The Natural System of Colours

This project digitally recreates Moses Harris's 18th-century "Prismatic" and "Compound" color wheels, including new dark-paper versions and freely downloadable color codes. Six posters were produced, featuring light and dark versions of Harris's original designs along with composite posters from his first two editions.

This project is a recreation of Harris’ famous “Prismatic” and ‘Compound” color wheels from the mid-eighteenth century using modern digital methods and an expansion to behavior on dark paper for a new take on an old idea. Codes for all colors are also freely available for download. Six posters were created—four mimicking Harris’ original design for his prismatic and compound color wheels in both light and dark versions as well as two composite posters featuring both wheels as well as those from his first two editions. Explore Posters How it was made