Color Palette Glory!

When it comes to color, I can't lie I've always struggled a bit with what goes with what.  Unfortunately this little "problem" spills over from my personal life right on into my business.  I can't tell you how many colors my logo has been or how every single marketing piece I've ever designed has never had the same color scheme!  Plain and simple, I love colors and it pains me to have to leave one out!  Physically pains me!  I started thinking maybe I wasn't the only one out there - though I would never judge, that would be silly.  But I wanted to pass along a couple of the tools that have helped me overcome and reign in my wild color imagination over the years.  Maybe you're planning a birthday party, painting your living room or in the design & planning process of your wedding and can't decide on a color palette.....  No matter what the occasion, if this small share helps in any way I'll be thrilled! 

The first lovely site is COLOURlovers.  They have so many fun ways for you to pick just the right palette for your project.  If you have a favorite photograph - you can even use that and it will  create a scheme from the colors in the image!  How cool is that!  What I love about this site is it will show you magazine covers, websites & other patterns incorporating the colors so you can better envision how it will look in an actual design. 

The second splendid little site is Color Scheme Designer.  This one is for that person who knows the primary color they want use in a project but needs help picking some accents.  It gives the technical goodies of why shades of purple go so well with shades of green.  Overall this site is a no-nonsense by the book great site. 

This next gem is a recent find that draws more from the world of fashion, Fashion Trend Setter.  A great site for giving you a sneak peek into what colors are forecasted to be all the rage and flashback to previous years' color trends.  A great site if you haven't narrowed down your options and are wide open for suggestions.  I haven't worked my way through the whole site but what I've seen so far looks promising! 

I know there are a million types of these sites out there so if one of these doesn't float your boat, there is definitely one out there for you!  If you have one you love, please share!  Good luck with all of your color searching!


In light of this topic, here are a few images of a wonderful way to use red.  These were styled by Chantiza Stern and although she has a Chinese New Year's theme here, wouldn't this be a fun & festive color to use for any party!?!