Taste the Rainbow

Colors have a huge impact on our everyday life, from the minute we wake up our mood is effected by our surroundings and the time of the year. Is it sunny or dark and stormy? These differences have enormous impacts on our attitudes, and decisions we make during the day and throughout our lives. Colors not only effect you as a person but they have an impact on others around us, in nature colors often times are warning signs, for example its a general rule that the most brightly colored frogs are the most deadly to us. In other cases birds fan out colored feathers to attract a mate. How the human responds to color is called Color Psychology, and fields of both business and advertising have become experts at specifically targeting an audience. This is even true with logo design, check out this comparison of major companies and the colors they use. When you get a chance do a little reading about web colors and usability, its amazing how a simple logo or background could change the meaning and mood of a site. In reality color theory is a whole expertise on its own, outside of general design. A great tool that we use for designing or for some inspiration is the Adobe Kuler site, it allows you to play with color sets and create your own color scheme or sample those that others have created. And if your just playing around on your computer and need to find out what a particular color your looking at is try this handy color picker site.

Words of wisdom: When I doubt about a specific color choice, take a step back and taste the rainbow.