I have always been a fan of brown and beige, it definitely has to do with their versatility, simplicity and natural nature. They are not too bold, but hold their own and can be accessorized fairly easily. Some may find brown and beige to be dull, which is understandable. Though, perhaps it is rather boring when done a monotonous way, without accents, textures and in moderate doses. I have selected some elegant and soothing pieces that bare the beautiful tones. Enjoy!

paperweight, frame,  lamp, pillow, ball, rug, art, chair

Palettes from the COLOURlovers' group started by the beloved faded jeans: 2+2=5 Colour Palette Game.

Original format: Pick two of your favorite colors, any two that you've created and send them to a fellow CL'r. In return, they will do the same and send you two personal faves from their own collection of colors. Then each of you should create a palette of the four colors with the fifth color in the palette being your own personal choice.

NOTE: It's important that you send ONLY the 6 digit hex code for the color so that the actual colors aren't seen ahead of time, possibly influencing the choices made by the other person.

Second format: You choose two colours that are from THEIR collection of colours (colours created by them) and they choose two colours from your colour archives. Send each other the hex codes and proceed as above. Whatever format you choose, it's always easy, fun and sometimes a real challenge!

Oh and thanks to all of you that are having fun playing my game and sharing the love!

Thanks to Julee for the suggestion.

A Journey Around the Skull, which inspired a previous post, recommended checking out the textile blog Dots and Lines are Just Fine, and though just getting started with their collection, they still had plenty of inspiring palettes.

Today, in an effort to spread awareness and a better understanding of COLOURlovers, including practical ways to apply the tools and community knowledge on the site, we're highlighting the COLOURlovers group t3achers and the Forum Topic: Using COLOURLovers in the Classroom, where one member of this group, speakin_colors, shared her blog post (reposted below) with some ways she engages her students using COLOURlovers. Her ideas are shared by some like Klip who said, "I use COLOURlovers in my teaching all the time - mostly to get my (university aged new media design) students sensitised to colour combinations. Seeing how seriously many of the users of this forum take colours and colour combinations is usually a surprise to my students, and helps them to get used to the idea of spending time just playing with colour." While others suggested that it could be used for more technical training, that COLOURlovers  "could be useful for introducing them (to) RGB/HSV color schemes."

How to Use Colors & Palettes from COLOURlovers

Using Patterns in the Classroom

Students can be given patterns to colour. By teaching students the meaning of colours and how to use colour not at random but creatively, patterns can acquire powerful meaningful connotations.

Teachers can supply nameless patterns and their titles for students to match. Students can also use colour patterns as background images to produce projects of their own.

Asked if anyone had ever considered using ColourLovers in the classroom, lizcrimson wrote:

i have, and i use it as an extra credit assignment. i teach a high school graphics class. my school's filter blocks it because of the ability to write comments and notes. they consider it "entertainment". there's also the issue of some questionable subjects and words used on some palette/colour names. (like those kids never heard those words before!) anyway, its blocked. consequently, i have to make it an extra credit assignment for students who can access the internet at home or are willing to go to the public library.

i use the blog and make them write abstracts from the blog posts, including their own opinions on the articles.

(Colourlovers Group t3acherz - Conversation Topic: Using this in the classroom)

Using Palettes in the Classroom

Students can be given different titles and can create their palettes according to them having in mind the special significance of colour.

Palettes can also speak in colours, as the following post from the ColourLovers Forum shows:

It is true that a visually striking palette always pleases the human eye. The fact that colours may be named as desired, however, allows another phenomenon: the literary aspect of palettes. Colours may simply be semantically related to the palette title or may read like:

a poem

a summary based on a real or fictional story

a modified story or fairy tale

a succession of activities, one after the other

a sequence of stages progressing from 1 to 5

a definition

a classified ad

a cryptic alert message

Palettes can then be not only beautiful combinations of colours but also unique literary creations.

Students can be encouraged to produce their own literary palettes by naming their colours at will. They can also use their palettes as a pre-writing activity before drafting poems or compositions.

Colour can then be brought into the classroom to enliven classes by making them interesting unique experiences.

Find more ideas:

ColourLovers Forum - Topic: Using ColourLovers in the Classroom

Header image by Pink Sherbet Photography

With a keen eye for color, Dave Jordano has been an established photographer since opening his studio in 1977. Jordano was born in 1948 in Detroit, Michigan. He received a BFA in photography from the Center for Creative Studies in Detroit in 1974. In 1977 he established a photography studio in Chicago, with commercial clients that have come to include such companies as Crate and Barrel, Starbucks, and Kraft. He was awarded honorable mention in the Houston Center for Photography Long Term Fellowship Project in 2003, and third place in the Piezography Archives National Photography Competition a year later. His pictures have been published in Assembled Works, photographs by Dave Jordano and are part of the private and corporate collections of such institutions as Federal Reserve Bank, Chicago. Jordano lives and works in Chicago. You can read an interview with him over at Lost at E Minor .

Fiestaware (Fiesta® Dinnerware) has been brightening up dinner tables since they first introduced their color saturated dinnerware, during the drab days of the depression. Created by the Homer Laughlin China Company of Newell, West Virginia, since 1936 (with a hiatus from 1973 to 1985), Fiestaware was started "with the intent of giving people who were having a real miserable time something that wasn't expensive, that could brighten up their table, make their live a little cheerier," says president Joe Wells III in an quote from a recent article in the Oregonian, and they did it using color.

Fiestaware's signature solid colored Art Deco style was designed by Frederick Hurten Rhead, and first launched in a brilliant red.

bitchcakesny

Today, rare pieces and colors can be worth thousands, like the covered onion soup bowl in turquoise which was only produced for one year in 1973, which is valued at $8,000.

Fiestaware has bee produced in 40 colors with at least one new shade being added each year since 2000. The latest color was inspired by Michelle Obama's inauguration dress, a yellow-green hue named lemongrass.

matthewpiatt

Color Time line

The colors added or that were available during that year.

Great collection at happyheidi.com.

Sources: Fiesta®, wikipedia & The Oregonian.

Products

Colorful Clocks by Sonodesign

'the clock i can't see' | Colour Clock

Take a closer look and you will see numbers hidden in amongst the spots.

The colourwheel clock is a striking addition to any blank wall in your home. This clock is made of double thickness high quality acrylic and will hang on a standard picture hook.

Inspiration

Photo by tozofoto(very busy)

Link

iPhone Apps

colorWatch

iTunes

This is the iphone-Version of the Chromachron Watch, designed in the 1970's by swiss designer Tian Harlan. The color circle represents the course of the day by light and color degrees.

Colour

iTunes

"'COLOUR' is a simple application to change the surface color over time. Tilt the device or tap the screen, you to change the surface. Change the brightness of the surface by swiping. This application creates a harmony of colour, please enjoy."

We know that black and orange are the most loved, known and used colors in-celebration of Halloween, but what other colors make it into our Halloween inspired palettes?

Here is a look at some Halloween inspired palettes from the two COLOURlovers' groups: Spook-tacular Halloween! & Scary Out There.

There are some inspired by El Día de los Muertos too.

Spook-tacular Halloween!

A place for all your halloween inspired palettes and patterns. ;) - CL Group

Scary Out There

Halloween, monsters, fairytale beasties, leviathans of the deep and such.

It's scary out there and frightful in here with Colors and Palettes inspired and named for Halloween, monsters, beasties and general horror-full-ness. - CL Group

El Día de los Muertos

We all have seen hints of the 80's sprinkled here and there throughout the design world, right? With the 80's in mind, I had to go with pink and black, and not just any pinks, but rich, bold pinks.

I must admit that I have been watching commercials from this totally rad decade and pretty much miss how fun and bold everything was. So, here are the
colors black and pink used in home decor items.

What do you think?

agate platters, crayon pen, luminary, vase, camera, clothespin, pillow,  pet feeder, chair

Inspired by this post I went looking for other examples of Russian color & design and came across this site.

"Most posters in our collection are originals, acquired in Russia in the 80's, political posters, made in the period 1950 - 1990, published with the supervision of the Communist Party, and were designed to make people work harder, be better communists and good patriots. Please be careful, most of these posters contain ruthless propaganda. Let's take them as historical artefacts..."