TIL purple and yellow aren't always complementary... at least not on my client's website

I spent like 3 hours picking out this perfect purple for a header background. Looked great on my monitor. Then I put yellow text on it thinking it'd pop like all the color wheels say. Looked like someone threw up Easter candy... total mess. Turns out the saturation was way off on both colors. They just fought each other instead of complementing. Lesson learned I guess... always test your pairs on a real screen and with the actual fonts you're using. Anyone else run into a color combo that looked good in theory but bombed in practice?

2 comments

2 Comments

miles_roberts2219d ago

Man, I feel this so hard. Purple and yellow can be a train wreck if you don't nail the shades. It's like they're both screaming too loud and nobody wins. I've made the same mistake with a deep red and a bright green before, thought it'd look Christmassy but it just hurt to look at. You really gotta dial in the lightness and saturation, not just the hue. Sucks you lost three hours though, that's brutal.

hart.zara19d agoMost Upvoted

Right? Spent a whole afternoon on a blue-orange combo that looked like a cheap superhero costume, @miles_roberts22.