I've previously written extensively about colors as they apply to learning, color theory, using colors for special circumstances, and color resources. In this article, I'd like to share another color resource that may be of use to you when designing, particularly for special circumstances like 508 compliance or color blindness, or if the thought of choosing colors makes you want to pull your hair out.
Colors on the Web did not initially draw me in because, in matters of design help, I definitely judge a book by its cover. And I think this site's cover leaves much to be desired. I dug a little deeper, however, and found a few useful tools worth noting.
If you're color clueless, and are not already working with a set of brand-specific colors, this would be an excellent place to start. Click the Spin button and you'll be given a random selection of three colors.
If you're lucky, the Color Wheel will spit out a combination you like right off the bat, but if not, that's okay... just keep clicking the Spin button. As colors and their corresponding hex codes are produced you can elect to view them in different layout aspects (background, secondary, or text). You can also choose to Hold a color and keep spinning until you get a combination you like. You may never get a color combination you love, but I think the Color Wheel is still pretty useful, because it will probably give you at least one color that would be great for your design. From there you can copy and paste that color's hex code into the Color Wizard.
Found a color you think could work for your design? Great! Enter that color's hex code into the Color Wizard to start having some real fun. Based on your starting color, this tool will show you coordinating colors in the monochromatic, analogous, triadic, tetradic, and split complimentary ranges, along with their hex codes. It may be easy to figure out what the complimentary colors are for red or blue or purple, but what if you have a gray-blue-green color in a muted hue? Then it might be a little harder to figure out what the perfect complimentary color would be. That's where the color wizard can help. Plus it's nice to see your colors laid out together before you dive into the actual designing.
All right, so you've picked some colors. Now for the technical stuff. If you have perfect vision, a color combination might look great to you. But what about your viewers with less than perfect vision? Or those with low resolution monitors? It might not look so hot to them. An easy way to tell if your colors have enough contrast is to plug the colors' hex codes into Colors on the Web's Color Contrast Analyzer.
The Color Contrast Analyzer will assess your color selection from an accessibility standpoint, based upon the World Wide Web Consortium's guidelines. The highest level of conformance is AAA, but whether you need this much contrast will depend upon your audience.
How to Use These Colors In PowerPoint
Let's say you use these tools and come up with the perfect color scheme. That's awesome! What's not-so-awesome is that PowerPoint's colors are in RGB and the Colors on the Web colors are in hex code. Don't fret, just head off to this free Hex-to-RGB Conversion site (or any other conversion site that works for you), plug in your hex code, and it'll spit out the RGB values for you. Let the designing commence!***
AJ teaches a live, 3-hour class that offers tips/tricks for improving the look and feel of your PowerPoint presentations: Slide Sprucing: Remodeling Lackluster PowerPoint Slides for eLearning and Presentations.
very attractive tool of e learning that give attractive environment to user
Posted by: eLearning | September 15, 2012 at 03:41 AM