Kuler: Color Swatches, Color Tools, Color Fun
Web 2.0 has given us some wondrous things, making our lives easier through any number of webware, but often overlooked are design related applications, some of which have a greater impact than you may think. For designers and anyone looking to bring a bit of color into their lives, web 2.0 color tools are a fun, exact way of finding colors and complementary hues.
Kuler is one of these applications, an Adobe Flash application for generating color schemes that can be used in any area of life, from scrapbooks to graphic design. There are two ways to enjoy this engaging web tool - online and through a desktop AIR version, but no matter how you access Kuler, you’ll never look at color the same way.
To get a better idea of what we’re talking about, let’s go through Kuler. The first thing you see when you reach Kuler (or open on your desktop), is a panel of 5 colors, resembling a paint sample that you may pick up from a hardware store. Were you to click on it, it would fill the page, giving you a chance to see how the colors work on the page. This color swatch will be different each time you visit the site, and each one of these color swatches has been created by someone.
Next you’ll notice that there is information about the swatch - tags, comments, and a credit. Since each swatch is created by someone to share with the world, you can see how that person views those colors. As you can see with the above swatch called “mirabelle,” each swatch can be rated, commented on, and once you’ve signed in with an Adobe ID, you can do even more.
Even without signing in you can make changes to the swatch you see or create your own, changing base colors, contrast, or applying a rule to the color swatch. Rules are guidelines for the colors, allowing you to apply a type of relationship between the colors in the swatch. For example, if we were to select the Complementary rule, we would see how Kuler took the colors we had chosen and put them into a complementary relationship. Guide the colors as you like at anytime with slider bars and the color wheel. If you are using the color wheel you will notice that the rule you applied still applies, and that the circles indicating your color choices in the wheel are moved so that they are always in complement.
If you’ve signed in with Adobe, you have the option to bookmark your favorites, save them to your computer (Adobe Swatch Exchange file), and join in the community.
More than a design tool, Kuler is fun - but don’t take our word for it. Use the Listio search colors to find Kuler and applications like it.
New to Listio? Our tag cloud search offers an easy way to narrow your hunt for the perfect web application or service. No more second guessing of search terms. Just click on one tag, then as many more as you'd like to narrow your search results. It's easy and ensures you get to the listing you want. Finding web 2.0 was never so easy.
Tags: Color, colors, search, tools
Posted in: Color | Respond
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