Digital Scrapbooking Tutorials – Choosing colors

There’s a very good article on Scraps of Mind about choosing color schemes for your scrap book layouts. Digital Scrapbooking Tutorials brings you an excerpt here which will help in how you go about selecting your digital scrapbooking elements for your layouts.

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Basically colours in your scrapbook layout should either complement or enhance the focal point on your photo grouping. Typically, there are a few colour schemes that can be followed:

• The Monochromatic Colour Scheme. This colour scheme uses a single colour selection in different shades.
• The Complementary Colour Scheme. In this colour scheme the colours used are selected from the opposite sides of a colour wheel.
• The Triadic Colour Scheme. This Colour Scheme selects three colours of the same tonal value. This means they must all be soft, bold, muted, light or dark.
• The Split Complementary Colour Scheme. This Colour Scheme utilises one colour from your photo and one or more complementary colours.

When it comes to selecting colours to build your colour scheme always remember; less is more. Experiment with a maximum limit of three colour choices. The more colours you use on your scrapbook layout, the more competition you introduce for your focal point. The fewer colours you use, the easier it is to use them well.Try to use colour in the right proportions on your layout. Aim to choose a single main colour and then accent it with one or two other colours. You need to vary the amount (or weight) of each colour you use on your scrapbook layout. If you try to use the same amount of three different colours on a single scrapbook layout, you run the risk of making your layout all about the colour and not about the subject of your layout. As a rule of thumb aim at using a ratio of 60% for the dominant colour, 30% for the complementary colour and 10% for an additional complementary colour. Black and White are considered ‘non-colours’ and you can include these in your colour schemes in any proportion you like. Also neutral colours such as cream or beige and brown are unlikely to create any conflict when you bring them into the mix.

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The process of choosing colors for your layouts can be made easier by choosing elements from the digital scrapbook kit. Usually kits have been colour coordinated by the designer so they can provide you with elements that already complement each other. But even so an understanding of the process of good color selection together with digital scrapbooking tutorials that can improve your digital scrapbooking skills will enable you to create really great layouts you will be proud of.