25 Online Color Tools For Designers
Posted on 05. Nov, 2009 by Shawn Ramsey in Resources
Usually one of the first steps in designing a website or project is choosing a color scheme that works well together. Even if a client already has a color in mind, finding complementary colors to wrap around that base color is necessary.
When I need to generate these matching color schemes I sometimes turn to online color tools for a little guidance. Whether your colorblind and in need of a little help or are just looking for a place to start, color tools can help to guide you in the right direction.
Tools of the Trade
Color Scheme Designer 3
Create color schemes and view them in an a live website preview.
ColorBlender
Select an initial color and derive different color blends based on it. A very quick way to create color schemes that can also be saved for future use.
Adobe Kuler
What do I say, it’s made by Adobe. This is a great tool that is used by many designers to create color themes and download them for use in Adobe products.
ColorMixers
Create a primary color to generate different color themes. Includes a live preview below the color mixer.
Colr.org
As simple as it looks it actually is a great tool. Among other things, you can choose an image from flickr and generate usable colors from the images or enter a URL to pull colors from specific websites.
GenoPal
Find colors, generate color schemes from images and even alter the color of your graphics.
Color Palette Generator
Create dull and vibrant color palettes from images.
Colour Lovers
A great site that monitors color trends. This site is all about color, including colors, palettes, patterns, news and more.
Websafe Color Picker
Make sure your choosing a web-safe color with this online color tool.
Color Jack
This site has lots of unique features. You can use the color galaxy, color sphere and color studio to help you choose the right combination for you.
Color Hunter
Color Hunter is a place to find and make color palettes created from images.
Color Schemer Gallery
An online gallery of color schemes available for download. Can be sorted by date, rating and downloads. 
Color Munki
Yet another good color tool.
Color Combos
View the latest color combos, random combos and much more.
ColorSpire
Choose a base color and create color schemes that appropriately match. Preview your color combinations in real time to see if the colors works well together.
Color Wizard
Create color schemes by choosing based on a chosen color. You can also choose random color combinations. 
Gradient Image Maker
Color tool that creates a linear gradient image using any two colors. 
Daily Color Scheme
This site serves up a new color scheme every day of the year. 
Web 2.0 Colour Palette
A good site to grab the candy painted colors of Web 2.0. 
ColorDB
Enter a color and get a list of variations, harmonies, close colors and more. 
4096 Color Wheel
Hover over the color wheel to see a live preview of web-safe, web-smart and unsafe colors. 
Unsafe Colormatch
Enter your choice of colors in a live template to get an idea of how they will look in a website. 
Palette Man
Select up to five different colors from the 216-color web-safe palette and see how they interact. You can also choose from different themes such as wood, tropical, industrial, hot, cold, strong… 
100 Random Colors
Not sure what color you want to use? This online web app generates 100 random color choices. 
Technicolor
Color palette generator with real-time preview and CSS generator. 
Don’t forget to bookmark your favorite color tool or better yet bookmark this list for future reference.
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