[scribu]

> First off, never, ever use complementary colors as the foundation for your design. A red green color scheme (for example) will produce a result that "vibrates."

That's an interesting effect, but I don't see it in the final website layout produced by the tutorial, because neutral colours are introduced between the two complementary colours.

So, I don't see how this example supports your assertion against using complementary colours as a starting point.

[b3rry]

To clarify: As a foundation… not a starting point. You're more than welcome to begin with complementary colors, but they should not be the foundation of your final system. Properly segmenting complementary colors of a similar lightness works to reduce this effect, but you are now imposing artificial constraints on your design system: you have to intentionally isolate your colors from one another in order to prevent this from happening. This is less than ideal when trying to create a flexible system of color. When codifying these relationships, you run the risk of improper use, especially if you have multiple developers designing views from this system.

One solution, if you must maintain a complementary color scheme is to vary the lightness of a color (as Shelburne's side begins to do): "The conditions for these varying effects occur between colors which are contrasting in their hues but also close or similar in light intensity. […] This initially exciting effect also feels aggressive and often even uncomfortable to our eyes. One finds it is rarely used except for a screaming effect in advertising, and as a result it is unpleasant, disliked, and avoided" -Josef Albers, Interaction of Color: XXII Vibrating boundaries — enforced contours

Probably not the best idea to use a scheme that one of the most pre-eminent color theorists describes as “unpleasant, disliked, and avoided.” Shelburne's site goes on to lessen this effect by introducing desaturated values, however the site fails to explain that these shades and tint shifts are just one option when it comes to avoiding this vibrating effect; instead it's solely attributed to the desaturation of these hues. There are many color schemes that mix high-vibrancy colors, and do so by avoiding complements.

[accountface]

>You're more than welcome to begin with complementary colors, but they should not be the foundation of your final system.

...that's what this demo does