About color chords
Color chords are created by first choosing a base color and then picking a chord type (built on professional color theory). A spread of colors is then populated and stored in the current palette in the Swatches panel. You can then select from these colors as you design.
Chord types are based on the HSL color wheel and include:
- (A) Complementary—the base color and its opposite on the color wheel.
- (B) Split Complementary—the base color and the colors adjacent to its opposite on the color wheel.
- (C) Analogous—the base color and the colors adjacent to it on the color wheel.
- (D) Accented Analogic—as for Analogous but, like Complementary, also includes the base color's opposite.
- (E) Triadic—three colors spaced equally around the color wheel starting from the base color.
- (F) Tetradic—four colors arranged around the color wheel in two complementary color pairs, starting from the base color. Otherwise known as 'Rectangle'.
- (G) Square—four colors spaced equally around the color wheel starting from the base color.
- (H) Tints—colors which vary in lightness from the base color to white.
- (I) Shades—colors which vary in lightness from the base color to black.
- (J) Tones—colors which vary in saturation from the base color to gray.
To create a color chord using the Swatches panel: