168: Thou shall look at what surrounds us for color inspiration

Commentary A common obstacle for designers is choosing colors. The swatch panel of default colors in Adobe^® Illustrator^® exists for broad gestures of color. It is not a color palette. It is, like the default shapes in Illustrator^®, ordinary and overdone. A strong color palette is as important as the typeface choices. A good color palette will be unique, seductive, and harmonious. The natural world is a good place to look for inspiration. A poplar tree is not green. It is a mix of blue green, lime green, sliver green, light brown, cool gray, and white. The sunset is not red. It is dark blue, light blue, pink, orange, and yellow. A smart process to create a color palette is to take an image of a natural setting and sample distinct colors from different parts. The result will be a system of colors ranging from light to dark, and intense to soft. But they will always remain in harmony and be unique to your experience. SA