“There are so many relationships and hidden secrets within the paintings that color analysis can reveal.” – Drew Trujillo
I’m a freelance writer, not an artist, so while I get a gut reaction to rooms and websites when I first see them, I’m not exactly qualified to do a proper analysis and find what colour combinations work best together. That’s where useful resources like COLOURlovers come into the picture. Proudly Canadian (there be a “U” in colour, don’t you know), COLOURlovers requested a ReviewMe review from John just before the 50% off sale ended, so here it is.
They say that they are fighting “for love in the colour revolution”, providing us lowly not-so-artsy types with a number of unique shades and palettes. We shall see!
More Colours Than the Rainbow
Forget “every colour of the rainbow,” this site has more shades of red and blue than you can shake a stick at. In an effort to avoid drawing attention away from all those fun palettes — Gatorade, Electrons, and Temptation are some of the more eye-catching names — the predominant color scheme for the site is a dull grey. It’s almost a contradiction in many ways, providing such a drab looking backdrop to such vibrantly-themed colours.
As an active blogger and web publisher, it can be tough to find just the right set of colours that just “fit” together. I really like how they include all the hexadecimal colour codes. This way, implementing the scheme into my own website is so much easier. No more guessing.
COLOURlovers has a community of “lovers“, which is what they affectionately call their members. It comes off a little dirty at times (I should really get my head out of the gutter), because they have headings like “latest lover comments.” Starts to sound like a scene out of Eyes Wide Shut.
Words, words, words…
Obviously, the main appeal of this site is that it can help you choose a good colour combination for whatever project you’re working on, be it redecorating the baby’s room or drafting up a banner to get John Chow to vibrate, but there’s a small handful of useful articles and interviews to read as well.
- COLOUR THEORY BASICS :: Colour Wheel – Some basics about the colour wheel and the relationship of those colours.
- A Brief History: Colour in Photography – A little history on the part color plays in photography.
- A Brief History: Colour in Motion Pictures – A brief look back at color and how it has been used in film and animation to change the experience for the viewer.
I would love to see more of these. Good content is the key, after all. Even the evil John Chow can learn a thing or two about expanding beyond the “everybody loves me” blue (which, coincidentally, is the second most popular colour tag on the site, trailing behind pink). The Interview section is also pretty interesting.
Does It Work?
I don’t think that COLOURlovers is the kind of website that I’d visit regularly, because if I decide on a particular theme or scheme for my website, I’m done with it for a while. If you’re in a more artsy industry, however, things would be quite different. There’s even a job bank for creative gigs, like Interactive Art Director and Flash Programmer.
Navigating the site is a cinch as the animated panel at the top gets you around with no trouble at all. Moving their “welcome” message from the middle to the top of the main page might be useful, though, so that first time visitors can immediately recognize what they’re looking at.
Put some colour in those cheeks. I love where this revolution is going.
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