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I've read the tutorials on the different styles of color, and the fonts that would go with them etc... Good tutorials, except... I am still having problems.
Is there a program that anyone knows of that would choose colors that go well together, (maybe something online?). One that says the links be this color, background be this, etc... ? (maybe not that extreme) but maybe saying what colors go well together would be something I am looking for... Thanks for anyone's help or opinions.
I use photoshop to see how my colors will look. As for an online area where there are example of good looking colors together, well use your imaginationBut this should help you some. http://www.sitepoint.com/article/get...sign-templates
Try this: http://pixelfever.com/tools/colormatch/
Thats kewl. I like that color matching stuff i always just used Photoshop but that can help.
This is a good site, as well, especially if you already have an idea of at least one color you would like to use: http://www.colorschemer.com/online.html
Terri Eades - Web/Graphic Designer - www.terrieades.com
yes i agree , the program from colorscheme.com is very good , you should try it..
Cheers
www.kolur.com is a site I use for colour schemes
man, i've never thought there were such things... i always just used my imagination to combine two and more colors. Now that helps a lot! Thanks!
How about these:
Easy RGB - This online utility creates colour harmonies, and accent tones from a main colour.
Safe Web Colours - For people with colour-deficient vision if you're concerned about making your site as accessible as possible.
I did know another that had a page that would change its appearance as you altered the colour scheme so you could see instantly how a site would look but I've lost the bookmark. If I track it down I'll post again or maybe someone else knows the site I'm talking about.
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While there are all these thingys around I still have trouble finding use for them. Say you're doing a site for a business. They have a logo with 2 or 3 colours (making them the corporate image pallete). That makes those colours the obvious choice plus a few different tones of them.
If these colour pallete generators are that useful, then why do "Colour Consultant" positions still exist.
I've used http://www.colormatch.dk/ a few times. Works really well.
Color Impact is brilliant -I wouldn't be without it. You can save swatches and put them into your FWs folder when you have a color combo for a particular site (one of the good things about it
more info here:
http://dreamweaverresources.com/colorimpact.htm
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I'll add my vote for Color Schemer. I actually have the Color Schemer Studio software and I love it. Being color blind it helps me a lot to be sure the colors I choose coordinate well.
Off Topic:
When I say color blind, I mean I have a hard time telling different shades and differentiating between colors like blue/purple, orange/yellow/green, green/brown, etc.
I do not see only grayscale!
The Color Schemer is a fantastic piece of software and is worth every penny.
Also, when making a layout, good colors are often right beside each other in the color pallete. In the color chooser in Photoshop or whatever, select your exact color, then move it ever so slightly in a direction you want, 90% of the time it will look good with what you have. Or even just moving the saturation up or down even 1 or 2 %
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I can't find a colour blender better than http://www.meyerweb.com/eric/tools/color-blend/ for my colour design requirements.
Usually I will have a colour or two as my base colours (often these are from a client's logo or they are the "corporate colours", and I need complementary colours for the website. The above link is fantastic for this purpose.
http://www.wellstyled.com/tools/colo.../index-en.html
This one is by far the most impressive and easy to use color scheme generator that i've found. the user interface is very smooth. it's written totally in javascript so visual feedback i instant...no need to choose color values then submit and wait for the server to respond. and it's completely mouse driven, no need to type in color values.
I agree completely with you. There is a LOT more to colors than what people see on the surface, you also have to take into account the human psyche, the site's audience, the site's purpose, etc. Not to mention the fact that even the most radical color combination that you wouldn't believe anyone would use, are sometimes the most attractive. Using color coordinators severely limits the possibilities of colors you could use because most of them are based on tri-color designs focused around the RGB (Red Green Blue) color pallette. They usually totally disregard the effectiveness dual-color designs can be, and they don't typically focus on the RYB (Red Yellow Blue) pallette, they don't take into account the audience or the site's purpose, etc. They're missing more than half of the possibilities and could be giving you bad color combinations half of the time!While there are all these thingys around I still have trouble finding use for them. Say you're doing a site for a business. They have a logo with 2 or 3 colours (making them the corporate image pallete). That makes those colours the obvious choice plus a few different tones of them.
If these colour pallete generators are that useful, then why do "Colour Consultant" positions still exist.
They do not ask you what kind of site you are trying to create, you certainly don't want to use Green as the primary tone of a business website (green is subconsciously linked to envy and greed), or blue on a political website (blue is relaxing and doesn't engage the user), etc. Therefore, all of the color coordination tools are totally useless if you do not understand how the human psyche percieves colors.
They also do not take into account Color Context. For example, a yellow box on a black background would appear bigger than it would on a white background. Obviously, the color coordination programs cannot determine where emphasis is required in a design, or when it should be totally avoided. Therefore, you could end up with some strange results trying to use color coordination programs.
I think those who are having trouble picking a good color theme should read over one of my Opera Journal entries, Color Theory. I think you will learn a lot about how colors can be used to engage users, relax them, how you can imply that you're company's dependable, how to cater to different nationalities, etc. If you have an Opera account, please leave your comments (I'm currently working on a new site and will be rewriting the majority of my previous articles), I would highly appreciate them!
My personal favourite is ColorImpact. What a cute piece of software
Corrie Haffly discussed this topic a few months ago in her blog and this post is still pretty useful for the good links it has. I've used the color generators she posted a few times and they turned out pretty good.
http://www.sitepoint.com/blog-post-view.php?id=183321
I use Innovastudio WebColor and it works great for me when I need ideas and color schemes.
I can understand the importance of determining the perfect color scheme for specific clients' sites, especially when alot of money is at stake. High profile web sites should be given every advantage possible, from font family and line height to color schemes and ad placement. And for sites like those, a "color consultant" (I had no idea such a position even exsisted until I read this thread) can more than likely deliver some value to the site's design.While there are all these thingys around I still have trouble finding use for them. Say you're doing a site for a business. They have a logo with 2 or 3 colours (making them the corporate image pallete). That makes those colours the obvious choice plus a few different tones of them.
If these colour pallete generators are that useful, then why do "Colour Consultant" positions still exist.
But what about creating a personal web site, or a community forum for sports enthusiasts? If you are just trying to come up with a decent looking color scheme from scratch, without a pre-defined set of colors from some type of logo, color scheme generators are very handy. I know guys that are terrible artists but terrific web application developers, and when they design sites around their applications (ie, control panels), they are usually just black and white. For those sites functionality takes priority over look and feel, though it would be nice to have some sort of pleasing color scheme that won't put the users to sleep.
Hiring a "color consultant" would be a ridiculous proposition for a small design/development shop that is just trying to make their site and/or applications look a little more pleasing. color scheme generators to the rescue!
Wow thanks for the http://www.colorschemer.com/online.html link - thats very helpful
Hi,Originally Posted by cholmon
I was meaning color consultants for jobs more like house renovations, etc. Although offtopic, they could easily use one of those color schemers themselves, but they don't.
For a personal site, sure. But is anyone really that bad with a sense of color? For every type of site, anyone could easily figure out a starting color, and then follow with shades, and blacks and grays. Whatever looks good with it really.
I will agree that they can be useful in some cases, but not in mine. And my opinion was from my point of view.
HP have an interactive colour wheel that I enjoy playing with.
http://h40099.www4.hp.com/country/za...our_wheel.html
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