How to Pair Colours: A Short Intro to Colour Theory

如何配色：色彩理论简单介绍

Every great outfit needs a great colour palette, which is whybrushing upon your colour pairing skills should be at the top of your to-do list if you think you could use a little help in the colour department. The good news is that a big part of what makes one colour pairing better than another is down to simple technique and a few basic rules of aesthetics, i.e. things you can learn. This is where colour theory comes in. Colour theory encompasses lots and lots of differentdefinitions,concepts and design applications, but if all you want to do is get better at pairing colours you really only need to focus on two core ideas of the theory:

每一套漂亮的搭配都需要好的色彩展板，如果你在色彩方面需要帮助的话，温习你的色彩搭配技能应该是首要需要做的。好消息是：为什么一种颜色比另一种颜色搭配的更好，这需要一些简单的技术及基本的美学原理，这就是色彩理论。色彩理论包括很多不同的定义、概念和设计应用，但是如果你想做的只是提高色彩搭配水平，你只需要关注两个核心理论：

Thecolour wheel, to understand the three main properties of colours and to help you identify differences and similarities between colours.

色彩轮，了解三原色，帮助你识别色彩之间的异同。

Colourharmony, i.e. the study about how to pair two or more colours based on a few differentformulas.

色彩调和，即，如何基于一些不同的formula去搭配两个或多个颜色。

In this post I'll give you a quick intro to both of these and also show you lots of examples for how to use three of the most important colour formulas/rules to build outfits (monochromaticmɑnəkrə'mætɪk],complementaryandanalogous[ə'næləɡəs]). As usual, I want to put out my little disclaimer here that, just like many other concepts and techniques, you absolutely do not have to follow the rules of the theory to the letter in order to build great outfits. Use colour theory as a starting point to gather fresh ideas for colour combos and tweak your existing go-to looks, but don’t feel like you have to implement everything in this post.

在这个贴子里，我会给你一些简单的介绍，向你展示一些例子：如何利用三个最重要的色彩formulas/rules来打造服装颜色搭配（单色、互补色和近似色）。我照例声明，就像很多其他的概念和技术，并不是必须遵守这样的理论才能够打造完美搭配，使用色彩理论只是作为搜集色彩只是和提升既有形象，但是不要认为你必须按照这个帖子中的内容来做。

Also note that this post is just about pairing colours for single outfits. Colour theory can of course also be super helpful for planning out yourwardrobe's colour palettebut since the parameters for a whole wardrobe are very different from those of a single outfit, I have covered that topic in a separatepost.20170712 如何为你的衣橱选择颜色调色板？（+36个样板）

同时声明这个帖子只是用于一套衣服的配色，当然色彩理论对于策划你的衣橱色彩展板是非常有用的，但是那些用于搭配整个衣橱的参数与搭配一套衣服的参数是非常不同的，所以我在另一个贴子里另外说明。

defining colour // the colour wheel

定义色彩//色彩轮

First things first: To create great colour pairings you need to be able to assess the basic characteristics of each individual shade. It's not enough to identify your top as "blue" or even "dark blue". A "blue" top might look amazing or awful with apastelyellow shade, depending on whether it is a mutedperiwinkle, a bold royal blue or a supersaturated indigo. When it comes to colour, it's all about thesubtledifferences. And the easiest way to understand those differences is to spend a little time familiarising yourself with the colour wheel and the three basic properties that make up every single colour imaginable: hue,saturationsætʃə'reʃənand brightness.

首先，做好的色彩搭配你需要能够评估每种色彩的基本特性，如果你仅仅看出你的上衣是”蓝色的“或”黑蓝色“是不够的，一件蓝色上衣配黄色，可能看起来非常漂亮，也可能非常难看，取决于它是柔和的长春花色，还是宝蓝色，或是饱和度很强的靛蓝色。当，理解这些差异的最简单方法就是花一些时间熟悉色彩轮和构成每个颜色的三个基本要素：色相，饱和度和明度

Hue色相

The hue of a colour refers to its exact spot on the 360 degree colour wheel, which is basically a logical representation of the entire colour spectrum, i.e. all shades that can be created by mixing the three primary colours.

颜色的色相是指在360度色彩轮上，它的确切位置，实际上这是整个有色光谱的逻辑展示，所有的颜色都能够通过三原色合成。

Saturation饱和度

The saturation of a colour is how intense it is, compared to a black - white spectrum (the complete absence of a hue). At 0% saturation level any colour will look grey (or white or black, depending on its brightness level). At 100% the colour is as vivid and intense as that particular hue can be.

色彩的饱和度是指：相对于黑色-白色（完全没有色彩），这种色彩的密度。如果一种颜色的饱和度为0%，它看起来非常的苍白（或者白色，或黑色，取决于它的明度），如果饱和度为100%，那么这个颜色就是非常生动和强烈，就是一个典型的色相。

Brightness明度

Brightness refers to the relative lightness of a colour, from black (0% brightness) to white (100% brightness).

明度是指颜色的相对明亮程度，从黑色（明度为0）到白色（明度100%）

Exercise: Practice describing colours in detail

联系：尝试详细地描述一种颜色

The interplay between these three properties is what gives a colour its unique tone. Even just a subtle shift in either of the three can make all the difference between a good and a bad colour match. Before you move on to the next section, make sure you fully understand the effect each of the properties has on the others. Practice identifying the colours of some of your clothes or even just of the objects around you. Don't worry, you don't need to be able to come up with the exact HEX code for every colour you see, it's fine if you can for example label the skirt you are wearing as "warm-toned red veering into orange, medium saturation, high level of brightness". What's also important is that you can pinpoint the differences of two similar colours. If you own two pieces that both have a similar green colour for example, try identifying which of their properties are different and to what degree, i.e. "the green of item 2 is a little less saturated and has more yellow in it".

色彩三要素之间的相互作用给了颜色独特的味道，这三个元素的微小调节就会改变整个色彩搭配的优劣。在你看下一节之前，确保你已经完全了解三个元素之间的相互作用。练习识别你的衣服或者你身边的物体的颜色，不要担心，你不需要给出你看到颜色的精确HEX数值，下面的表述就够了：你的一件衬衫是”暖色调的红偏橙色，中等饱和度，高明度”。同样重要的是你可以指出两种类似颜色的不同指出，如果你有两件衣服，都是类似的绿色，可以找出它们哪些要素的不同，以及不同的程度，即“第二件的绿色，饱和度较低，并且掺有一点黄色”

colour harmony // 3 formulas for pairing colours

色彩和谐//配色的三个配方

Ok, now that we got the basics out of the way, we can get to the exciting part: combining single colours into palettes. A great way to improve your colour pairing skills is to play around with a few formulas (also called "colour rules”) for harmonious colour palettes that colour theorists (yes, that is a thing) have identified as universally appealing. The three I'll explain in this post are the monochromatic, the complementary and the analogues colour rule (more on those below). But first: let's take a moment to pinpoint what these formulas have in common, so you can use that knowledge to go out and build your own unique colour palettes,without the help of a formula.

现在，让我们把基础理论抛开，进入有趣的部分：把单个颜色放到色彩展板上。提升你配色技巧的一个好方法就是使用一些fomula（也叫做“色彩rules”）来做和谐的色彩展板，色彩专家认为人们普遍都能够被这些色彩搭配所吸引。我将要解释的三个方法是：单色、互补色和邻近色（详情如下）。但是首先，让我花一点时间来说明这三个方法的共同之处，以便你能够使用这些知识建立自己独特的色彩展板，而不用。

The one universal feature of great colour pairings

良好的色彩搭配的一个通用特征

The thing that all colour rules have in common is that they help you create a palette that is both full of contrast but also very cohesive overall. Contrast is what gives a palette visual appeal, what makes it interesting. Cohesion is what makes it look like a "theme" of shades, rather than a random mix and also prevents the colours fromclashing. Both contrast and cohesion are created through varying the hue, saturation and brightness levels of each colour in the palette. But how do you create a palette that's both contrasting AND cohesive? You choose colours that are very different to each other in 2 (or sometimes only 1) of the three colour properties, whether that is the hue, the saturation and/or the brightness level, but keep the other property almost constant for all colours in the palette. That one almost constant property is key because regardless of how bold or contrasting the other properties are across the colours, it is what gives the palette a cohesive overall feel. This mix of contrast+cohesion is the one thing all colour rules have in common and also the most important principle to keep in mind when you build your own colour palettes from scratch.

所有色彩rules有一个共同的特征就是它们能够帮助你建立一个展板，上面的色彩即有差别（对比），但是整体又非常和谐。对比能够让展板看起来非常吸引人而且有趣。和谐能够让展板看起来像一个颜色的“主题”，而不是颜色随机的混合，也能够避免颜色不协调。“对比”和“和谐”（和而不同）可以通过改变色相，饱和度和敏感度来达成。但是如何建立一个既有对比又和谐的色板呢？你色板上所有的颜色应当是在色彩的三个元素中，其中两个（有些时候是1个）元素不同，如色相，饱和度和.或明度，但是其他元素基本是一致的。那个几乎一致的元素，能够给整个色板一个“和谐”的感觉。而这种“对比”和“和谐”是所有的色彩RULE的共同点，也是你在从头建立自己的色彩展板时应当记住的最重要的原则。

An example:The colour palette below does not follow any of the three colour rules that I'll describe in more detail later on exclusively. It's just a combination of four relatively warm spring-y shades. The difference between the two versions is the second shade: it's the exact same hue on both sides, but less saturated and also a touch lighter on the right. On the left, that shade looks - not horrible- but somewhat out of place, not quite right. The shade on the right matches the other colours in brightness and saturation and just because of that, because of a tiny move along the colour wheel, the whole palette is a lot more cohesive and, in my opinion, much nicer to look at.

例如：下面这个色彩展板并不符合我将要详细说明的三个rules，这只是两对四个相对暖色的组合。两对组合的区别是第二个颜色，两组颜色中的第二个颜色色相一致，但是第二组中的饱和度较低，亮度较高。左边的这组看起来有点别扭，而右边这组，由于所有颜色的明度和饱和度一致，所以整体显得的更加和谐，在我看来也更好看。

What about neutrals? 什么是中性色

Black, white and all shades of grey are not technically colours, because they do not have a hue and therefore also no saturation level. That fact alone means that you can basically pair them with any other palette without destroying its overall cohesion. The one exception to this are palettes whose colours all share the same brightness level (but vary in terms of hue and/or saturation). Grey shades do have a brightness level, so make sure the one you choose matches the brightness of the rest of your palette.

黑色，白色和所有灰色，不是典型的颜色，因为它们没有色相，因此也没有饱和度。这意味着你可以将它们和所有其他颜色展板相配，却不会破坏它的整体和谐度。一个例外是展板上的所有颜色都是一个明度（知识色相或饱和度有差异），灰色没有明度，所以确保你选的颜色符合你调色板上其他的颜色。

Next, we'll look at some examples of how to create outfits using three common colour rules (monochromatic, complementary and analogous).

下面，我们看一些如何使用三个色彩rules来打造色彩搭配（单色，互补色和邻近色）

Monochromatic colour palettes 单色展板

The colours of a monochromatic palette all share a single hue, but vary in brightness and saturation. Although a single hue may sound a little restricting at first, you’d be surprised how many different colours you can create just by switching up the saturation and brightness levels. For example, thatmintybase hue in the palette above (RGB 0, 255, 216 at its brightest and most saturated) can not only be a bright, summery turquoise and a palemintbut also amuted slategreen and an almost neutral grey. And check out the 4 sample outfits below, they're far from boring, right? When building a monochromatic outfit remember that you can supplement your monochromatic shades with grey, black and white as well if you need more variety or something to balance out bolder colours.

单色展板的颜色中，色相值都是一样的，但是明度和饱和度不同，虽然一个色相值听起来有一些严格，但是你会惊讶于随着饱和度和明度值的变化，你可以创造出那么多不同的颜色。例如，在上面的展板中基础色相值是薄荷色（RGB 0, 255, 216 ，明度和饱和度最高），但是它不仅仅是一个明亮的，夏天的绿松石和灰白的薄荷色，而且还可以是柔和的蓝绿和差不多中性灰。看看下面的四套衣服，一点都不枯燥对吗？当做单色搭配时，如果你想更加有层次感或者加一些平衡，你还可以另外给单色搭配灰色、黑色和白色。

Complementary colour palettes 补色色彩展板

Complementary colour palettes are based on two different, complementary hues (that are roughly opposite to each other on the colour wheel). Shades of the same hue can have different brightness/saturation levels for extra variety. What is different about the complementary colour rule compared to the other two rules is that the one constant property (hue) is not the same acrossallcolours of the palette, only within the two groups of hues.In that sense, a complementary palette works essentially like two mini monochrome palettes, i.e. 2x different saturation/brightness levels of one hue.

补色色彩展板基于两种不同的、互补的颜色（色相环上对立的颜色）。使用同样色相、不同明度/饱和度可以创造层次感。补色色彩区别于其他两种色彩rules之处在于，一个，如此来说，一个补色色板看起来就像两个迷你单色色板，即一个色度不同明度和饱和度*2.

Classic complementary hue combinations are green/pink, blue/orange and yellow/purple, althoughcombosof hues that are not the exact opposite on the colour wheel (like yellow/turquoise) also count as complementary, as long as the contrast between the hues is obvious. Also: a complementary colour palette does not necessarily have to be bold or very colourful. The outfit in the bottom left image for example also has a complementary colour scheme with its mix of sand and light blue shades.

经典的补色色相组合是：绿色/粉色，蓝色/橘色，黄色/紫色，虽然颜色组合并不一定正好是色相环上相对的颜色（例如黄色/松绿色），也可以算作补色，只要色彩对比很明显。一个补色色板并不必须特别鲜艳，左下方的那副图中，也是一个补色方案，因为是沙色和亮蓝色的组合。

An alternative to the complementary formula is the triad colour rule, which works by pairing three opposing hues instead of just two (e.g. yellow, red and blue). I usually find three opposing hues too many for a single outfit, but I love it on other people (check outthis picturefor example).

补色的另一个替代方案是三色原则：是指采用三个相对的色相而不是两个（例如黄色红色和蓝色），我经常发现三个相对的色相对于一套衣服而言有些多了，但是我觉得有些人穿上却非常好看。

Analogous colour palettes 近似色彩展板

Analogous colour palettes consist of different, but neighbouring hues. The constant property can be either the saturation or the brightness level or both.For analogous palettes with hues that are not too far apart you can generally get away with being a little more lax about keeping your colours all the same saturation or brightness level and add one or two "outliers" to the mix (like the brighter yellow in the right picture below, or the deeper blue in the left picture).On the other hand, if you want to create an analogous palette based on relatively bold hues and without any neutrals to add some balance, your palette will look much morecohesiveif all colours share almost the exact same level of saturation and/or brightness (like in the palette above or in the bottom right outfit).

近似色彩展板由不同的、但是相近的颜色组成。一致的色彩元素可以指饱和度或明度，或两者兼有。对于和你的肤色接近的色板，如果所有颜色都是同样的饱和度和明度的话，整体会显得有些lax（松懈），这时应当加入1-2件“跳跃色”来中和一下（例如右边照片中的亮黄色，或者左边照片中的深蓝色）。另一方面，如果你想用相对鲜艳的颜色来做近似色板，但是又不加入中性色来平衡的话，如果所有颜色都是类似的饱和度和/或明度（例如上面的色板或者图右下方的搭配），整体会看起来非常密集cohesive。

colour resources 色彩资源

Adobe Kuler

Adobe's Kulerallows you to create, save and share your own colour palettes and experiment with all major colour rules. I could play with this for hours, it's hands-down my favourite colour tool.

COLOURLovers

COLOURLoversis a creative community where you can create and share colour palettes and patterns and explore those of others. If you're ever stuck for inspiration, check this out.

Color Hunter

A great way to find out the exact colours of any image, especially if you don't have Photoshop and can't use the colour picker tool. Simply upload your image andColor Hunterwill dissect it into individual shades for you.

"Intro to Color Theory: Color and Emotion" (Skillshare course)

This is a two-hourvideo courseaimed at designers, but I also found it super helpful for all things wardrobe building. Check it out if you want to learn more about color context and the emotions colours convey.

*image credits //Monochrome:Vogue.mx,Facehunter,Jou Jou Villeroy,Tuula Vintage. Complementary:Elizabeth and James AW 2012,Style Slicker, unknown. Analogous:Gary Pepper,Sincerely Jules,Kendie Everyday,Harpers Bazaar.