So many colors, so little time

posted by Adam

When it comes to design, whether it be web or print design, color is a very important aspect. With the addition of the color picker in the latest version of Realmac Software's RapidWeaver, I have found myself looking for interesting color schemes that I might not have thought up on my own. These great sites have helped me venture outside of my normal, comfortable color palettes.

Here's a quick rundown of a few of the more popular color palette sites:

• COLOURlovers — Features some stunning, user submitted color combinations. While the site is a little more cluttered than Kuler, which we'll cover next, it is packed with a plethora palettes and useful color information. For instance, COLOURlover keeps track of the current color trends across various mediums, as well as sets them through their color palette groupings. A few examples would be their Summer Color Loving', Beautiful Birds and Knit Socks. The site's blog is a great read and is updated nearly daily. Brilliant stuff, which I find quite useful.

• Kuler — This slick looking site is not only clutter-free, it is well organized and contains a good variety of color palettes. Kuler seems to draw some of its inspiration from COLOURlovers, it does not have as many color palettes as of yet, of course, nor does it offer the categorized, inspired color palettes from everyday things. As with COLORlovers and Color Schemer, which we will cover next, Kuler offers users the ability to create, save and share their own custom color palettes. Kuler also offers user spotlights, and an Apple Dashboard widget. Does not offer a blog or actively follow industry trends.

• Color Schemer — Well organized site and a beautifully designed, companion Mac application, even if the price of the app is a little high at $49.99. Just as COLOURlovers and Kuler, Color Schemer's website is completely free and allows users to create, save and share their color palettes. The application allows for this as well and does so in an easy manner. Color Schemer also includes a forum for users. As with Kuler, Color Schemer offers a free, Apple Dashboard widget, which is useful for just flipping through the site's color palettes. The blog is a nice read, but is not updated very often.

Overall, the best of the three options is COLOURlovers, though I wish it offered a cleaner site design, as well as a nice companion Dashboard widget or application. COLOURlovers also has a jobs listing section. While not directly related to the theme of this post, it is a nice side offering.