

Designer's block? Steal your colour scheme from nature - DanI-S
http://www.bootstrapp.in/on-colour-and-nature

======
shalmanese
Umm... Pictures of nature tend to look stunning because we self-select for
stunning pictures. Most of actual nature is boringly drab greys and browns.

~~~
mapleoin
I think the idea is more about finding different colors that go well together.
If you randomly take a bright green and a bright blue they might not be a good
match, but if you take the green and blue from the frog on that picture, they
will work better together.

~~~
DanI-S
Exactly. For the example images I deliberately chose bright colours that might
not seem obvious (at least to my uneducated eye) to put together. However,
there's no reason at all why less outlandish colour combinations can't look
wonderful; even the most ordinary sparrow is beautiful if you look close.

<http://sdakotabirds.com/species/photos/chipping_sparrow.jpg>

------
brass_cannon
Did anyone else immediately think of the ubiquitous blue and yellow tropical
bird that uses the _exact_ shades of blue and yellow that the ugly website
example in this article uses? Just do an image search for 'blue yellow bird,'
and you'll find multiple examples.

Looking to nature for inspiration is a great idea, but like anything else,
it's not perfect. There are still plenty of color schemes in nature that
either A) look horrible, or B) look horrible out of their specific context.

------
Luyt
Looking at nature for inspiration is another fine example of 'going outside of
your own system'. However, just a set of colors doesn't communicate much
unless it's also clear in which proportions they should appear and for what
items or layout elements they're used. To illustrate this: the color paletters
at <http://www.colourlovers.com/palettes> don't reveal how they are intended
to be used.

------
lovskogen
If you have designers block, write. Write down what you would like to convey.
Finding the colors to emphasize this is not the first thing on your list.

~~~
DanI-S
I think the 'designers block' part was just my attempt to find a good title.
Since this mainly relates to colour, and was aimed at people who are not
necessarily experienced designers, it may not have been the best choice!

------
kingsidharth
Hmmm... That's like people who know Photoshop call themselves designer. (just
an example). Finding good colourful natural pictures is one thing and knowing
how to use them is another.

That 'ugly' website is not just ugly because of colours. They are just a part
of it.

But anywways, you can have the best colour-scheme in the world and if you
don't know how to implement it it's useless. Some colour schemes just don't
work on web, some just don't work in print. You got to be wise to know how to
use one.

 _Tip:_ You can use Adobe's Kuler to pick shades & combinations for you:
<http://kuler.adobe.com>

------
sp4rki
This is always a good idea when dealing with color schemes. More often than
not, the colors found in nature are pleasant and easy to link to an animal,
place, or situation in nature. Using a photo of a spring sunrise in the
mountains or one of a fall sunset surrounded by trees to make swatches can
only end up in a beautiful color scheme, granted you use a photo that really
evokes the feeling you want to convey.

Of course, color is not enough of a design element to bring your ideas across
the internet unscathed... but it sure as hell will mark the mood of your
application/website, and should be given some serious thought before
committing to any one scheme.

------
kondro
I can't believe I've never thought of this before and it's not a new idea. Why
haven't I heard this blogged about before?

If I think back to all my good colour schemes they all meet this suggestion. I
just never connected the dots before.

------
pmorici
This is easier said then done, I've tried making color schemes from
aesthetically pleasing photos before and the end result was kind of blah. If
you take that photo of the frog in the post for example and you want to
include the red from the frog's eye in your scheme how do you choose the right
red there are probably literally hundreds of different shades you could
select. That is to say I agree that nature has awesome color schemes but I
don't think it's as simple to go from a great picture of nature to a great
color scheme as the author thinks it is, in other words not exactly a shortcut
for beginners and the unskilled.

~~~
DanI-S
You make a good point - it's not necessarily going to make life easy - but I
think it has its validity as a way to at least mask out some possibilities.
Decisions are easier when there's less to choose from, so hopefully this can
help!

------
callahad
Woohoo! Finally support for implementing the One True Color Scheme:
<http://io9.com/5100481/>

