That $5 color wheel I ignored for years finally saved my butt on a client job

I've always just eyeballed my color combos and thought color wheels were for art students. But last month I had to pick a palette for a law firm's rebrand and spent 3 days making muddy browns and awkward greens. Out of desperation I grabbed a cheap color wheel from Michael's for 5 bucks and matched a triadic scheme in 10 minutes. The client loved it and I felt kinda dumb for being stubborn so long. Anyone else have a basic tool they avoided that ended up being a lifesaver?

2 comments

2 Comments

reeseanderson14d ago

ngl i feel like this is a little dramatic for picking colors. like its just colors, not like you had to solve a rubiks cube blindfolded. i just grab what looks good and move on.

the_ray14d ago

I've got a Pantone fan deck I inherited from an old boss that sat in my desk drawer for two years collecting dust. @reeseanderson you can usually get away with winging it, but when you're staring at a law firm that wants "confident but approachable" and your monitor is lying to you about what's actually warm versus cool, it's a different story. That cheap little wheel saves you from wasting hours on combinations that look great on screen but turn into mud on paper. Kinda like training wheels you never knew you needed until you're going downhill fast.