Triadic and tetradic color schemes offer a vibrant and sophisticated palette. Whether you are working in print design, web design or interior decoration, triadic and tetradic color schemes are two types of palettes you should be familiar with. They are easier to apply than they sound and when used effectively, they are guaranteed to convey your message. So what is a triadic color scheme? What is the definition of tetradic colors? And what are the tips for applying these two color schemes?
What Are Triadic Colors?
Triadic colors are three colors which are equally spaced within the same color wheel. A triadic color scheme will always have three colors. Technically speaking, such a scheme would consist of one base color and two other colors that are 120 degrees and 240 degrees distanced from this base. Triadic color schemes are also known as a variation of the split-complementary color scheme.
What are the Benefits of Using Triadic Colors?
A triadic color scheme always tends to provide a pleasant contrast. Even if you are using a pastel or unsaturated color wheel, the distance between your three colors will provide a nice contrast.
Although they do offer contrast, triadic color schemes are not sharply opposed as those colors in a split-complementary color scheme would be. Therefore, it is easier to achieve a balance with triadic colors.
Triadic color schemes always provide a rich palette. Whether you are using pastels or full saturated colors, your design will always have an interesting and refined color scheme.
Examples of Triadic Colors
Common combinations of triadic color are as follows:
Red-yellow-blue.
Red-orange, yellow-green, blue-violet.
Orange, green, violet.
Yellow-orange, blue-green, red-violet.
Tips for Using Triadic Color Schemes
Since triadic colors are equally distanced to one another, none of your three colors will be naturally dominant over the other two. Therefore, when designing with a triadic color scheme, it is advised to select one of the colors as dominant and use the other two in lesser quantities (as accents).
You might also want to lower the intensity of your accents so that a more unified and blended combination can be achieved.
Your dominant color will give your design the mood and the emotion you want to convey. For example, if you keep red as dominant in a red-yellow-blue triad, your design will have a high and intense energy. On the other hand, if you use blue as dominant and the other two as accents, your design will give out a calmer message but less energy. Therefore, it is important to think in detail when designing with triadic colors.
What Are Tetradic Colors?
Similar to triadic colors, tetradic colors are somewhat equally apart colors on a given color wheel. However, they are formed by four colors instead of three. As they consist of four colors equally distanced on the color wheel, tetradic color schemes have two opposing sets of complementary colors. This is why they are sometimes called double complementary. The fact that they contain two sets of opposite colors is the defining aspect of tetradic colors.
Tetradic color schemes can be formed in two ways. One is the rectangle approach and the other is the square approach.
Rectangle Tetradic Color Scheme
Place a rectangle on a color wheel and notice the four colors on each corner. These four colors would be the hues in a rectangle tetradic scheme. The rectangle scheme has one base color with the other three colors distanced at the every 60th degree on the wheel (60 degrees, 180 degrees and 240 degrees).
Square Tetradic Color Scheme
A four color palette based on the square tetradic scheme consists of a base color and the three colors every 90 degrees apart from the base.
Examples of Tetradic Colors:
Common combinations of tetradic color are as follows:
Since they consist of two pairs of complementary colors, tetradic color schemes are very powerful and rich.
Tetradic color schemes are inherently vibrant. Whether it is a website design or an interior decoration project, an effectively used tetradic color scheme will definitely attract attention.
Tetradic colors always make a dramatic statement.
Tips for Using Tetradic Color Schemes
When designing with tetradic color schemes, it is best to be cautious, careful and well-planned. As they offer two sets of complementary colors, tetradic schemes might be hard to balance and harmonize.
For a tetradic palette not to lose its balance and become overwhelming, a designer should not use all the four colors in equal amounts.
Similar to a triadic scheme, since tetradic colors are evenly distributed in the color wheel, none of them are dominant over the others. It is advised to select one of the four colors as the dominant one in a tetradic color scheme.
Don’t forget to keep in mind the tense relationship in between the complementary colors in a tetradic palette. This tension might give your design an aggressive look that you may need but it can also cause it to lose balance.
If the complementary colors are too aggressive and the warm-cool balance is not watched out for, your project could end up looking clumsy and unsophisticated.
tetradic is hard to pronounce