Color Palette Creation is Hard

This pile of shoes acted as color inspiration.

I’m not exactly what one would call an expert user of CSS, but the hardest thing about this (still very much in process) redesign has been deciding on a color palette.

I’ve vacillated between wanting something subtle and something bright, between wanting something professional and something fun, between something out of the box and something I came up with myself.  Although I like to think of myself as crafty, I wouldn’t say that I have a natural eye for color, and after much deliberation I was leaning toward using the colors in a prefab theme.

My trip to the Lorna’s Laces headquarters changed my mind.  There were so many pretty colors in unlikely combinations, and I knew that I needed to spend some time throwing colors up against each other to see what would work.

Kirstin Sorton's Three Tone Tree Print

The first thing I saw when I walked in the door after biking home was a print of a green and orange tree.  I love this print; the colors agree with me and I like the movement of the falling leaves.

Although the print gave me a spark of inspiration, it wasn’t until I kicked off my shoes and saw the pile of colors that I knew what my palette was.  I knew immediately.  These are the colors, and even though the rest of my design is hacked together, I had to switch over immediately.

I know I’ve got to do something about the background image.  I’m thinking of pulling the print out, shrinking it, and layering it over the blue I’m using as the background color. I might mellow that acid green out a bit, too, but it seems to be growing on me.  Hopefully in the process I’ll smooth out some of the edges.  Even if I don’t, I like this infinitely more than the black and white.