors?