Color mixers. ColorSchemer Studio vs Adobe Kuler

I think all readers already understand that colors should not be annoying, they should not be contrasted in working with basic resolutions of visitors' monitors, etc. nonsense, which has repeatedly sucked on other blogs. I will not repeat their words, google enough.

What am I going to write about? On several service mixers - pickers of colors adequate for the visitor, which is undoubtedly a useful tool in the work of usability. The colors are undoubtedly a very important tool in achieving greater convenience on the site, which vividly proves the example of Yandex . For example, the same color separation of the blocks, which I casually described in a note on ideal forms , and I am going to take up the continuation of this issue in the near future.
')

ColorSchemer Studio

What is a mixer? This, if simply, a mixer. It doesn't matter what, but in my case these are colors - after all, in order to get any color you need to create a combination of several others. Therefore, we need a good and convenient tool for this very mixing, and with a necessarily intuitive interface, and a bunch of lotions implemented in this very interface, which is intuitive. We are usabilityists, yeah.

In order for my thoughts to be foundable, I looked into Wikipedia to see what it would give me, by definition, a “mixer” (. So what we have there:

Mixer is a small household appliance designed for beating eggs, preparing drinks, mousses, omelets, batter, etc. Mixers are stationary and manual (more common devices).

Very ... very comprehensive answer to such a specific request. To further other people had no problems - I created the definition of a color mixer .

In the first part of this series of articles, I will talk about the ColorSchemer Studio program from the eponymous company, which was a pioneer in creating such products, the number of which has already exceeded several dozen, in a wide variety of types.

Color wheel

In the screenshot below, you can look at the most important tool of the program - the color wheel. It is here that we will spend most of our time in this program. It is used simply - it is enough to choose a color, and it will show the most appropriate and contrasting colors for it. It's simple.

This is a starting tool, for which the greatest amount of time is usually leaked - after all, the neighboring color may like it more, and it (the neighboring one, that is) has a few more compatible ones. In general - beauty, not a tool.

Color harmonies

The Color Harmony tool helps us see the transition between the two primary colors. Moreover, this tool gives 2 types of possible transitions - dark and light. Conveniently.

Colors with better compatibility

In this tool, everything is simple to disgrace - choose the color, and the program gives us the colors that are best suited to use them with the original. I note that by themselves these colors may not be very beautiful, but when used together with the other 5yu, you get really beautiful things.

Photoschemer

An interesting and new feature of the program is to take several colors from a photo and generate compatible ones on their base. We kill two birds with one stone - in the photographs, in most cases, natural colors that do not cause rejection. As you can see from the screenshot - the colors are really good, and do not try to eat our brains.

Color mixer

Again the simplest and most intuitive tool - we load two different colors, and we get various proportions from their mixing. Honestly - I have never used this tool as superfluous. Although I hope someone will still need it, otherwise he would not be in the program. Perhaps artists?

Color Combine Analyzer

Imagine that we have already made a color selection; now we need to reap the benefits. Analyzer of combinations of two colors - background and text. Those. This is the best tool for usability. By choosing the background color, you can instantly get the best combination for the text. Super after all.

Quick preview

Not only will the program select good colors with your help, it will also help you to arrange them on the page in the correct order. By the way, psychological methods are used for this tool, which is interesting in itself.

Print

After we have saved our own color palette - maybe you need to print it out? And this is easy to do with the Print Your Color Schemes tool. The same tool can be used to overtake the results in pdf - a great opportunity, given that the pdf has been standardized.

Import and export

In addition to printing, it would be nice to be able to import and export colors from the same Photoshop. And we are again given this wonderful opportunity. Here is a list that is compatible with the ability to import and export programs.

Import:

You can organize import from any CSS site (well, wow ...), gif image, color table file (.act), and photoshop color palette (.aco)

Export:

You can export back to any CSS, or html body attributes, gif image, color palette photoshop, color table files, color palette illustrator (oh, and got here), Adobe Fireworks, and Corel Painter

Enough volume list, is not it?

Also, the program includes a super-convenient pipette as a bonus. By the way, it can be downloaded separately for free.

Price

Alas, ah - but they demand money for the program, which is quite logical - the product is excellent. It costs 49 dollars in both variations - both for Windows and for MacOS (I think many are already scared by looking at the screenshots that windows users left behind. Fortunately, this is not so).

In order to test the program, you can use the 15-day trial version, but it will interfere with the popup at the start of the program.

At the time of this writing, version 1.5.3 for MacOS was available, and 1.5.1 for Windows

Download the program here (Windows) (2.1MB)

ColorSchemer Studio for MacOS X 1.1MB

Download advanced pipette 0.6 MB

Download desktop widget (Win, Mac) —40 KB — allows you to search for ready-made color palettes without interrupting your desktop.

You can buy the program here - $ 49

Ready combinations

And now the most delicious - on the website of the program just MORE excellent color solutions . Dare!

Online version of ColorSchemer Studio

findings

Of course, it’s worth buying a program (of course, you can hack it, but this is a personal matter for everyone). ColorSchemer Studio provides a wealth of opportunities for usabilityists, graphic designers, and even artists. Beginners should also advise her, because she will help us avoid monsters with invincible colors.

Adobe Kuler

In the first article, we found out what a color mixer is , and with which it needs to be eaten to increase appetite, using the example of the ColorSchemer Studio program. Undoubtedly a good thing, but paid, and I decided to devote an article today to a free, and web-based tool from Adobe , which, just like the ColorSchemer company, had time to see what the design fraternity was missing. So meet - Adobe Kuler.

Adobe Kuler

This note will be no less an example than the previous one, but no less useful. Why less? Because web services, as it were, did not try, but they still cannot grow to a full-fledged program - hence - less opportunities, but more convenient. Another definite plus - Kuler saves the results in your Adobe ID - i.e. in the case of changing the OS on your computer, or permanent changes of the computer (work-home, home and work) - everything will be available if the computers have Internet. Which is much more convenient than to carry ready-made palettes from ColorSchemer Studio on a flash drive.

Color mixer

Compared to a program on a computer, web services are clearly inferior in capabilities, but not so much as before. There is everything you need, and even a little on top.

Unlike ColorSchemer Studio , where the color wheel is shamelessly performed by the color wheel (color wheel) - this is where some kind of color barrel handles this duty. At least my associations were just that - we are interfering with the colors in the barrel, while looking at this very barrel from above. In principle, it does not complicate at all, and even most likely makes the task easier - the expected color can be obtained much faster.

And you can not get it. Unfortunately, with all the apparent convenience - I often find myself thinking that I know about what color I want, but I don’t know how to get it - and here Kuler makes the biggest trick in his interface - not knowing the color codes, and not understanding the mechanics of the service - The expected color is quite difficult to get.

Fortunately, developers from Adobe Labs know their work well, so you get used to the somewhat strange interface quickly.

Ready color solutions

The very first time you get to Adobe Kuler is a beautiful rating of the best, according to visitors, palettes - you can immediately select them and continue to work with them. Pluses are clear - no need to go far, everything is ready on the shelf.

Of the minuses, I would like to say only one thing - the cooler is quite a popular service, and choosing colors from the top ten has the risk of meeting the “color clone” of your future site. Those. The best solution is to create your own unique collection, the benefit is convenient.

Already ready solutions can be sorted in several ways:

1. According to estimates - basically nothing to explain - the best collections of flowers are given out according to the version of the Cooler users, which you, by the way, can also evaluate and see in detail.

2. By popularity - as I understand it in this section are given the most viewed color solutions. It seems to me that this rating is not much different from sorting by estimate, because the vast majority of people will not go further than the second or third page of the cooler.

3. New - if you have just created your own unique palette, and would like someone to see and download it, except for you - this section is for people like you. Here the newest color palettes are published. Of the minuses - more than 20 palettes are created every minute, so you can get lost here too.

Having created your solution, you can also add it to the site.

Export

Unfortunately, there is no import in the service itself, i.e. improve the already finished palette of your site will not work. It will only re-create them. Fortunately, the export is in stock and allows you to transfer the finished results to any of the Adobe tools in the CS2 and CS3 line. Well done. Unfortunately, there is no export to Corel , and other programs other than Adobe for obvious reasons.

findings

Like any web solution of a problem, the tool loses a bit of functionality in its software counterparts, but it wins in the convenience and speed of obtaining a result. I recommend using this service in case you frequently change your computer, your colors placed on the Internet will not disappear from you anywhere. For those who have no problems with data transfer, I still recommend using the paid software equivalent - ColorSchemer Studio.

Source: Web Interface Usability Blog ( Adobe Kuler , Colorschemer )
Posted by: Jaroslav Birzul (DezmASter)