As this series comes to a close, I thought I would wrap up with some tools for creating color schemes, along with a few sources of inspiration. The most well-known of these tools is Kuler, but I have two issues with the Adobe service: it’s built in Flash (meaning I can’t use the service on some mobile devices) and (less importantly) requires a login to save palette choices. I tend to use these alternatives:

Color Scheme Designer is a tool that not only allows you to create arrays of hues using the techniques I’ve explored in a previous article, but it also allows you to simulate the same hues under conditions of colour-blindness, see them used in a mock layout, and export them as HTML + CSS, a PhotoShop palette, or as a URL you can share with others.

ColorJack is very similar to Color Scheme Designer, particular its sphere interface, but it offers more creative, innovative ways of seeing color, like the Color Piano and Color Galaxy.

0 to 255 is a great way to generate close variations on a hue, or monotone color theme. (Uses Flash).

colllor is another nice color scheme creator, and colorhexa is an excellent color encyclopedia that tells you almost everything you need to know about a color, including generated CSS code examples.

While I believe that artistic inspiration can (and should) come from any source at all, there’s also something to be said for simply diving into color palettes as a means of kicking off creative work. When I feel the need to do so, my choices include:

ColorLovers, the open alternative to Kuler: a community of designers who contribute their own palettes and patterns, while rating others. The site has vigorous sub-communities for not just web development, but also business, crafts, fashion and print.

Colrd is similar to ColorLovers, if somewhat less ambitious.

plenty of color has no hex values: just wonderful, creative examples of color used in art, commercial design, fabrics, interior design and more, given classifications such as objects of desire, colourful places and spaces, and color me happy.

Once you have decided on a color scheme, Color To Me is a great way to accurately share hues online.

If you have online sources of color inspiration and creation that make you happy, let us know in the comments!