In the last two years there has been a growing interest and a sudden emergence of new tools to help designers, presenters, art directors and information designers rapidly identify best color matches and harmonious color schemes and combinations to apply to packaging, page layouts or interior design. Though the fashion and high-end industrial design sectors have had access to these kind of tools for a long time, these have been generally highly expensive and complicated systems to operate. The new generation of color matching tools provides instead immediate feedback, easy operation, compatibility across operating systems, online access and a no price tag on them. Here is my personal selection of some of these new small, free, web-based color matching tools:

ColorMatch 5K - The new color matching reference tool. Simple and effective. (IE only)

ColorMatch 10K - A refined clone with a few options to save preferred colors.

Traumwind 6-color match - Based on ColorMatch 5K this utility works across browsers and helps you select a matching 6-color palette by specifying one color code.

ColorMatch Remix - Based on ColorMatch 5K this is compatible with most browsers, has a more sophisticated and slick interface and can create color schemes of up to nine colors.

Unsafe Color Match - A unique color matching tools focuses on providing an easy way to easily identify better matching combinations that have good contrast and readability. Utilizes a custom developed color wheel.

Color Harmonies - Creates color schemes based on your RGB selected value, offering several adjustments and optional features.