Canva terms

Color Wheel

A tool for selecting and understanding colors.

What is the color wheel in Canva?

The color wheel in Canva is a tool that helps users understand and utilize color relationships in their designs. It is based on the standard RGB (Red, Green, Blue) color model and includes 12 main colors: three primary colors, three secondary colors, and six tertiary colors. The color wheel is a circular diagram that visually represents these colors and their relationships to each other.

In Canva, the color wheel is used to create color palettes that can be applied to designs. It helps users choose colors that work well together, based on color theory principles such as complementary, analogous, triadic, and compound color schemes. By using the color wheel, users can create visually appealing and harmonious designs.

How to use the color wheel in Canva?

The color wheel in Canva is a tool that helps you choose and combine colors for your design. To use it, you first need to open your design in Canva. Then, click on the color tile in the toolbar at the top of the page. This will open the color wheel.

The color wheel is divided into different sections, each representing a different color. You can click on any section to select that color for your design. You can also use the slider at the bottom of the wheel to adjust the shade of the color. If you want to use complementary colors, simply choose a color on the wheel and then look directly across the wheel to find its complement. For a triadic color scheme, pick any color on the wheel and then draw an equilateral triangle to find the other two colors. This approach is particularly useful when selecting dynamic call to action colors that stand out.

How to change the color wheel values in Canva?

To change the color wheel values in Canva, you first need to open your design. Once you have your design open, click on the element you want to change the color of. This will open up a color palette at the top of the screen.

In the color palette, you can either choose from the default colors provided by Canva or you can click on the '+' button to open the color wheel. Here, you can manually adjust the color by dragging the cursor around the wheel. You can also input a specific color code if you have one. Once you've selected your color, click on the checkmark to apply the color to your selected element.

Where to find the color wheel in Canva?

The color wheel in Canva can be found within the color selection tool. When you are designing in Canva and you want to change the color of an element, you simply click on the element and then click on the colored square that appears in the toolbar at the top of the page. This will open up the color selection tool.

Within the color selection tool, you will see a variety of pre-selected colors that you can choose from. However, if you want to access the color wheel, you need to click on the '+' button located at the bottom of the color selection tool. This will open up the color wheel where you can choose any color you want by clicking and dragging the cursor around the wheel. You can also adjust the saturation and brightness of the color using the slider below the color wheel.

If you create and edit videos...

You should try Tella.tv - your all-in-one screen recorder, to create launch videos, product demos, social media videos, 1:1s for customers, and more!

Tella isn't just a screen recorder. It combines the creativity of Canva with the simplicity of Loom to create great looking videos with no effort.

With Tella, you can record your screen and/or camera, combine separate clips and quickly remove mistakes, apply beautiful backgrounds, change the camera layout, add zoom effects - almost instantly.

Tella screen recorder

< Back to Canva glossary

Try Tella today!

Screen recording for creators — simple and powerful.

7-day free trial — no credit card required