This week we were given a lovely job to do the programmes for Bohunt School’s production of Hairspray. The brief was simple: make it colourful, make it retro and make it, well, all about Hairspray! The programmes were given a yearbook twist, with polaroids of the cast and bright pop prints. And no Hairspray material would be complete without a can of Ultra Clutch.
I have to level with you all here — I am shamelessly colour obsessed. Every day for me has a significant portion dedicated to colour, whether I am admiring the candied pastel mopeds near the train station, choosing a bright accent colour for my outfit, or admiring the colour of the sky. Which is, by the way, a SHOCKING blue right now. Not the shade, or band, just that I am shocked!
First on my list is What the Hex, a just-for-fun pop quiz on hex colours. You are given the six-digit web colour code, then have to guess which of the swatches match up. As I commit hex codes to memory (for teh lulz, honestly), this game has proven a great way to boost my geek-ego.
Keeping in line with the hex code theme there is also Hex Day, which is a social networking site dedicated to just choosing colours. As time goes by, the colours begin to form patterns and mosaics as different users contribute their colour of the day to the mix. Similarly, there is a stripe colour generator at StripedBgs.
Pictaculous is a wicked tool that generates colour palettes from photographs you upload. No more fumbling with the eyedropper tool, folks. Every time I use that thing, I seem to only grab the ugliest speck of colour in the entire picture.
Explore the colour wheel in all three dimensions using ColoRotate. This comprehensive colour tool might be a little cumbersome to begin with, but is incredibly powerful with practice. Unlike a lot of browser-based colour tools, ColoRotate also includes different colour modes, including CMYK. And it can be bought for Photoshop for seamless work-flow integration. Result!
The Colour Scheme Designer is a bookmarking-must for any screen based designer. Create harmonious colour palettes using colour theory in order to match up analogous, complimentary or monochromatic schemes. A few clicks and you’ll be away.
