Colour...

Dave!

Hey folks,

I'm wondering if anyone can recommend an online resource (tutorial, article, ebook) that they learned about colour from.

I've got a good grasp of HTML and CSS, and I'm improving other areas of web design, but I'm not very creative Thus I find it difficult when it comes to the actual design part.

I'm just messing around in Photoshop at the moment trying to design a portfolio site for myself, but I'm struggling to figure out what colours to use in particular I just don't know what ones go together well, etc.

Any advice?

Thanks

Dave

eightcell

http://www.colr.org/
http://www.colourlovers.com/

Don't forget to consider colour from an accessibility perspective also. Colour blindness is more pervasive than you might expect.

Pixelcraft

this book is a great base to start your design education - http://www.fivesimplesteps.co.uk/

Eoin

Deleted User wrote: »

Don't forget to consider colour from an accessibility perspective also. Colour blindness is more pervasive than you might expect.

There used to be a toolbar for IE that would check the text and the background colour to see if there was enough contrast. I think it was by an Australian company, but I can't remember the name of it, but it was a handy enough application.

Dave!

Thanks all

I've seen that fivesimplesteps book mentioned before. Would it be worth investing in a print copy of it? I'd probably use it more if it were printed than pdf.

It looks like the kinda thing I'm looking for. 30 blips though is kinda pricey I also can't seem to source it from... elsewhere... >_>

Pixelcraft

it's well worth it. TBH I don't know why you're even questioning paying €30 to learn something so essential

tricky D

Deleted User wrote: »

Don't forget to consider colour from an accessibility perspective also. Colour blindness is more pervasive than you might expect.

Yup. I'm colourblind and find many sites using poor contrast resulting in elements, often critical, being totally missed. Remember almost 10% of irish males have some sort of colurblindness, so it's pretty important for your business margins where much of your profit lives. No business can afford to have >5% of users struggling to tackle obstacles like these. Fortunately, with experience, I usually know where these elements live on pages, but many will just get confused and disenegage from a site. There's classic cases of Buy Now! buttons getting lost for colourblind people due to poor colour selection and contrast, notably Amazon in their early days. Personally, I like to use the comparisons with methods like the displays seen when walking into a supermarket. These colours, contrasts and positioning methods have been developed over decades and they work.

Fwiw my biggest pain by a mile, is grey on grey without enough contrast.

Dave!

Pixelcraft wrote: »

it's well worth it. TBH I don't know why you're even questioning paying €30 to learn something so essential

I'm unemployed, €30 is a considerable amount when you have no money !

I'll order it now I reckon

Thanks all

p

If you really want to learn about colour, a good way is to try painting actually. Especially if you think you're not naturall creative it might be a good idea to look into a painting, drawing or art course in the future to stimulate that side of the brain.

The Five Simple Steps is a great introduction to design for anyone who's coming at things from the technical side.

Another good tip abotu colour is to take a nice photo and use the colours from that. Check it out here: http://nicoletattersall.blogspot.com/2009/07/hints-tips-colour-scheme-from-photo.html

kuler.com is another colour sceheme genertor that can be useful.

S.M.B.

That Mark Boulton book is great. I have it in ebook format which doesn't bother me the slightest. I like having a host of books available on my laptop at any time.

I see he has a Grid Systems book coming out soon, I think I shall be investing in that too.

I was going to mention kuler.com but p beat me to it.

Lynda.com also has a small course focusing on colour which is also worth a look.

LCblogger

Probably the best site for colourshemes is http://kuler.adobe.com/

Dave!

Cheers lads

I acquired a copy of the Mark Boulton book, so I'll get stuck into that

Thanks again