ColorDesigner - 1.0

ColorDesigner is technically correct in its color arrangement for RGB. For example, Red (FF0000) and Cyan (00FFFF) are, in the RGB color specification, complementary colors. As RGB uses additive mixing, mixing Red with Cyan gives you FF0000 + 00FFFF = FFFFFF (White).

Additive mixing applies when combining colored light sources (like a computer display) as opposed to reflected light (like a painting). However, it is not an intuitive mixing scheme. Any kid who's colored with a box of crayons can tell you that mixing red and cyan don't give you white. Almost any book you find on color theory/design will use subtractive mixing schemes (like RYB) in which the mixing of complements will yield gray.

For some folks, it isn't going to matter which color specification ColorDesigner uses (they'll just play around with it until it generates something they like). However, there are certain effects designers use that are based on the schemes in subtractive specifications. For example, placing complementary colors (of equal value or brightness) next to each other creates a sort of "energy" between the two colors (something artists and graphic designers make use of frequently). ColorDesign's complementaries (e.g., red and cyan) won't give you this effect (at least not to the proper degree). Red and cyan are, in subtractive mixing, a split-complementary pair.

The problem with ColorDesigner's color wheel, therefore, is that it is out of sync with all of the literature you find on color theory and color mixing. There is more information about schemes at http://www.adaptiveview.com/cw/doc2.html.