I just learned about this very cool site and I wish I’d known about it sooner, as it could have saved me HOURS of piddling around: ColorBlender.com
If you have ever struggled to decide what colors go together when designing anything for print or the Web (or decorating your office, for that matter), this tool will be a life-saver. Simply click on the first box, change it to one color you know you like, and then see how the program fills in the other five boxes.
Play around with the color sliders until you get the exact palette you want, and then copy down the HTML and RGB values for use in your design programs. You can also save them in formats that will import directly into Photoshop and Illustrator and get approximate PMS values too.
If you are in a big hurry and don’t want to pick even the first color on your own, you can “browse blends” for a bunch of combinations.
I see lots of great uses for this tool:
–Finally figuring out what colors look good with your logo color
–Developing your newsletter design style sheet, with headline colors matching text, boxes, folios, etc.
–Reigning in overzealous marketing volunteers by limiting their color palette to one that works
–Improving your branding by using a consistent color palette
–Creating a complete color palette for your annual report
–Finding the right color mat when framing photographs (simply sample a dominant color in the photo)
–Customizing your PowerPoint template so it looks professional and fresh
Thanks to Teaching Sells for the tip.
