An Industrial Designer’s Color Palette

Color theory and picking is not always easy. For industrial designers, sometimes it’s the least of our worries, and sometimes it’s not our worry at all. The company you work for may have a whole department dedicated to the “corporate” color strategy, where they develop, test, and implement new future palettes. That being the case, it’s nice to have a few tools that will do all the thinking for you. Ok, maybe not all the thinking, but it could help inspire new palettes you wouldn’t normally choose.

The other day I came across Adobe’s Kuler, holy crap, what a great tool. It comes complete with:

• Adobe ID login – so you can save your very own palettes of creation
• Community of fellow palette developers
• Rating system – great way to find trends
• Global color trends
• Several modes/rules to help you build a palette, such as:
• Analogous
• Monochromatic
• Triad
• You can even upload any photo to use as a starting point.

Whether for presentations, or actual product color proposals I think you’ll find this very useful, but
don’t take my word, check it out yourself. Then let me know what you think.