Table of contents for The Color Series

1. An introduction to Color
2. What is Color?
3. Color Theory - The Basics
4. Color Theory - Ultimate Resource List
5. Chosing color and color schemes - Ultimate Resource List
6. Generate a Color Palette from an Image
7. Color Meaning, Symbolism and Psychology
8. Finding Color Inspiration from Paint

Benjamin Moore

Personal Color Viewer
“Experience color combinations that you choose in different types of rooms. The Benjamin Moore Personal Color Viewer will show you how paint color combinations will look in a room or on a house before you pick up a paintbrush.”

Virtual Fan Deck
“The Virtual Fan Deck is a fun, easy, and exciting way to view paint colors before buying. This feature allows you to browse numerous Benjamin Moore Color Collections and view Benjamin Moore Colors. This tool gives you the opportunity to see which paint color is best for you.”

Color Origins
“Explore this interactive, visual presentation of a color’s multifaceted story along with the feelings certain colors provoke in all of us.“

Trends
“Find out what’s next in color. Our color experts travel around the globe to bring tomorrow’s color trends to you today.“

• Harmony

• Bloom

• City Lights

• 07COLOR — What’s Next in Color

Other great links:

• Inspiration
  • Color Associations
  • Color Cues from Nature
  • Selecting a Color Scheme
  • Color Scheme Ideas
  • Color Hints and Tips
  • Color Help
• Understanding Color
  • Our Perception of Color
  • Color and Light
  • Color Basics
  • Decorating Like A Professional
  • Color Help

Behr

Color Smart

Other Useful Links

Glidden

Color Palette

Color Consultant

Color Test

603010

Colour Profiler

Dulux Colour System

Sherwin-Williams

Color Visualizer

• Sherwin-Williams Color System
• Color Themes

True Value Paint

Interactive Color Grid

Colour Inspirations

Table of contents for The Color Series

1. An introduction to Color
2. What is Color?
3. Color Theory - The Basics
4. Color Theory - Ultimate Resource List
5. Chosing color and color schemes - Ultimate Resource List
6. Generate a Color Palette from an Image
7. Color Meaning, Symbolism and Psychology
8. Finding Color Inspiration from Paint

“The best color in the whole world, is the one that looks good, on you!” - Coco Chanel French fashion designer 1883-1971

There is no denying color affects us. Its a really powerful tool. With it you can increase sales, send a certain message, trigger a memory, it calm you, make you think of a product or anger you. Not only do colors affect each person differently, but they can mean different things in different cultures. In Japan a white carnation symbolizes death, but in western cultures white is used in weddings or to symbolize all that is good. It is generally agreed that blue is the universal favorite color, having the most positive effects and least negative effects or associations within cultures.

Featured:

• Color in Motion
• Sensational Color
• Color Meanings
• Color Meaning, Symbolism & Psychology

Other:

• Color meanings around the world
• Color Therapy
• Color Symbolism chart
• Color System
• Color meaning and symbolism
• Color Meaning
• The meaning of color, arts and therapy
• What your favorite colors say about you
• Color symbolism, color and personality, gemstone color & meaning
• Color Culture (topendsports)
• The meaning of Color
• Color and Culture (umuc.edu)
• Colors and Feelings
• Color and Culture (akvis)
• Color in Origami
• Color of flowers
• Rose color meaning
• Meaning of color in roses
• Meaning of rose colors
• An African Valentine: The Bead Code of the Zulus
• Color symbolism of stained glass
• Color meaning in the bible
• The meaning of color in life

Table of contents for The Color Series

1. An introduction to Color
2. What is Color?
3. Color Theory - The Basics
4. Color Theory - Ultimate Resource List
5. Chosing color and color schemes - Ultimate Resource List
6. Generate a Color Palette from an Image
7. Color Meaning, Symbolism and Psychology
8. Finding Color Inspiration from Paint

Color Palette Generator

BigHuge Labs Palette Generator: Also generates palettes from Flickr and Photobucket

Color.org

Degreave Color Palette Generator:

Color Hunter:

Pic2Color:

Table of contents for The Color Series

1. An introduction to Color
2. What is Color?
3. Color Theory - The Basics
4. Color Theory - Ultimate Resource List
5. Chosing color and color schemes - Ultimate Resource List
6. Generate a Color Palette from an Image
7. Color Meaning, Symbolism and Psychology
8. Finding Color Inspiration from Paint

Featured Resource

Website: Colour Lovers

Colour lovers is an absolutely essential resource in my opinion. Their color blog and color trends are great research tools. According to their site:

“COLOURlovers™ is a resource that monitors and influences color trends. COLOURlovers gives the people who use color - whether for ad campaigns, product design, or even in architectural specification - a place to check out a world of color, compare color palettes, submit news and comments, and read color related articles and interviews.

The COLOURlovers™ community is regularly updated with information and examples of the way colors are used in the real world — along with news articles on color trends and interviews with top creative professionals. Here everyone who is interested in the practical applications of color can find an index of color trends as they are happening. Together, they create a color trend index for the entire world provided by users of color worldwide. It’s a tool designers and artists of all kinds use to work with colors in new ways and quickly find out what’s hot and what’s not. This site allows anyone to find their inspiration for color by searching, sorting and filtering through keywords to a color scheme that interests them… or create and share your own!”

There are lots of user generated color palettes for you to chose from and download in a variety of formats. Here is an example of the current top palette.

Featured Links

• Palettes: Top, New
• Forums
• Blog
• Trends
• Interviews

Other Resources

Daily Color Scheme: “Daily Fresh Color Themes”

Color Tool 2.08: Simple color scheme generator

Color Blender: “your free online tool for color matching and palette design!”

ColorMixer:

Color Combos:

Color Jack:

Color Scheme Generator:

Color Schemer:

Color Schemer Gallery:

Color Wizzard:

Color Wheel:

Kuler: Brilliant site from Adobe Labs

Color Scheme 2:

Color Toy:

Table of contents for The Color Series

1. An introduction to Color
2. What is Color?
3. Color Theory - The Basics
4. Color Theory - Ultimate Resource List
5. Chosing color and color schemes - Ultimate Resource List
6. Generate a Color Palette from an Image
7. Color Meaning, Symbolism and Psychology
8. Finding Color Inspiration from Paint

Wikipedia:

“In the arts of painting, graphic design, and photography, color theory is a body of practical guidance to color mixing and the visual impact of specific color combinations. Although color theory principles first appear in the writings of Alberti and the notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci , a tradition of “colory theory” begins in the 18th century, initially within a partisan controversy around Isaac Newton’s theory of color and the nature of so-called primary colors. From there it developed as an independent artistic tradition with only sporadic or superficial reference to colorimetry and vision science.”

Featured Resource

handprint: color vision:

“Vision and color are at the heart of painting. Here is the most comprehensive discussion for artists of color perception, color psychology, “color theory” and color mixing available online, and one of the most comprehensive available anywhere in any format.”

• light and the eye
• colormaking attributes
• the geometry of color perception
• basic forms of color
• adaptation, anchoring & contrast
• additive & subtractive color mixing
• do “primary” colors exist?
• modern color models
• the structure of vision (i)
• the structure of vision (ii)
• color in the world
• tonal value
• color temperature
• color wheels
• mixing with a color wheel
• testing the color wheel
• an artist’s color wheel
• toward a modern color theory

Other Resources

Color Matters:

“Color theory encompasses a multitude of definitions, concepts and design applications. All the information would fill several encyclopedias. As an introduction, here are a few basic concepts.”

Color Theory:

“For a long time, now, there has been a problem that fledgling designers have run into on a constant basis. This problem seems insignificant to most, but in actuality it is quite possibly the most important factor in a design or piece of artwork. Yes, you guessed it…I’m talking about the issue of COLOR.”

Color Wheel Pro- Color Theory Basics:

“Color Theory is a set of principles used to create harmonious color combinations. Color relationships can be visually represented with a color wheel — the color spectrum wrapped onto a circle.”

Wet Canvas- 16 Theories on Color:

“In an age like ours, color is not the luxury it was in past centuries. We are inundated by manufactured color — surrounded, immersed, swimming in a sea of color. Because of sheer quantity, color is perhaps in danger of losing some of its magic. I believe that using color in drawing and painting helps us to recapture the beauty of color and to experience once again the almost hypnotic fascination it once had for us.”

Tiger Color- Introduction to Color Theory

“With colors you can set a mood, attract attention, or make a statement. You can use color to energize, or to cool down. By selecting the right color scheme, you can create an ambiance of elegance, warmth or tranquility, or you can convey an image of playful youthfulness. Color can be your most powerful design element if you learn to use it effectively.”

Color Cube- Color Theory:

“Color is a phenomenon of light caused by how our eyes detect differing qualities of projected or reflected light. Because science and technology has allowed us to understand the physiology of the human eye, to measure wavelengths of light and chart energy patterns, we have come a long way in grasping the complexities of color. Please find below how we define the dimensions of color in terms of hue, lightness, saturation and other characteristics of light. While this article is not the most comprehensive text on color, we hope it serves to increase your understanding of it.”

Colors on the Web - Color Theory:

“In color theory, we often talk about the color wheel. A color wheel is really just the spectrum twisted around so that the violet and red ends are joined. The color wheel is particularly useful for showing how the colors relate to each other and how you can create new colors by mixing two or more colors.”

Worqx - Color Theory Overview:

“If you are involved in the creation or design of visual documents, an understanding of color will help when incorporating it into your own designs. Choices regarding color often seem rather mystical, as many seem to base decisions on nothing other than “it looks right.” Although often told I had an eye for color, the reason why some colors worked together while others did not always intrigued me and I found the study of color theory fascinating.”

DevSource - Color Theory for Developers:

“Color theory may sound like a subject for the Art Department, not for developers. But we’ve all had the experience of choosing a color scheme using the property grid to select named colors and ending up with a really garish color scheme. In an ideal world it might be the case that only our software’s functionality really mattered but, in the world that we actually live in, users are likely to prefer software with a sophisticated color scheme over software with an ugly color scheme.”

Color Theory Primer:

“Now I can’t relate an entire course here, nor would I be qualified to do so, however I will lay down some important primer and definitions garnered from my own personal education and experience, as well as various resource materials.The following color theory is based more on subtractive color which is the color we see around us in a day to day life, or used in painting printing, etc. Additive theory involves Red, Green, Blue (what we see on screen and produced by video devices).”

Table of contents for The Color Series

1. An introduction to Color
2. What is Color?
3. Color Theory - The Basics
4. Color Theory - Ultimate Resource List
5. Chosing color and color schemes - Ultimate Resource List
6. Generate a Color Palette from an Image
7. Color Meaning, Symbolism and Psychology
8. Finding Color Inspiration from Paint

Ok, lets take you back to school again real quick. The “R”, “G” and “B” you see above are primary colors. In traditional color theory these colors cannot be created by mixing other colors, whereas the overlapping colors you see (Secondary Colors) in the middle are created by mixing the primary colors. The secondary colors are created by adding the primary colors together and is also called “additive color mixing”

RGB is based upon light whereas the CMYK method below is based upon pigments. The CMYK method is called “subtractive color mixing”.

Table of contents for The Color Series

1. An introduction to Color
2. What is Color?
3. Color Theory - The Basics
4. Color Theory - Ultimate Resource List
5. Chosing color and color schemes - Ultimate Resource List
6. Generate a Color Palette from an Image
7. Color Meaning, Symbolism and Psychology
8. Finding Color Inspiration from Paint

This post will look at the actual definition of color according to the web.

Dictionary.com:

“the quality of an object or substance with respect to light reflected by the object, usually determined visually by measurement of hue, saturation, and brightness of the reflected light; saturation or chroma; hue.”

webexhibits:

“We perceive color just as we perceive taste. When we eat, our taste buds sense four attributes: sweet, salty, sour and bitter. Similarly, when we look at a scene, our visual nerves register color in terms of the attributes of color: the amount of green-or-red; the amount of blue-or-yellow; and the brightness.”

Online Learning Haven:

“The entire electromagnetic spectrum is made up of ultraviolet, visible light, and infrared. The human eye can only see the light sector of the spectrum. That is Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo and Violet. (ROY G BIV is how I was taught to remember it in school). These are also the colors you see in a rainbow after a rainstorm.
Visible Color

Color is the thing we perhaps notice most about light in the world around us. But why we see colors the way we do all has to do with light. The reason something appears to be the color that does is that the object is absorbing all the other colors of light except the ones we see, which are reflected back to our eyes. If something absorbs all the colors, it appears black, if it reflects everything, it appears white. Color comes from what is called the visible spectrum of light. Scientists measure the wavelengths of light in this spectrum in nanometers or billionths of a meter. Red has the longest wavelength, and violet has the shortest. So, what color we see depends on the wavelength of the light we absorb into our eyes. The primary colors are red, green, and blue, from these colors, every other color can be made.”

RGBWorld:

“Color is all around us. It is a sensation that adds excitement and emotion to our lives. Everything from the cloths we wear, to the pictures we paint revolves around color. Without color; the world (especially RGB World) would be a much less beautiful place. Color can also be used to describe emotions; we can be red hot, feeling blue, or be green with envy.

In order to understand color we need a brief overview of light. Without light, there would be no color, and hence no RGB World. Thank God for light!

Light is made up of energy waves which are grouped together in what is called a spectrum. Light that appears white to us, such as light from the sun, is actually composed of many colors. The wavelengths of light are not colored, but produce the sensation of color.”

This post is part of the Color Series. View the rest of the series here.

Table of contents for The Color Series

1. An introduction to Color
2. What is Color?
3. Color Theory - The Basics
4. Color Theory - Ultimate Resource List
5. Chosing color and color schemes - Ultimate Resource List
6. Generate a Color Palette from an Image
7. Color Meaning, Symbolism and Psychology
8. Finding Color Inspiration from Paint

Color.

Its amazing how color can affect you. How it can alter your mood or how you feel about something. How we associate different colors to different moods. Red can mean death in one culture and love in another. A website’s success can depend on the combination of colors we choose for it. We can link a color to a brand. A world without color would be very gray.

How would you describe color to someone? Is it a feeling or a perception? Im sure you have wondered like i have, if the blue i see is the blue you see.
According to Wikipedia:

“Color is the visual perceptual property corresponding in humans to the categories called red, yellow, blue, black, etc. Color derives from the spectrum of light (distribution of light energy versus wavelength) interacting in the eye with the spectral sensitivities of the light receptors. Color categories and physical specifications of color are also associated with objects, materials, light sources, etc., based on their physical properties such as light absorption, reflection, or emission spectra.”

This is a series about color. The theory, the language, how it applies to brand, feeling and web design.

This move marks the beginning of a new focus. Ive tried everything on my blog. From my humble developer beginnings to SharePoint, to Information Worker then to Architecture. Throughout this time though, one thing has been pretty constant. The Web. This is where my passion really lies. I am the Web Monster, and here begins my new quest.

Check out the new blog