Colour chords

About colour chords

Colour chords are created by first choosing a base colour and then picking a chord type (built on professional colour theory). A spread of colours is then populated and stored in the current palette in the Swatches panel. You can then select from these colours as you design.

Example colour chords created by applying different chord types to the base colour in the top row.

Chord types are based on the HSL colour wheel and include:

(A) Complementary—the base colour and its opposite on the colour wheel.
(B) Split Complementary—the base colour and the colours adjacent to its opposite on the colour wheel.
(C) Analogous—the base colour and the colours adjacent to it on the colour wheel.
(D) Accented Analogic—as for Analogous but, like Complementary, also includes the base colour's opposite.
(E) Triadic—three colours spaced equally around the colour wheel starting from the base colour.
(F) Tetradic—four colours arranged around the colour wheel in two complementary colour pairs, starting from the base colour. Otherwise known as 'Rectangle'.
(G) Square—four colours spaced equally around the colour wheel starting from the base colour.
(H) Tints—colours which vary in lightness from the base colour to white.
(I) Shades—colours which vary in lightness from the base colour to black.
(J) Tones—colours which vary in saturation from the base colour to grey.

To create a colour chord using the Swatches panel:

From the category list pop-up menu, select a palette containing the base colour.
From the palette, -click the base colour swatch and then select a chord type from the Create Colour Chord pop-up menu.

To create a colour chord using the Colour panel:

(Optional) On the Swatches panel, click Panel Preferences and choose an 'Add Palette' option.
Do one of the following:
- With no content selected, select a colour from the colour model's Wheel (HSL only), Sliders, or Boxes, or click the picked colour swatch.
- Select page content containing the base colour. Remember to select the appropriate colour selector on the Colour or Swatches panel.
On the Colour panel, click the Panel Preferences menu and select a chord type from the Add Chord to Swatch pop-up menu.

About colour chords

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