Why do some colours go well together and some colours not?

Question

Why do some colours go well together and some colours not?

In: Other

Answer 1

It depends on what you mean by ‘go together’.

What looks good is entirely subjective, so personal preferences, expectation, context and intent all come into it.

However, I think you’re talking about ‘complimentary’ or ‘opposite’ colours. These are the colours that are opposite each other on the colour wheel. These are ‘opposites’ because they essentially cancel each other out when mixed. They lose their hue and become a shade of grey. (Theoretically… mixing coloured light works differently to paint or inks, and you won’t always get a shade of grey because of the specific pigments used in paint).

So, if you look at colours that are next to each other on the colour wheel, say Red, Orange and Yellow, these ‘go together’ because they’re visually similar, the actual wavelength of light your eye receives when looking at them are similar so they ‘work’ together. Opposites on the colour wheel basically contrast with each other as much as possible so they ‘clash’.

So, really, it just comes down to contrast. Adjacent colours are similar so they ‘go together’, complimentart colours are as ‘different’ as they can be, so they contrast and ‘fight’ each other… but again, what actually looks good is entirely subjective. It’s not as simple as saying on set of colours looks good and another looks bad because the context and ratios matter too. If you’re wearing an outfit that is 50/50 complimentary colours you’ll probably look like a clown… but if you’re wearing an outfit that is mostly one colour and has a complimentary colour as an ‘accent’ colour, the contrast will make the accent ‘pop’ and it can look good.

For example, Red and Green are complimentary colours and you might recognize those as the main Christmas colours. They look good together in the context because, well, they remind you of christmas and the whole point is to be loud and eye catching. On the other hand, if I go out wearing a pair of red jeans, a green T-shirt with a red jacket and green shoes, I’d look like a lunatic.