New Color Palettes

I have to pick just one?
That will be the biggest challenge. There are quite a few I'd like to try out. There seem to be two general themes that I stick to when I pick colors: bright, intense colors that are rich and inviting, fun and playful; the second would be muted, calming, soothing, relaxing, luxurious colors. I feel like I'm go go go so much anymore, that a calming theme might be a good one to explore. Then again, I am go go go and fun and bright would be a good reflection of this.
Can I develop a scheme that's a combination of the two?

One thing about this template that has bothered me since I picked it is the bright orange bar. I think it works with the neon and pale greens that are part of the template, but even in the color management section it's not an option to change it. So, should I work with it? Maybe. I found this image up on stock.xchng of oranges and kiwis. I'm not sure if it's entirely me, though.


Another idea: Bright greens with the right shade of red. Apples and kiwis together maybe. Or Green Granny Smith apples in my red kitchen. Those are two of my favorite colors and might work well together. I'll have to find just the right colors though; see also my complaints about the big red "stop sign" of a Coke image. Or I could go very black, white, red and taupe, like this 50's diner style.


What about bright sunny yellow, bright blue and white? A slightly more nautical theme than I'm usually drawn towards. Yellow's a key component of my bathroom - a bright, happy color scheme to wake me up and get me going in the morning. Also, I'm not sure how I feel about yellow on monitors. I think yellow generally holds up better on screen than it does in the paper. Maybe I shouldn't be so afraid of it. This is also another in my intense color palette ideas.













Then there's the rich reds, browns and taupes and stone colors. I've found a couple images that I think work well with this idea. The threads here are the baseline, I think. I'll need a deeper version of this pink to get to the red I think I'm looking for. Something like what's on these doors.

Stay tuned. Spring Break should bring deep involvement with color, type and css.

Credits:
Orange and Kiwis photo by Neil Gould via stock.xchng
Kiwis and Red by Alfonso Diaz via stock.xchng
Idols photo by Doug Wilson via Flickr.com
Daisies by Sarah Mooney via stock.xchng
Threads by Paige Foster via stock.xchng
Door photo by PinkMoose via Flickr.com