Why do some sets of colors match esthetically, while others are abhorrent? Does style decide this, and how is our brain a factor in deciding what goes together? Simple enough concept, I’m looking for background answers, i.e. optical effects, traditions, fashion, or esthetics of combined colors.
Anyone? Beuller? Maybe I’ll have to ask the man himself.
I’m no expert, but I’ve always found that it’s difficult to go wrong with complementary colors.
Make a color triangle with the primary colors: Blue, Yellow, Red.
Then make a sort of “star of david” out of it with the secondary colors. Between Blue and Yellow, put Green. Between Yellow and Red, Orange. Between Red and Blue, Purple.
Now, colors opposite each other, I’ve noticed, tend to look good together. Yellow<>Purple, Blue<>Orange, Red<>Green.
Works for degrees, too. A light Greenish Blue looks good with a light Reddish Orange; A dark Purple with a deep Yellow.
And I’ve never taken an art class; I suppose such things might be covered. A former coworker operates this website, I like it a lot.
You’re right, Ambushbug. Works exactly as you’ve described it. In addition to the colors always looking good with their complementary, placing complementaries side by side make both colors look their brightest. (In order to make a color you’re mixing duller, you mix in the complimentary).
Ahh… no. Complementary colors tend to clash rather than go along with each other. A bright red and green next to each other can make the border ‘swim’ before one’s eyes because of the clash.
If anyone wore red and green, it’s to stand out and scream “It’s Christmas time!”
That said, complementary colors can be used judiciously for the purposeful contrast. Purple table cloths with a yellow flower as the centerpiece can be striking. If you used a large purple and yellow checkered pattern, it would be hideous.
So, let’s go to a Queer Eye for the Straight Guy screen splash with the tip of the day:
A complementary color works as a highlight, not as a second main hue.
Although… there is another way to make complementary colors work together: reduce the saturation of the hue, or slightly shift one of the color’s hue.
Think of a terra cotta planter. To the eye untrained in color (e.g., a straight guy 
), it’s red. Actually, it’s slightly orange (there’s some yellow in that red) and it’s a darker hue (lower color saturation). As such, a bright green plant would look good in it. However, if the planter was truly a bright fire engine red, the green plant wouldn’t look so good.
There’s lots of other tips for ‘matching colors’ which is best learned in a begginer’s art class.
Peace.
Teal. Everything goes with teal.
I just want to know if there’s a scientific reason that I can’t wear my olive green t-shirt with my hot pink shorts without people calling the fashion police. Kidding, kidding. Side note: seems certain varieties of the same color clash horribly, i.e. lime green and avocado, hot pink and salmon. I should really stop, I’m sounding much more effeminate than I care to sound, ever.
I think it’s more to do with social conditioning than being inherent in the colours themselves.
No, it has more to do with the way we see color as human being than social conditioning. People all over the world see colors the same, and the same rules of color apply. That’s because all our eyes work the same way. Red will contrast with green no matter where you are from.
It is true that the meaning of different color combinations is based mostly on social condition though.
I think the reason why certain color combinations are visually abhorent, and others visually pleasing has to do with the way that the way that we perceive the world. We evolved to see a world that has very few high contrast situations, so our visual systems seek to enhance contrast and make patterns from what we see. We are wired to see natural color combinations, and so they look pleasing to us.
With the advent of ways to make artificial colors, we can make color combinations that overload our senses, and are therefore displeasing. Poisonous animals take advantage of this to show just how nasty they really are.
Thank you, Thaumaturge you’re seeing what I’m talking about. I believe matching to be a spectrographic phenomenon.
Side note: can there be such thing as an artificial color?
col·or ( P ) Pronunciation Key (klr)
n.
That aspect of things that is caused by differing qualities of the light reflected or emitted by them, definable in terms of the observer or of the light, as:
The appearance of objects or light sources described in terms of the individual’s perception of them, involving hue, lightness, and saturation for objects and hue, brightness, and saturation for light sources.
The characteristics of light by which the individual is made aware of objects or light sources through the receptors of the eye, described in terms of dominant wavelength, luminance, and purity.
A substance, such as a dye, pigment, or paint, that imparts a hue.