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I am trying to design a site with a couple color schemes. I am looking for a way to make color schemes that match mathematically.

For example, I know that #FF0000 matches perfectly with #00FF00 and #0000FF. Is there some kind of equation to get, for example, the yellow version of #509cc0? I also have the RGB values and the HSL values on hand.

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I assume you mean automatically? It should be pretty easy using HSL - you just change the Hue value (the 'H' in HSL) to the appropriate value or by the appropriate amount. Wikipedia has a formula for how to convert HSL to RGB which could be done after, and the hex #00FF00 code is just the RGB value in hexadecimal (base 16) format. Someone more mathematical than me could probably turn this into an answer... – user568458 Sep 13 '12 at 17:53
Actually, that makes a lot of sense as far as changing the Hue value. The only problem is finding the right value to change it to. – Ian Sep 13 '12 at 18:08
@user568458 I'd post that as an answer! – Yisela♦ Sep 13 '12 at 20:42
Should the question be something like "how to change hue of a RGB colour while keeping saturation and lightness the same?" – e100 Sep 14 '12 at 12:45

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I'm wary of purely mathematical approaches to color harmony; numbers have no aesthetic sensibilities. That said, since the Hue wheel is divided into 360 degrees, one can build a complementary color scheme by adding 180 to the hue for any given color, a triadic by adding and subtracting 120, and so on.

The triadics below were done using simple arithmetic in the H field of the Photoshop color picker, adding 120 to the value each time. Pure RGB above (in reverse sequence, sorry!), and your starter color, #509cc0 in the row below.

Triadic colors calculated in HSB

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That's exactly the answer I was looking for. I think this will be perfect, thanks! – Ian Sep 14 '12 at 14:12

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