Where do you start with color?

Type “color” on Google and you will find color wheels, web color palettes, color theory and even a link to the International Color Consortium, which promotes vendor-neutral, cross-platform color management systems for computers. It’s getting complicated.

Even if you aren’t a visual artist, you probably go to the paint store and draw on the color wheel information you learned so long ago. It is as valuable as the algebra we use to calculate size variables. How many of us remember learning the color wheel in art class? Well, it is still a valuable tool for graphic designers, interior designers, architects and other visual professionals. When sitting in font of a blank canvas (by this I mean my computer screen), I often pick a starting color based on client research. It may start with a main logo color. The next color I pick is going to be complementary. Why? Because it looks good! See basic color wheel rules from coschedule.com.

Cool Tools
A  cool tool for color, from the software company, Adobe, can help you create or complete a color combination for your website. Use their color wheel to create a whole new palette or download one from their online community. Try it out! 

A color mission at Color Marketing Group
The Color Marketing Group’s “mission is to create color forecast information for professionals who design and market color.” They state that “color sells and the right colors sell better.” At annual design workshops, members track trends and their influences on design and color. The site says these “influences run the gamut from social issues to politics, the environment, the economy and cultural diversity. It is an understanding of the influences that provides the most useful information, and it is the input of so many color designers, that gives each forecast its tremendous validity.”

Start with one color based on what’s new.
Pantone, a design color authority, already announced Ultraviolet as the color of 2018, also assembled a list of new hues to watch as we approach Fall ’18. Consumers will continue to focus on self-expressive colors and non-traditional choices. So, what are the colors for this year, keeping in mind that one of colors from Pantone could be used for your website, and not all of them at once!