Color chords

A color chord is a spread of harmonious colors which can be used in conjunction with each other to produce appealing designs.

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.

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

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

Panel Preferences To create a color chord using the Swatches panel:
  1. From the category list pop-up menu, select a palette containing the base color.
  2. From the palette, -click the base color swatch and then select a chord type from the Create Color Chord pop-up menu.
Panel Preferences To create a color chord using the Color panel:
  1. (Optional) On the Swatches panel, click Panel Preferences and choose an 'Add Palette' option.
  2. Do one of the following:
    • With no content selected, select a color from the color model's Wheel (HSL only), Sliders, or Boxes, or click the picked color swatch.
    • Select page content containing the base color. Remember to select the appropriate color selector on the Color or Swatches panel.
  3. On the Color panel, click the Panel Preferences menu and select a chord type from the Add Chord to Swatch pop-up menu.

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