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25 Incredibly Useful Color & Palette Tools for Designers

admin — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 04:16:49 +0000

Web designers know how important color is to the look of a site. Indeed, color and palettes are essential. Whether you are looking to create a new look, or simple clean up something that is already there, color plays a huge role in web design. You can even design your own color palettes so that you put together a color scheme that is unique and attractive. Here are 25 useful color and palette tools that you can use in your web design efforts:

Favorite Color and Palette Tools

These are some of the best tools out there — they’re the elite. Choose any of these color and palette tools for ease of use and great results.

Color Scheme Designer: As you might imagine, this tool is meant to help you design a color scheme. This is extremely user friendly, with the ability to use the drag method to select different hues off a color wheel. You can also easily export the hex codes you need to use for text, xml or html. A handy preview feature allows you to see what the color scheme might look like on an actual web site.
kuler: This is one of the most popular color design tools out there. This palette tool is an Adobe product, and, as you would expect, is compatible with other Adobe design products. The color themes you create using kuler can be easily moved into other Adobe products. A desktop application provides you with the ability to grab swatches from kuler and then apply them to the other applications you might use in your web design efforts.
COLOURlovers: If you are interested in seeing what others are up to, you can use this palette tool to peruse the work of others. This is more of a color trend resource that helps you find inspiration from other web designers. You can also view themes used by actual popular web sites and even magazines.
Color Hunter: Do you like something you saw in a photo and want to recreate some of the colors? With Color Hunter, this is possible. You can enter a photo’s URL, or upload an image, and this neat tool will generate a palette for you, based on what is in the picture. It’s a great way to grab the colors you like.
ColorBlender: If you are looking for complementary colors, this is a good way to go. It’s fast and easy. You pick one color that you like, and then ColorBlender will help you generate a set of complementary colors. You can see a number of different blends and create a color palette based around the theme of a specific color. You can then import your color palette in Illustrator or Photoshop. ColorBlender will even email you a specific URL for your color palette.
Color Jack: The sheer number of tools available from Color Jack is a little staggering at first. However, once you get the hang of it, Color Jack becomes almost indispensable. One of the coolest features is the Color Galaxy. This tool lets you see which colors are recognized by different browsers and operating systems — quite helpful in finding colors that are compatible with the maximum number of systems used by computer users.
Unsafe Color Match Tool: If you are a coder, this tool could be for you. Many web design palette tools aren’t particularly coder-friendly. However, Unsafe Color Match provides you with a way to modify different aspects of your color design, including text, links and background, and then displays the code. The preview function allows you to get a taste of what your web site is likely to look like.
ColorCombos: This tool is meant to help you figure out color combinations and even search a special library. If you want to make your own color, or create a combo, you can do so with the handy “Color Tester” tool. You can use ColorCombos to make template consisting of hex codes, as well as download an image of your palette creation.
DeGraeve Color Palette Generator: This is a tool similar to the Color Hunter. If you want a better look at the colors available in a particularly attractive image, you can enter the URL and get a list. You can see what the colors look like, as well as get their hex codes. Colors are divided into “dull” and “vibrant”.
VisiBone Color Lab: If you are interested in web safe colors, this is the place to go. It’s all about making the fast grab of interesting colors. For the most part, this palette tool is actually rather primitive. However, it is a great tool for the beginning web designer, or the designer who is looking to do something quickly.
colr.org: This is another cool color tool that allows you to browse schemes created by others. It is a very simple tool that allows you to load images from different sites and get a color read-out. You can also use a random feature that will pull images from Flickr to give you some good color ideas.
ColorSchemer: Users develop the color and palette tools available on ColorSchemer. You can peruse the library to get some good ideas, and find tools that work well for you. If you want to create your own color palette, though, you will have to purchase the desktop application. But this can be a good tool for the regular designer.
Check My Colours: Want to know where to begin? This tool will analyze your foreground and background colors and check the combos on your web site. The idea is to help you figure out whether you have a good color scheme, and provide you with ideas of how you can tweak your site to be more attractive.

Other Useful Color and Palette Tools

If you are looking for even more options for your web design needs, here are several more useful and applicable color tools:

EasyRGB: If you are interested in color technology and creating attractive sites, this tool can provide you with the ability to make harmonies, and use a helpful color calculator.
GenoPal: This tool is aimed at helping you find complementary colors that can help you find color harmony.
ColourMod: This is a dhtml color picker that can help you figure out which colors to use. There are different versions that can help you fulfill different design goals and functions.
Daily Color Scheme: Provides you with different color schemes each day. You can get the hex, rgb and hsb codes for the different schemes as well.
ColorMix: Provides stock images that you can use to integrate into your color scheme.
Palette Man: Color schemes and their palettes are offered. You can enter your own hex codes to tweak what’s already there, and see how different colors interact.
Jeff Minard’s Color Palette Generator: This is a tool that allows you to upload images and then create a palette based on the colors it contains.
Color Wizard: Submit a single color that is of interest for you. Then the color wizard will provide you with a matching color palette that includes hues, tints and saturation.
Colorspire: Using a color wheel and a web design template, you can see how different color schemes might working, using complementary colors and adjusting your position on a grid.
Gray Bit: This tool converts your color scheme to grayscale so that you can see whether or not it has good contrast between background and text.
ColoRotate: An interesting way to view colors — as they display in 3D.
ColorMunki: This is a tool that offers help for photographers as well as designers. It’s meant to help with workflow.

Top 50 Web Design Education Blogs

admin — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 01:32:58 +0000

Web design is definitely an art. You want an attractive address on the web. And, if you plan to offer your services to others, you want to be up to date on best practices and you want to be able to provide solid design principles to any project that you participate in. If you are interested in web design, there are some blogs that can help educate you about what is going on now. Here are 50 web design education blogs that can help you improve your skills:

Best Practices

These are web design blogs dedicated to best practices and helping you figure out what you can accomplish. Many of these blogs are also more general in terms of web design topics.

A List Apart is one of the premier web design blogs. Plenty of inspiration and the latest information on best practices.
Fuel Your Creativity holds interesting discussions on items related to web design, as well as providing good examples and helpful hints.
Just Creative Design provides a portfolio of interesting work, as well as information on bettering your web design practices.
Noupe offers a number of great posts on best practices — as well as the worst practices and things you should avoid.
Web Designer Wall has a number of examples of best practices in different web design areas.
Vandelay Design offers a number of posts and examples on good design and helps you identify best practices.
David Airey is a graphic designer with a great blog on design and best practices.
Apples to Oranges focuses on different practices and provides inspiration for web design.
Unmatched Style provides galleries and good examples of design that works. Also includes podcasts on best design practices.
Stopdesign looks at different aspects of the web design world and shares insight into practices.
24 Ways is an interesting concept in blogging. It’s an advent calendar updated every December with all sorts of design goodness. The archives provide great educational insight.
The Design Cubicle offers insight on how to run a successful design business. Also includes information on best practices and resources.
Creattica Daily looks at news and information from the design world.

Tips and Tricks

While these blogs do concentrate on design aspects, they also focus heavily on providing helpful tricks and tips to improve your web design ability and use various tools.

Smashing Magazine is home to a plethora of helpful tips and tricks. From tips for help with HTML5 to information on Photoshop plugins, you can find useful design hacks.
SitePoint has a blog that offers a number of design hacks and tricks that can help you find faster ways to be more effective.
Woork offers a number of quick tips and code tricks to help you with better web design and development.
CSS Tricks is a great place to head if you are looking for some CSS design hacks.
Web Design Ledger keeps you updated on the latest tricks for making web design a little bit easier.
BittBox offers a number of helpful hints and features “free texture Tuesday” within interesing — and realistic — design elements you can add to your web design.
Line25 provides information on helpful design tricks and tools you can use to improve your look.
1stwebdesigner has a number of helpful tips and tools for your web design needs. Includes typography tools, as well as information on finding icon sets.
In the Woods provides tips that can take your design to the next level.
The Design Superhero offers a number of useful tips and tricks to improve your web design — and make it easier on you.
SpoonGraphics has a number of helpful tips and ideas for better web design.
Simple Bits offers interesting tools and tips for effective web design.

Guides and Tutorials

These blogs go beyond offering tips and tricks to providing in-depth how-to and tutorials. Many of these blogs offer handy guides to web design elements and can help you seriously enhance your skills.

Six Revisions offers a number of helpful guides, including one on using FirePHP for logging and benchmarking. A number of other tools and inspirations are also available.
Nettuts provides a variety of tutorials and guides that can help you learn more about web design.
Sharebrain has tutorials and guides about a variety of web design needs. Very educational for both the beginner and the pro.
Tutorial9 provides access to and information on some of the best web design tutorials and guides out there.
DesignM.ag includes a number of helpful tools and guides in helping the web design community to its job better.
CSS Vault offers in-depth descriptions of different CSS techniques that can help your web design.
Boxes and Arrows offers interesting insight into design, and provides how-tos and tutorials that can help you learn more about better design.
MyInkBlog provides helpful guides on a number of design aspects, from Photoshop blend modes to choosing a web hosting company.
creative briefing looks at different ways to enhance design through helpful guides and how-tos.
Vector Tuts offers in-depth tutorials for vectors and for Adobe Illustrator. Very helpful for learning web design.
SylizedWeb offers design tutorials and other educational hints for the budding — and professional — web designer.
Speckyboy Design Magazine has a number of tutorials and helpful hints focused on web design.

Development

These are blogs that focus on development. You want help developing web sites for yourself and for clients in ways that are user friendly and that provide a pleasing look.

ColourLovers focuses on using color in your web design. Very interesting and inspirational for those looking to add something to their web development skills.
Devlounge is designed for web developers. Helpful and insightful posts on various areas of Web development.
We Function focuses on icons and other functional items that help in web development. Great design ideas and integrations as well.
SmashingApps provides a number of useful development tools and tricks for developers. Includes content management help, as well as design tools.
Design Melt Down helps you with development, as well as identifying and fixing problems in web design.
Design Shack offers a number of helpful posts on development and design, inlcuding using Ajax and integrating with Google.
mezzoblue provides insight into fixing problems and other developmental design issues.
Ajaxian is a web design and development blog focused on Ajax and incorporating it into your web design.
UX Booth offers information on user experience that can be very helpful from a development standpoint.
Webdesigner Depot looks at different tools you can use to improve design and development.
456 Berea Street explores different development issues. There is a helpful emphasis on designing with and for Macs.
Snook offers development tools that can help you improve your web design.
CSS Globe is aimed at designers and developers looking for the latest CSS news, articles and tutorials.

25 Most Popular Web Designers on Twitter

admin — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 16:17:45 +0000

Do you know the influence that popular Web designers have on others? You can determine their influence, in part, by the number of people who follow them on Twitter. Granted, not all Web designers have a Twitter account, and you may not have heard of some of the highest-ranked Web designers listed below. This list provides Twitter contact information for the most popular Web designers who use this social media tool.

We used two lists to extract this information: 50+ Designers to Follow on Twitter at Vandelay Design and 100 Web Designers to Follow on Twitter at Digital Labz. We realized, shortly into both lists, that anyone with less than 2,000 followers would not make the cut. But, there are many Web designers in the 2,000-3,000 follower category worth following as well — and, some who have less than 500 followers who may soon rival those listed below. The list below is defined by followers, with the most popular at the top.

@nicholaspatten – A video editor and graphic/Web designer, Patten has a colorful style and a generous personality with lots of give-and-take: 19,899 followers.
@zeldman – A pioneer in Web design strategy and a man of influence, Jeffrey Zeldman lost his place at top of this list to Nicholas Patten within the past two weeks: 19,454 followers.
@styletime – Roger Byrne is into social media and design, sharing inspiration originally from England, but now in Egypt: 17,433 followers.
@simplebits – Dan Cederholm creates simple, readable interfaces balanced with a standards-based methodology in a tiny studio in New England: 14,281 followers.
@meyerweb – Eric Meyer Web design standards guru and in cahoots with Jeffrey Zeldman: 11,994 followers.
@ilovetypography – Johno is the founder of ilovetypography.com. He’s a typography fanatic: 11,897 followers.
@cameronmoll – Cameron Moll is a designer, speaker, author, dad, star gazer, 1/4 Swiss, etc.: 10,961 followers.
@ryancarson – Ryan Carson, located in the UK, is an energetic designer and entrepreneur with “creative integrity”: 10,672 followers.
@mollydotcom – Many Web Designers know Molly E. Holzschlag as one of the most lucid writers about Web design, design standards and more: 9,057 followers.
@imjustcreative – Graham Smith, located in England, loves Helvetica and dogs. He is a logo and graphic designer with twenty + years of experience: 10,735 followers.
@justcreative – Jacob Cass is a designer, blogger, creative think and Uni student from Australia: 9,909 followers.
@snookca – Snook “makes stuff on the Web.” He also is a gifted creator of striking designs, impeccable markup and code: 9,144 followers.
@vpieters – You may know Veerle Pieters from her work with the Library of Congress in Washington DC for a project called “The Learning Page.” Hint: She’s colorful: 8,841 followers.
@abduzeedo – A Web designer and blogger in Brazil. He’s so dedicated to his work that he skipped Carnivale in February! 8,107 followers.
@chriscoyier – Chris Coyier bills himself as a “Lead cascader. Head tag closer.” His Css-tricks.com Web site is highly popular, too: 7,347 followers.
@collis – Collis is a Web designer, entrepreneur, blogger and Web monster: 6,485 followers.
@mezzoblue – Dave Shea is happiest when designing, building, or creating something that didn’t previously exist: 5,850 followers.
@chrisspooner – Chris Spooner is a graphic and Web site designer from Sheffield and the guy behind Blog.SpoonGraphics.co.uk: 5,697 followers.
@jcroft – Jeff Croft is a talented and prolific Web designer and a self-styled philospher: 5,536 followers.
@adactio – Jeremy Keith is an Irish web developer who lives and works in Brighton, England. 5,384 followers.
@danrubin – Dan Rubin is a real Renaissance man, a designer, singer, photographer and thinker: 4,471 followers.
@jophillips – Designer by day, rock guitarist by night. Jon Phillips is founder of Spyre Studios in Montreal: 4,349 followers.
@elliotjaystocks – Elliot Jay Stocks is a UK Web designer who enjoys “moving elements just outside their containing divs”: 4,150 followers.
@danbenjamin – Dan Benjamin is a software developer, UI designer, and writer. He built 1/2 of Cork’d, all of Hivelogic, and the A List Apart CMS: 4,136 followers.
@pearsonified – This is the original designer of the WordPress theme. He is not for hire, and he may or may not own an island in Dubai: 4,113 followers.