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A Free Mini-Guide by Robin Good
One of the most difficult tasks for visual communicators is selecting harmonious color combinations. Though we all feel we have the capability to select appropriate colors — in reality we've realized that's not true and it's difficult for those without a design background to find good color matches.
In consolation, perfect color combinations are the results of perfect mathematical equations. Exact and precise differences in light tone, color and saturation create pleasing and harmonious combinations, just like the ones great master artists have created.
Apply this knowledge along with interactive learning and visualization tools and you start find perfect color matches and combinations.
Thankfully, a few people have done this work and you can enjoy the thrill of interactive visual color matching by using unique tools.
Here are four gems to facilitate selecting perfect color combinations:
a) Andrew Mundi - Web Color Theory
b) Sessions.edu - Color Calculator
c) Color-Wheel-Pro
d) Colorimpact
If you know of others, please share them in the comments section where others have been mentioned. Also, we include recommended readings at the end of this mini-guide. If you ever need to refer to color-related definitions and terminology, a great place to start is Wikipedia's color entry.
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13) Color Schemer Online
Color Schemer Online is an online application for creating perfectly matching color schemes.
Just select the RGB values or HEX code of the color you want to start with, and it will immediately provide you with a perfect color scheme, with both HEX and RBG codes of the colors.
You can also lighten on darken the scheme simply by pressing a button.
Price: Free.
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12) Color Scheme Chooser GX
Color Scheme Chooser GX is a easy-to-use tool that allows you to create color schemes. After you choose between a color scheme setting, just input RGB or Hex values or drag the RGB sliders to change the base color and preview the result in real-time.
When you're done, you can save your scheme to your PC.
Price: Free
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11) Daily Color Scheme
Daily Color Scheme adds a new color scheme every day. Download, bookmark and learn about the color scheme that appears on Daily Color Scheme (being updated). You can download the scheme as Photoshop Color Table, Illustrator file, ColorSchemer Studio file, CSS (cascading style sheets) file, HTML file or a zipped file containing all formats.
Scroll down to view archived color schemes or to search for a color scheme. An RSS feed for the site is available or subscribe to receive a daily email with the color scheme of the day. For more information, check out the support forum.
Price: Free
