Do you do color on your Mac? What tools do you use? Which ones are best?
I’m into Color Schemer on my Mac because it lets me do more with less effort, less thought, less experience, and less money. Here’s 6 ways to add pro color to your Mac.
My Mac is loaded with color tools; color wheels, color pickers, color utilities. Why?
Unfortunately, sometimes I have to mix and match graphic elements on a project. I have a good eye for what colors look bad, but not an eye good enough to start from scratch and make color look good.
What I like about Color Schemer Studio OS X, hereafter known as Color Schemer, is the ways to introduce color into graphic elements, particularly for design and web graphics.
10 – Color Wheel
I have about six of these on my Mac, including one as a color picker. Start with a base color and get all the matching colors. Click.
9 – Color Harmonies View
I’m glad there’s a way to do this blindfolded. Before Color Schemer some of my color combinations looked as if they were designed by someone with such challenged sight. As in blind.
8 – Suggested Colors
There is no need for this if you’re really good with colors. If not, like me, then you love such a feature. Suggestions are my life.
7 – Photoschemer
This is what separates the cow chips and the chaff. Build a unique color scheme based on the colors in a photo or image.
6 – Color Mixer
I’ve always had trouble with gradients and mixing. Color Mixer lets you see what it will look like before changing the gradient in an element.
5 – Color Scheme Analyzer
Text color and background color problems are a thing of the past. Color combos are just a click and a click.
4 – QuickPreview
This is a good feature for web and print designers. Drag and drops colors onto set elements in QuickPreview to see how all the combinations look.
3 – Print Color Schemes
Is there another Mac utility that even does this?
2 – Import Wizard
Bring in colors to Color Schemer from style sheets, web sites, GIFs, Photoshop palettes, and color table files.
1 – Export Wizard
Export color schemes to an HTML color chart, a CSS style sheet, Photoshop, Illustrator, Corel, etc. Very handy, especially for HTML and CSS.
See? 10 ways, one application to make you a color professional. There’s even a Color Blindness Simulator to see how colors look for those who don’t see colors as well as you see colors.
The ever present WebSafe and WebSmart color converters are built in, too.
Color Schemer Studio OSX is a bit pricey at $49.99, but was on sale Tuesday at MacUpdate for half price.
About Ron McElfresh
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