Every Mac-using graphic designer has a few dozen utilities including more than a few color management tools.
Part of my day job is to help Mac users install and use apps that improve their productivity, so I come across more than a few tools that graphic designers love to use. Got color? Get it all from the Menubar.
Click Me, Baby, One More Time
Mac users do not experience a shortage of good graphic utilities, especially those that capture screen pixel colors, or manage color values, regardless of their preferred app of choice.
Many of these apps take up life in the Mac’s Menubar, and so does Pochade, a color management tool of a different color.
Pochade features a pop down color management window. Click the Menubar icon and tools and palettes pop into view.
Use Pochade to grab color from the screen, and save and manage color collections, all of which are available from the pop down menu.
Ah, but there’s more here than meets the eye.
Pochade’s loup lets you select any color on the Mac’s screen, regardless of the application.
And managing collections is built-in to the app.
A click brings up the color organizer so you can create a collection of colors– palettes to use in any Mac graphic app.
Most graphic designers have color collections, so it’s simple to add a collection to Pochade.
It accepts ACO, ASE, and CLR files. Having all your color collections and palettes in one location to use between different apps can be very handy.
Even hex codes can be captured for Mac web developers. As good as Pochade is, and it is, there’s one annoying issue.
It’s a Mac Menubar app only. It won’t show up in the Dock. And most of us already have a crowded Menubar, loaded with utilities. Having an option to use Pochade from the Dock would be added value.




