How to choose a color palette? The best color combinations. Color circle

How to manage the user's attention on the site? How to choose the right colors for the site? What application can be used to find out the color code on a competitor's website? We analyze today in the article.

Color Scheme Services

• color-hex.com - determine which colors are next to your color
• thestocks.im is an aggregator of mockups, videos, photos, icons, fonts.
• Eye Dropper is an extension for Google Chrome that allows you to use an eyedropper to find out the code of any color on any page on the Internet.
• Adobe Color CC-Pick up color combinations. Adobe Color CC will help you when you have an image and you want to upload its primary colors. The program defines a palette of 5 dominant colors in an image that can be saved and used in presentations. For free.
• Colorzilla is an extension for Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox that includes color picker, eye-dropper, css gradient generator and palette browser tools. It is enough to point the eyedropper at the desired color on any site and copy the code.

Color matching

Upload an image and make a palette out of it.

• Coolors.co is a resource with palettes that you can create yourself or borrow from the collection.

COLOURlovers - to A community of color geeks who share palettes, colors, backgrounds and graphic templates. There are color trends from interiors, magazines, websites and even street fashion. In the "Browse" section, you can find author's colors and palettes and download backgrounds for the presentation.

How to choose a color for a website

You can't judge a book by its cover, but you can definitely judge a website by its design. People usually evaluate and judge products and websites by their appearance, even before they can understand their functionality and usefulness.

In branding, colors have more direct meanings than in the general sense. They can be briefly described in a few words, so here is a list for you:

• Black. Reliable, sophisticated and experienced. Used to promote luxury items.
• White. Simple, calm and clean.
• Red. Confidence, youth and power. Often used for total sales.
• Orange. Friendly, warm and energetic. Creates a call to action: register, buy or sell.
• Yellow. Happiness, optimism and warmth. Usually used to draw attention to a shop window.
• Green. Peace, growth and health. In marketing, it is used for relaxation.
• Blue. Trust, security and stability. Usually used for banks and businesses.
• Purple/violet. Luxurious, creative and wise. Commonly used in the beauty and anti-aging industry.
• Pink. Romantic and feminine. Used to promote products for women and young girls.

Black

Color has many meanings. It is associated with tragic situations. It all depends on how you use it and what colors come with it. Black goes well with any other color, so it's perfect for a background. Designers often use it to set contrasts.

White

Color means purity and innocence, as well as integrity and clarity. White is often associated with a blank sheet of paper that encourages people to come up with new ideas. However, too much white can cause feelings of isolation and emptiness. In design, white is commonly used as a background color, especially for resources where readability is an important part.

Red

The color is usually associated with passionate, strong or aggressive feelings. It symbolizes both good and bad states, including love, confidence, passion, and anger. In design, using red is an effective way to capture the attention of users.

Orange

It is an energetic and warm color that evokes feelings of excitement. Designers use color when they need to motivate action.

Yellow

This is the color of happiness, which symbolizes sunlight, joy and warmth. Yellow is considered to be the lightest color and has one of the strongest psychological meanings. Users who see yellow in design can feel inspired and confident. Although, you must remember that too much yellow can cause negative reactions such as feelings of anxiety or fear.

Green

It is often called the color of nature, balance and harmony. Green brings calming and renewing feelings. It is also a sign of growth and inexperience. It has more positive energy than most other colors, but is sometimes associated with materialism. The design in green tones is ideal for products related to nature.

Blue

The color of trust. It usually shows reliability, reassures.

Purple

Long associated with wealth, as many kings wore purple robes, it is useful for representing some luxurious products. It is also the color of mystery and magic. It mixes the energy of red and blue, so it has a balance of power and stability. A high concentration of color can distract the attention of users.

Pink

It is the color of sensitivity and romance. Pink is much softer than red, so it creates a feeling of unconditional love. Pink is very strongly associated with femininity, so it can be an effective color if the target audience is mostly girls.

Brown

Designers usually use brown as a background color in various shades, from very light to deep. It brings a feeling of warmth and comfort. In addition, it can be used to demonstrate experience and confidence.

The influence of color on the purchase of goods

The study was conducted in North America.

Favorite colors

Unloved colors

Color models

• CMYK: Cyan (bluish), Magenta (reddish), Yellow (yellow), and Key ("key" - black). That is, this model consists of three primary colors and black, which allows you to create darker shades. Used in painting and printing.
• RGB models: red, green, blue - red, green, blue. Used in computers, televisions and other electronic devices

Monochromatic

It is based on one color with different shades. A monochromatic palette is always a winning choice, since it's hard to make the mistake of creating an unpleasant color scheme.

Analogous Colors

To create a similar harmony, use colors that are nearby on the color wheel.

Complementary

An additional scheme is a combination of colors located opposite each other on a color wheel. This scheme is the opposite of similar and monochromatic as it aims to achieve high contrast. For example, an orange button on a blue background is hard to miss in any interface.

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Color matching is one of the most important steps in the process of creating a good design.

To make it easier for you, we decided to compile a selection of the best services for creating color schemes. They will help save time, and at the same time get a decent result.

01. Adobe Color CC

Adobe has renamed its Kuler project to Color

You may be familiar with this tool by its former name, Adobe Kuler. However, Adobe recently renamed one of its popular web applications Adobe Color CC.

It allows you to select, create and save different color schemes, each of which can contain up to five colors. The tool is available in both browser and desktop versions. If you're using the desktop version, then you'll be able to export the color scheme directly to Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign.

02. Mudcube Color Sphere

If you're unsure about your color scheme, then Mudcude has its own gallery of pre-made assets.

Mudcube Color Sphere is a very handy miniature resource for designers that not only offers hex codes for selected colors, but also allows you to create color schemes for your own projects. It is also worth noting that Mudcube has its own gallery of ready-made resources that you can also use.

03. Check my Colors

Check my Colors is designed specifically to evaluate and match the background and foreground color combination for all DOM elements. And also in order to find out whether the elements are harmonious enough with each other. All tests are based on algorithms recommended by the World Wide Web Consortium ( W3C).

04. The Color App

The application will help you find out the RGB, HEX, and HSLA values ​​of the selected colors

iOS tool The Color App allows you to easily and simply define colors using a large color palette. It allows you to find out the RGB , HEX and HSLA values ​​of colors, as well as create your own color schemes for the site.

05. Color Hunter

Color Hunter generates a color scheme based on the selected image

This is a very handy tool, especially if you need to find a specific color. Select an image and upload it to Color Hunter. The tool will create a color palette based on the selected image. This is a great method for creating your own color schemes.

06. Tin Eye

If you need to get a specific color, just enter the HEX value in the URL

This site uses a database of 10 million images, available for free under a Creative Commons license agreement, carefully selected by the creators from Flickr. They can be used to generate appropriate color schemes.

07 Color

Convenient miniature web application. Hover your mouse over the screen, and determine the color you want, then scroll a little to pick up the shade. After that, the tool will give out all the necessary HEX codes that you can use in your own projects. One of the easiest tools to use.

08 SpyColor.com

A free color scheme generator that provides color information and also allows you to convert it to any scheme ( RGB, CMYK and others ). A variety of color scheme formats are available here, including triadic, monochrome, and more.

09.Design inspiration

Up to five shades can be selected on Designspiration with a handy full-page palette that makes it easy to find exactly the HTML color schemes you're looking for. The site will then generate a page with all the images in the database that use a similar color combination. It will also provide HEX values ​​that you can use in your own projects. And images can be saved in collections on the site.

10ColorExplorer

One of the most thoughtful web tools that offers a lot of features related to color scheme design, customization and analytics. Here are some tools to help you determine WCAG validity of color schemes, as well as generate your own color palettes.

11. Hex Color Scheme Generator

A handy little tool for generating color combinations based on a single selected hue. Paste in the hex value of the color and the tool will provide a set of suitable colors to use with the base color.

12. COLOURlovers

COLOURlovers is a community for sharing color schemes. Here you can draw inspiration from the color sets of other users, as well as create and share your own.

13. Color Scheme Designer

This online tool offers interesting ways to generate color schemes, allowing you to adjust their brightness and contrast. Here you can create several popular mathematical models of color schemes, including monochrome.

14. COPASO

One of the tools from the COLOURlovers website. But COPASO deserves special attention, as it is an incredible all-in-one solution, and makes it easy to generate ready-made color schemes for the site. There are many tools for color matching, and all of them are placed in a convenient and simple interface. In addition, notes can be added to palettes, images can be uploaded, and so on.

15. Colormod

Colourmod is software that allows you to select individual colors from the widget area, whether you are using a Mac or Konfabulator on Windows. This is not exactly a simple tool for working with color palettes, but it will help you quickly and easily determine colors without having to download heavy programs.

16. ColorZilla

ColorZilla is available for both Chrome and Firefox

This project started out as a plugin for Firefox , but today it is also available for Google Chrome . ColorZilla is an extension that includes several tools for working with color, including a palette, a css gradient generator, and an eyedropper.

17. Colormunki

A handy online tool for selecting color schemes from the creators of Colormunki. With it, you can easily create attractive color palettes from Pantone-based samples using several techniques.

18.colr.org

Colr.org allows you to set the color range of any image

This tool allows you to perform a detailed color analysis of an image, which is usually automated in other tools. This will allow you to choose the most suitable color. We recommend getting to know this tool, although its interface is not as well thought out as in other applications.

19. Color Grab

This handy tool creates color palettes from any image. Paste in the address of the image you want to analyze and the service will automatically generate a 3D graph with information on the colors used. Although this application is not exactly suitable for selecting a color scheme for a site, it can be used to study images and their color characteristics.

20 Color Blender

ColorBlender generates a palette of five matching colors

One of the simplest tools that allows you to adjust the color and get five matching colors in real time. The generated palette can be downloaded in Photoshop or Illustrator as an EPS file.

21. Gray Bit

GrayBit ​​lets you analyze websites to see how they would look in grayscale

This tool will help you see how your site looks in grayscale. An excellent service that will allow you to identify problem areas in contrast.

22. COLRD

A tool that can be used as inspiration or to share color schemes. Of course, this resource will not help with generating circuits, but it should definitely be taken into account.

An effective website design is unthinkable without the selection of a color solution. It remains to figure out how to do it.

For some projects, you may have already chosen several colors to match your logo or brand palette, and you are building your site within those limits. Others are just sketches. There are those that need minor changes that can make the site more beautiful and more convenient.

Whether you're looking to make things easier and faster, or you're building a website for the first time, these tools will help you find the solution.

Let's start with a brief introduction to color theory.

Below you will find 19 resources to help you choose a color palette for your site.

Preparation

Do you need inspiration?

1.

BrandColors shows how leading brands use color to differentiate their business, tell their story, and convey values. You can view the list of companies, non-profit organizations and startups in alphabetical order or use the search to find the brand of interest.

Looking for a ready-made palette?

2.

This is a color palette design forum with nearly 2,000,000 user-uploaded options. You can download a palette containing a specific color and read what the designers have to say. As a rule, for one combination, several options of different saturation are given.

The palette is accompanied by telling names: Whitsunday Storm (Pacific archipelago in the Coral Sea), Whitsunday Twilight, Whitsunday Island

3.

This resource allows users to create and upload their own color schemes. You can filter them by date, rating and number of downloads, or search by keywords.

4.

In ColoRotate you will find a library of color schemes that you can view, select and modify. A special 3D tool (3D color tool) will help you make your own palette based on the found one. A color scheme you create can be applied directly to PhotoShop or Fireworks by installing the ColorRotate plugin or iPad app.

According to brand requirements

What if you already have pictures, logos, or brand requirements that need to be met?

1.

This site isn't as feature-packed as some on this list, but does a great job of doing what it was designed to do - researching a particular color. Just upload a picture and Color Hunter will create a palette based on it. This is a great way to achieve harmony between the images and the main colors of the site. In addition, here you can expand the color scheme of the site that you like.

2.

Pictaculous makes photo palettes. It is enough to upload a photo to get the colors that go with it. Also, the resource will offer ready-made palettes that suit you.

3.

This tool was known as Adobe Kuler and was intended for color comparison. Now it's a complete palette creation system that allows you to try, compare and save color combinations. You can select a palette type and create five-color schemes automatically or using manual settings.

4.

Paletton speeds up the palette creation process. You need to select the type of scheme: mono, compound, triad, tetrad, related, related-contrasting. As soon as you change one color, the rest will automatically adjust.

5.

Color Spire also builds a palette based on a single color. You choose the original shade and get options for matching schemes with it. You can also see a preview of how the selected palette looks on the site.

6.

This Chrome plugin helps with color harmonization, color blindness and HEX code identification. Color palettes can be directly exported to Illustrator, PhotoShop and CoIRD.com.

7.

The resource allows you to manipulate your own color palette by selecting and adding shades. As a result, you can quickly and easily create a new schema based on an existing one.

8.

This tool picks up colors that go with yours. It's a bit more primitive than the other resources on this list. You need to insert the HEX code of the color into the line or select it from the spectrum presented in the form of a wheel. The generator produces 3 colors that match yours and accompanies them with HEX codes.

Create your color

Many of the resources in this list assume that you have the original color. If there is no need to match the requirements of the brand and BrandColors did not help with the choice, you can start with an outline.

1.

This iOS app helps you choose from multiple colors that are placed side by side at short distances, much more convenient than gradient representation, circles and spectra. Large color grids allow you to use the entire screen (which is especially valuable for iPad Pro owners). In the application, you can create color swatches, find RGB, HEX and HSLA values, and make palettes from sketches.

3. Color

In Color from HailPixel, it is impossible not to decide on a color. You will understand exactly what you want and get the HEX code of the shade.

You make a mouse move or gesture and the color changes a little each time. It looks like a color sphere that constantly accompanies colors with HEX codes. If you move to the right and left on the screen, the color will change, up and down - saturation.

Get color code

If you saw a color somewhere and want to know its code and name, these resources are for you.

1.

SpyColor will provide information about any color, including Hex, RGB, CMYK, and other codes, and show you a range of schemes for each hue, including Complementary, Split Complementary, Triadic, Contrast, and Analogue.

2.

HTML Color Codes finds the HEX code for colors in an image. You select a picture, open it for viewing and get a color code by hovering over it.

Test your palette

Having created a color scheme, you want to make sure that it works.

Check my Colors checks the foreground and background colors against the contrast requirements for those with color vision aberrations. Whether you want to make sure your site is colorblind or get working and intuitive color combinations from a UX perspective, this resource is indispensable. It is enough to enter the site address to get acquainted with the report on its appearance.

Here you can select up to 5 shades from a huge palette and get images that have a similar color combination and are accompanied by HEX codes. Pictures can be saved on the site or downloaded.

Conclusion

Creating a color palette for a website is a craft at the intersection of art and science. These resources will help speed up and ease the path to a visual identity that looks great and performs well.

Of course, a designer in the digital age need not be limited to the colors that can be obtained from paints, inks, or other pigments, although there is much to be learned from the approach to color in fine art as well. The human eye can distinguish millions of different shades, but sometimes even combining two colors can be a challenge.

Amazing color properties

This is because the choice of shades for design is very subjective and requires certain knowledge. So what should designers do if they want to create a beautiful color palette that can make a client happy? Whether you like it or not, the best color combinations go beyond mere personal preference, as they have the amazing ability to influence mood, emotion, and perception, acquire cultural and personal meaning, and grab attention—both consciously and subconsciously.

The challenge for designers and marketers is to balance the complex functions of shades to create an attractive and effective palette of color combinations. This is where a basic understanding of color theory comes in handy. It can help you understand which tones work well (or not) and what effect various combinations will create within a given design.

a color scheme

At school, in drawing lessons, children go through this topic, so everyone is probably familiar with its stripped-down form: red, yellow and blue basic tones. The traditional color wheel consists of 12 tones and is often used by artists. This is a simple visual way to understand the relationship of colors.

The main task that the color wheel performs is the combination of colors. Mixing primary or primary hues (yellow, blue and red) forms secondary ones: green, purple and orange. Combining them with the main tone allows you to get the third level of the circle - tertiary colors. These include red-orange, green-blue, blue-violet and violet-red. The primary and secondary tones are part of the visible spectrum, or the colors of the rainbow. Their order is easy to remember with the help of the mnemonic phrase "Every hunter wants to know where the pheasant sits": red, orange, yellow, green, blue, blue and purple.

This way of understanding color is known as the subtractive model, which consists of mixing pigments such as paints or inks, and is used in both the traditional color wheel and the CMYK system used in printing equipment. It differs from the additive model, which consists in mixing light of different frequencies (for example, on a computer or TV screen), consisting of a different set of red, green, blue (RGB).

Image editors use a different version of the color wheel. Any shade can be selected using its hex code.

Terminology

Before compiling palettes, you need to master the terminology that will help you understand the different types of shades:

• hue is synonymous with color and traditionally refers to one of 12 colors;
• brightness: the degree to which a color tone is far from black;
• lightness: the proximity of tone to white;
• saturation - the intensity or purity of a color (the closer the hue approaches gray, the less saturated it is).

The best color combinations

From the color wheel, there are a number of classical palettes that have been used by artists for many centuries. For most design decisions, one dominant color should stand out from these schemes - by the amount of its use or by its separation from other tones - one or more accents:

1. Monochrome scheme: using different brightness, lightness or saturation of tones of the same color in the range from light to dark. An example of a successful monochrome combination is red with black and white. This scheme provides a slim and conservative design. Blue and white - a classic combination of Chinese porcelain of the 9th century. and French textiles of the 18th century.

2. Similar placed side by side on the color wheel. It is versatile and easy to apply when developing projects. An example is the combination of purple with blue-violet.

3. Complementary scheme: tones located at opposite ends of the color wheel are used. For example, blue and orange, red and green. Complementary colors have a high intensity and contrast, but they are difficult to apply harmoniously and balanced in their pure form, as they can easily clash in a design.

4. Split-complementary scheme: any tone of the color wheel plus two colors bordering on its complement. For example, yellow with green and red-violet. This scheme also has strong visual contrast, although weaker than the previous one. Provides the best color combinations for beginners in design as it is hard to mess up.

5. Triadic scheme: any three tones evenly distributed on the color wheel. Provides quite bright combinations, even if the tones are pale and desaturated. For successful use, it is necessary to achieve complete balance - one color should become dominant, and the other two - accents.

6. Tetrad, or double complementary: consists of two complementary pairs. This scheme is extremely attractive, but more difficult to apply than a single pair of complementary colors, since more tones are more difficult to balance. When using this scheme, choose one color as the dominant color and adjust the saturation, brightness, and tint lightness of some or all of the tones so that they provide the best combinations of colors in different parts of the design.

Inspiration

In addition to color wheel combinations, nature offers many ready-made solutions for harmonious color schemes.

Options for combining colors include taking into account their temperature (hot or cold), saturation (bright tones often look young, while pale tones often look vintage), moods (bright and cheerful, dark and serious), themes (location, season, holiday), and other qualities.

Another great technique for finding color can be to look to different historical periods and artistic movements for inspiration: the warm, light tones of the Impressionists; bright, unexpected combinations of post-impressionists; soft, earthy Art Nouveau colors; bright, bold shades of pop art.

The psychology of color

Color surrounds us. Whether we realize it or not, it plays a big role in our daily lives. Have you seen an orange or yellow traffic sign on the road today? He got attention for a reason. Color has an amazing connection to our moods and emotions.

But not everyone experiences color in the same way. The meaning and symbolism that we associate with different tones is very dependent on the influence of the cultural and social groups to which we belong. Here are some common meanings associated with primary colors in Western culture.

Red

This color conveys many different ideas depending on the context. Associated with fire, it can symbolize warmth or danger. Since red is the color of blood, it is considered an energetic, lively tone and therefore associated with matters of the heart and sometimes with violence.

Alternate Meanings: In some Eastern cultures, red symbolizes good luck and prosperity and is the color worn by brides on their wedding day. Throughout the world, red is associated with various political movements and symbolizes revolution.

In branding, it often denotes strength, confidence, and power and is highly visible.

Orange

Also the color of fire, orange combines the warmth of red with the cheerfulness of yellow and symbolizes activity, energy and optimism. It is also associated with harvest or autumn.

Alternate Meanings: In India, saffron, which has a yellowish tint to orange, is considered sacred. In Japan, the color symbolizes love.

In branding: often represents youth and creativity. Gold, which is also a shade of orange or yellow, symbolizes luxury and high quality.

Yellow

As the color of the sun, it often symbolizes happiness, cheerfulness, friendliness, and the freshness of spring. In addition, in certain contexts, it can convey a warning signal or warn of caution. Some variations (especially desaturated and greenish ones) look sickly or unpleasant, which is not surprising since historically yellow is sometimes associated with illness and quarantine.

Alternate Meanings: In some Eastern and Asian cultures, yellow is associated with high birth or status. In parts of Africa and Latin America, this tone is the traditional color of mourning.

In branding: A clear or bright yellow tone is eye-catching, but can be unsettling or even hard to see (for example, white text on a bright yellow background or vice versa) if used carelessly.

Green

It is the color of nature, vegetation and growth. It often symbolizes health, freshness, or natural qualities. Dark green can represent wealth and stability.

Alternate Meanings: Among Muslim cultures, green is a sacred color. It is also associated with Ireland, St. Patrick's Day and the lucky quatrefoil.

In branding: Brands or products that are presented as "green" (natural, healthy, eco-friendly, organic, etc.) often use natural colors such as green and brown.

Blue

The color of the sea and sky, it often symbolizes peace and purity. Unlike more energetic and warm tones, blue is perceived as calming. In some cases, it can represent sadness or depression.

Alternate Meanings: In Middle Eastern cultures, blue traditionally protects against evil. Because of its association with the sky, in many cultures the color symbolizes immortality and spirituality.

In branding, blue is widely used and is one of the most versatile colors. It usually symbolizes reliability, security and stability. The tone is particularly popular in corporate contexts, as it is perceived as having a serious, conservative, and professional quality.

Violet

Traditionally associated with nobility, grandeur or honor. Thus, it has spiritual, mystical or religious connotations.

Alternate meanings: In many cultures around the world, the combination of purple symbolizes nobility or wealth, but in Thailand and parts of South America it is associated with mourning.

In branding, dark shades of purple are often a symbol of luxury, while lighter and brighter shades are popular with women and children.

Black

Like red, this color has many (sometimes conflicting) meanings. It can represent power, luxury, sophistication and exclusivity. On the other hand, black symbolizes death, evil or mystery. In clothing, it is a symbol of formality or mourning and mourning (since mourning is traditionally worn at funerals).

Alternate Meanings: In some Asian and Latin American countries, black is considered a masculine color. In Egypt, it means rebirth. In many cultures, color is associated with magic, superstition or bad luck, and the inexplicable or unknown.

In branding: black is so widely used that it has almost become neutral, although it can symbolize the above depending on the context. Many designs are simply black and white (consciously or simply to save on color printing).

White

As the color of light and snow, white often symbolizes purity, innocence, goodness, or perfection (traditionally worn by brides), but also signifies austerity or sterility.

Alternate meanings: In China, white is the color of mourning. In many cultures, it stands for peace - the white flag is the universal symbol of truce or surrender.

In branding: white often communicates simplicity, cleanliness or modernity. Designers looking for a minimalist aesthetic often use a lot of white.

Color in design

Picking a color combination is more than choosing two or three shades and distributing them in equal proportions throughout the design. Using them effectively has a lot to do with balance, and the more tones you use, the harder it is to achieve.

The easiest way to implement this concept is by dividing the selected colors into prevailing and accents. The dominant tone will be the most visible and most used in the design, while one or more accents will complement and balance it. Paying attention to the interaction of colors - the presence or absence of contrast, how adjacent tones look, what mood the combination of colors and shades creates, etc. - will help to accurately select the ideal palette for design purposes.

The generally accepted rule for using a basic three-color palette is the 60-30-10 rule. This approach is often used in interior design, but can also be applied effectively to web or print design. It is enough to give the dominant color 60%, and give the remaining 30% and 10% to the two accents. A good example of this rule is the men's suit: the jacket and trousers account for 60% of the color of the clothes, the shirt takes 30%, and the tie the remaining 10%. All together provides a balanced, elegant appearance.

Another way to keep the palette simple and balanced is to use lightness and lightness (or lighter and darker versions of the selected tone). In this way, you can expand the choice of colors without overwhelming the design inconsistency.

and branding

Brand recognition is highly dependent on color. Just think of Coca-Cola, Facebook, or Starbucks, and it's easy to remember the tones these brands are associated with.

A study conducted at the University of Winnipeg showed that people's initial judgments about products are largely based on color (60-90% of the estimate). This means that tone in design is not only an artistic choice, but also a critical business decision that affects everything from consumer perception of a brand to product sales.

However, when choosing a color scheme for a logo, it is not necessary to adhere to traditions, symbols or stereotypes. There are no foolproof or quick rules here. More important is how the tone is used in the design and harmonizes with the market context of the brand and its character.

RGB vs. CMYK

When working on a printed project, the computer monitor may not display the colors as they would appear on paper. What you see is not what you get because digital monitors and printers use two different systems: RGB and CMYK. The first refers to small dots of red, green, and blue light that combine to form visible colors on a screen; the second means cyan, magenta, yellow and black tones for creating color prints. Since RGB uses a wider spectrum than CMYK, some designers initially create a print project in RGB to preserve more color options and convert the finished design to CMYK before printing.

For this reason, they need a tool that provides consistent color when working with both systems - for example, when designing a logo for a website and printing it on a business card. One such system is the Pantone Matching System (PMS). In it, tones can be matched across websites and print (as well as different types of printed surfaces) to ensure the same look.

Color: understand, explore and love it!

Designers specialize in the study of color theory, psychology or neuroscience - complex subjects that are at the intersection of art and science. But this is part of what makes this profession so interesting and such an effective tool in the market. Although this guide only outlines the basic guidelines, it is hoped that it will help produce more informed and more effective color choices for personal or professional projects.

Different colors and shades affect our emotions and associations in different ways. Colors also influence our perception of design. It does not matter what kind of design it is - interior, website or mobile application - the combination of colors plays a very important role. Just a few centuries ago, the choice of colors, that is, pigments, was very small. Dyes were made from a variety of minerals and plants, and it was fairly easy for artisans of the time to match colors. It is much more difficult for modern designers - they have a huge number of shades at their disposal and sometimes it is excruciatingly difficult to choose harmoniously combined colors.

Each designer solves this problem in his own way. Some act intuitively, sorting through shades almost at random, others methodically compose ready-made palettes and then use them in their work. FreelanceToday invites you to take a look at the various ways to match color palettes shared by famous designers.

1. READY PALETTE AROUND YOU

Callie Hegström, a designer at Make Media, says: “First, I take pictures of something beautiful. It can be flowers, sunset, whatever. Thus, I get a ready-made color palette and now I just need to isolate the main colors from the photo, which will definitely be in harmony with each other. I can then open the photo in Photoshop and use the eyedropper to make a new palette. It's even easier to make a palette with a tool like Photocopa. Just upload the image you like and get the finished palette.

2. USE THE COLOR WHEELS

The artist Marc Chagall said: "All colors are friends of their neighbors and lovers of their opposites." What did he mean? "Friends" Chagall called the shades located side by side on the color wheel, for example, blue and blue. But the "lovers of opposites" are opposite them on the color wheel, that is, the blue color will be combined with various shades of orange.

Canadian designer Cindy Kinash of Cultivated Mind says, “When you use watercolor to show shadow or depth, you can use a similar color, just a few shades darker.” This way to choose well-matching colors is one of the best. Using friendly colors and pairing them with contrasting hues can achieve amazing results - you just need to know how to use the color wheel.

3. LEARN FROM INTERIOR DESIGNERS

Since the principles of working with color remain the same regardless of the type of design, you can pay attention to how interior designers make up color palettes. British designer Elena Jenova shares her experience: “When I do interior design, I use a rule that applies to graphic design as well. In my work I use the dominant color, its share is 60%, friendly shades (30%) and 10% is the color accent. If the palette seems too poor, then you can add a few shades that will be “friends” of the dominant color, while you should not crush the accent, it should be left as it was.

If you're having trouble picking colors, take a look at nearby areas of design - you'll likely find some inspiring examples there.

4. SAVE THE GOOD EXAMPLES

Niki Laatz, owner of a print shop and designer shop, explains how she finds and uses effective color palettes in her work: “Whenever I see a painting or illustration with colors I like, I take a photo or screenshot and save it. their. Then, when I have to pick a color palette, I just look through all the saved images and always find something inspiring there.”

You can look for successful examples of matching colors anywhere - in museums, in books, in magazines and, of course, on the Internet. You can also use a site like Pinterest, where you can catalog and store many kinds of color palettes.

5. USE THE FANPANTONE

Sometimes such a proven way of choosing colors as a color wheel does not help to create a palette. In this case, you can match the colors like in the good old days, using the Pantone fan. Sometimes it can be helpful to step away from the monitor and focus not on the digital but on the physical color sample. Kelly Hegstrom explains the use of a tint fan in her work: “Sometimes it's good to have a tint fan handy, especially when you're not sure the hue on the monitor will print correctly. Also, the fan is useful if the client needs some special color - you just show him the fan and the problem is solved by itself.

Pantone can be very useful in the work of graphic designers - with the help of a fan you can create accurate color palettes that will not only save time, but also allow you to relax when it comes to printing in a print shop.

6. GET THE COLORS FROM NATURE

Our eyes are accustomed to the colors that are most often found in nature. Natural color palettes will always look good because they are familiar to us. Designer Gary from CO-OP says: “The color combinations are endless. Landscapes, fruits, leaves, flowers are all natural, accessible and free sources of inspiration.” Gary works in South Africa and therefore his palettes are warm and bright, just like the nature of this country.

7. USE 3 OR 4 COLORS

If a designer deliberately uses a wide range of colors in his work, for example, he needs to depict a rainbow, this is one thing. However, you should avoid using too many colors. Rodrigo German, a designer from Chile, recommends using three colors in your design. If additional shades are required, then they should be as contrasting as possible to the main color.

Demonstrating the Marty font he created, Rodrigo uses three colors - pink, green and black. In doing so, he plays with texture to achieve the right degree of contrast.

So if you're having trouble matching colors or aren't sure about your color palette, ask yourself if you can cut the number of colors down to three, ideally. Sometimes this method is very effective.

8. COLOR PALETTE DEPENDS ON THE THEME

When choosing colors, you should always consider the theme. Are you working on a sports or business website? Or is your project dedicated to beauty and fashion? Think about what colors are ideal for a given theme. Are you designing a flyer for a beauty salon? Do not do it in dark colors. And if you're working on a sports magazine, what colors do you need? Each topic can be described in words - for example, fashion can be described with adjectives such as "graceful", "cute", "elegant", and sports - with the words "dynamic", "aggressive", "bright".

Salomea, a designer at Graphic Box, suggests first sketching out a color palette and then gradually choosing the most suitable shades. “For example, I want a 'romantic' purple,” she says. "Or I want to use 'cute' pink." Salome suggests using emotions to accurately match colors – this method helps to create palettes that best suit the theme. She also believes that designers should familiarize themselves with color theory and read various materials that talk about how people perceive different combinations of colors.

9. USEPINTEREST TO SEARCH THEME PALETTE

On Pinterest, you can find a large number of color palettes created by designers from around the world. Ian Barnard, founder of Vintage Design Co, explains how he uses Pinterest: "If I were designing a poster for a beach holiday, I would search for 'summer color palettes' on the site and select the appropriate option."

10. USE SPECIAL SITES

COLORlovers is a creative community where people from different countries create and share color palettes and patterns with other members. By becoming a member of the community, you will have access to more than 3.7 million ready-made color palettes.

If you are looking for inspiration and want to achieve results using a non-standard color scheme, the help of the professional community will be very helpful.