Inspiration: Color

I've mentioned color several times before in this inspiration series, but I wanted to dedicate a whole post to color as well. Color schemes will make up a large portion of the post, but I have some other things to share, too.

One source that I love for color inspiration is Adobe Kuler. I've mentioned it quite a few times before on my blog, and I continue to use it. I especially love the way it integrates into the Adobe programs I have. I can just select to show the Kuler window and browse neat color schemes right from Adobe. I use this feature for most of the design I make. I actually used a Kuler theme to pick the colors for the headers I made for the inspiration series, but I can't seem to find it again. So I'll show you some other neat Kuler themes! This first one is called Laboratory.

I really like the way the more subdued grays and blues contrast with the bright neon green/yellow. Contrast is such a good element in this theme, and sometimes it can be really effective in some combinations of color.

I want to show you another Kuler theme that I like... this one is Pioneer.

I like the vintage looking style of this theme. It kind of reminds me of the orange + gray + woodgrain office from yesterday. These themes, and Kuler in general, inspire me to pick colors that really look good together. I haven't got the hang of doing it myself, which is why I use Kuler a lot. What a helpful tool it is!

Another neat source of color inspiration is the blog Design Seeds, which I mentioned on my blog awhile ago. It's similar to Kuler in that it chronicles color schemes, but all the schemes come from photographs. The photography alone on this site is pretty impressive. I'd love to know if the blogger actually takes all those photos, and if so, how she has so very many great ones. I usually get about 4 posts from this blog every day in my reader - impressive. It's neat to see the relationship between colors and photos. Here are three schemes that I like, with links to the posts underneath.

autumn wishes | design seeds

color streak | design seeds

worn hues | design seeds

This is a different way of looking at color schemes that I really enjoy. I love the soothing green one, the bold blue and red one, and the calm, vintage looking one with reds and light blue. I think it's interesting that such good color schemes can come from a photo - these weren't just picked out of the air, but selected because they already occurred in a photograph. Neat idea.

Also, I wanted to let you know that a Design Seeds book is for sale on Blurb! It's pretty pricey to order it, but you can preview part one here and part two here. I browsed through part one and it was lovely.


Now I want to take some time to highlight a favorite color of mine these days: yellow. I like it because it's bright and sunshiney, and because it looks so nice with gray, my #1 favorite color. So I thought I'd show you some neat yellow items. Here's a collage of them. You can link to them by clicking the corresponding number below.

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8

What I love...
1. It's yellow and it's a peacoat. Two things I love. The cute, retro style is great.
2. Again, cute and retro. This reminds me of I Love Lucy (see those memories again, like what I talked about concerning The Sound of Music).
3. I like the combination of yellow and shiny.
4. This mustard tone is different from usual, and it gives yellow a more subdued, sophisticated look. I like that shade of yellow, too.
5. Such a cute little bow! And I like the handmade look.
6. I like this modern take on a cuckoo clock - it's original and unique.
7. Here's the mustard yellow tone again, and I like it a lot. I like the creativity of using it for a belt... belts like this seem to commonly be brown or black, but this one's not!
8. So bright and fun and vintage! I love this tray. Cool household things like this almost make me want to learn to like the kitchen. :)

Okay, I've definitely talked enough about yellow for one post. And this is a post about color, not just yellow. So before I end today's post, I want to show you something with all the colors of the rainbow.

I recently heard about Felissimo, a Japanese website that sells pencils and crayons in monthly subscriptions. Sounds like a cool idea, right? If you subscribe for 20 months, you'll end up with 500 pencils. The only catch is that it's quite expensive. But look how beautiful and colorful the pencils look:

So pretty, aren't they? Here's a closer up picture:

The thing about these pencils is that they're not so much meant to be used as to be looked at. They're art! The display above is called "Aurora" - you can read about it here. I also really like the Color Wave display. Here are some pictures of that:

I think the idea of displaying art supplies is neat, but more generally, I'm inspired by the idea of displaying color. Color in and of itself is such a wonderful design element and such a gift from God (imagine seeing all in black and white!). Wouldn't it be neat to look at all these colors every day?

Well, that's all for today... I'd love to know what you all think of my color inspiration. Let me know!