7 ‘Unexpected’ ways to use the color wheel
Next time you pick a color, don’t just reach for what looks good - reach for what feels right.
Most designers think of the color wheel as a beginner’s tool – something you learn once and then forget. But the truth is, it’s one of the most powerful design systems, no matter how experienced you are. It’s not just how colors look together that matters – it’s how they feel when they complement each other and what they evoke in people.
In this article, we’ll explore and provide tips on seven unexpected ways to apply the color wheel to everyday design – from creating visual depth without shadows to using hue temperature to establish hierarchy.
What is the color wheel?
The color wheel is more than a circle of hues – it is a map that helps you understand how colors are related, balanced, and affect each other. It is a visual language that helps designers think, feel, and communicate consciously. Used creatively, it can transform ordinary compositions into experiences that evoke emotions, tell stories, and effortlessly capture attention.
At its core, the wheel is built on three groups:
- Primary colors: Red, blue, and yellow color – the building blocks of all other hues.
- Secondary colors: Orange, green, and purple color – formed by mixing two primaries.
- Tertiary colors: The in-betweens, like red-orange color or blue-green color, that bridge transitions and create richer color palettes.
Temperature palettes:
- Warm color palettes and schemes (reds, oranges, yellows) – evoke energy, passion, and immediacy.
- Cold color palettes and schemes (blues, greens, purples) – convey calm, balance, and distance.
Designers use this balance of warmth and cold to evoke emotions, create contrast and harmony in all layouts.
Think of the color wheel not as a rigid set of rules, but as a navigation system for emotions. Each hue has a direction and weight – an understanding that helps you make conscious color choices that go beyond what looks good to what feels right.
7 Unexpected ways to use the color wheel
When you start to delve deeper into the color wheel, you realize that it’s not just about mixing shades – it’s about managing relationships between energy, perception, and emotion.
Here are 7 ways to use the color wheel beyond the basic ones:
Including mood shifts, not just aesthetics
Most people use the color wheel to set a mood – but you can also use it to shift moods.
For example, a design progression that starts with cool tones like teal or lavender can help calm the user, while gradually introducing warm hues like coral or amber can create excitement or lack.
This transition reflects the emotional flow – from comfort to engagement – by intuitively guiding users through the experience.
In product design, this might mean using cooler hues in introductory screens to reduce friction and warmer hues in conversion stages to encourage action.
Balancing the tension between brand identity and emphasis
Brand palettes often stay “safe” with one dominant shade and two supporting shades from the same color family. While this is cohesive, the design can look flat.
This is where complementary, split schemes come in. Instead of pairing a primary color with its opposite, you choose two shades on either side of the opposite color, creating a balanced yet vibrant contrast.
For example, a navy blue brand could pair with coral and mint instead of a simple orange. This tension between the hues keeps the design visually interesting without breaking the harmony.
Creating a visual hierarchy using hue temperature
The hierarchy isn’t just about size and weight – it’s also about temperature. Warm hues (like red, orange, and yellow) tend to stand out and attract attention, while cold hues (like blue or green) tend to recede and calm.
By deliberately alternating warm and cold tones, you can naturally guide the user’s gaze through the layout – no arrows or additional contrast are needed.
For example, when using a warm accent for CTAs against a cool interface background makes the action point feel inviting yet effortless.
Creating a depth without shadows
Minimalist or flat designs often lose depth, and adding shadows can ruin the aesthetic. Instead, you can use an analogous color scheme to create the illusion of layering.
Even without gradients, your eye perceives shape and transition. This technique works well in illustrations, report summaries, and interface elements where subtlety is important.
How to use: Choose three consecutive shades from the color wheel and use them to define different layers or sections. This will create depth while maintaining minimalism.
Unifying photography and user interface elements
One of the biggest design challenges is matching colors between photos and user interfaces. Instead of manually adjusting the colors of your images, use a color wheel to highlight and reflect the dominant hues in your photos.
Try this: Choose a key photo in your layout, identify its dominant hue, and locate it on the color wheel. Adjust one or two UI colors around that hue, using analogous or complementary relationships.
This creates natural harmony and ensures your visuals feel like part of the same story.
Storytelling through consistent color harmony
Just as a story has chapters, colors can mark emotional transitions on a journey. You can use the color wheel as a storytelling tool – linking different story points to different color harmonies.
For example, a brand presentation might start with calm blue (trust and clarity), move to green (growth and innovation), and end with warm orange (optimism and a call to action).
This sequence, done subtly, creates rhythm and engagement – users feel the change, even if they don’t consciously notice it.
Creating for accessibility with color relationships in mind
Color accessibility is often reduced to “red and green.” However, clever use of the color wheel can improve accessibility without compromising design.
By choosing high-contrast complementary color pairs, such as blue and orange or purple and yellow, you can achieve legibility while maintaining visual energy.
It is equally important to control not only the contrast of hues, but also the contrast of values (light and dark). The wheel also helps here – by choosing colors of opposite hue and different brightness.
Final thoughts
The point is not to memorize the rules of color – it is important to understand why these relationships exist and how to adjust them when the context requires it. When you start to view color not as decoration, but as a design logic, each shade becomes a strategic choice.
Just check yourself by taking the color wheel, do you feel that you can simply understand the balance of colors and use them in your designs? If you can do this, you tend to understand it and have a “good eye”. I wish you success and see you in the next article.
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