Sunday, June 15, 2008

Bethy's Tip for Color! {digi-scrap designers}

I've been creating digital scrapbook product for almost two years.  And one thing that I sometimes struggle with is finding beautiful and unique color schemes.

Well, I'm going to let you in on one of my secrets . . . many of you may already know this . . . but for those that struggle with color, check out kuler.adobe.com.

There are hundreds of schemes that you can search for by key word.  Plus there's a option to create your own that is super fun to play with!

I'll search by a emotion, season, or just a general idea and I'm always blown away AND inspired by what comes up!  For example, I had an idea for a kit that was going to be about love.  And I wanted a summer-time feeling to it.  So I searched for "summer love".

This is what I found:
color

I just LOVE the colors in this and it just inspired me!  Usually paging through different searches gets me all sorts of inspiration!  I have all sorts of files saved for future inspirations!

Just remember the "gallon, quart, pint" rule when designing.  Choose a major color (or set of colors).  Design a "gallon" of your product with that color.  Then pick one to be the quart (something to compliment but not overwhelm) and then a "pint." That would be a highlight color.  That gives your kit a cohesive feel.

Other color sites I've found to be useful are:

I also check out wallpaper sites!  Those also give you ideas for patterns.  Just be sure not to copy, just get inspired.  We don't want anyone to violate copyright laws!

Hope the next time you get stuck for color inspiration, this helps!

7 comments:

Muma said...

absolutely love that site ... I have so much fun there at times.

Webfrau said...

I really like www.colourlovers.com

Anonymous said...

That is a fantastic tip about the colours though I am nt a designer. Great sites Thanks- sunny1972

Monica said...

I read about this in Digital Scrapbooking Magazine. I think I'll check it out, although I'm not a designer yet. I love your work, though!

20Birds said...

i sangegd all these links, tfs

Ashleigh said...

Thanks for the design tip. I don't design but that concept will also work for layout design and it's so easy to remember!

I too love kuler. Sometimes I want to mix and match different kits but still keep things harmonious so I upload a patterned paper to the site and let it generate a swatch for me which helps me when deciding what other items in my ever growing digi stash would work on a page. Takes the guess work out of it for a color challenged scrapper like myself!

Anonymous said...

Wow ... great sites and tipps ... I am sure I will use it - I know the problem with finding just the right scheme quite well. Sometimes http://www.markus-keppeler.de/programme/komplement/?color=%23DF7Dff is helping me to get a contrast.
Greetz from Germany, Tabea