Pictaculous – An easy way to guide your designs for graphics and videos.
When you first start to develop the style for your graphics or video it’s a good idea to come up with a consistent color scheme. And much like decorating a room, you may want to create that them around one item that has several colors already in it such as a photo or logo.
I recently discovered a free tool, called Pictaculous, that I can use to create the scheme. Pictaculous uses an image you submit online and generates a variety of color palettes that are based on the colors in your image.
For those like me with no design background, Pictaculous uses a simple image upload you provide and comes back with a functional design palette, removing the guesswork from the project. It generates a primary palette pulling from the colors found in your image.
Not sure you need a tool like this? Go back and look at your last 2-3 PowerPoint decks. Save one of your slides as an image and submit to Pictaculous. You might be just as surprised as I was. Want to really stretch the value – do you ever stand in front of your closet and try to figure out what colors go together with that suit or dress? In my case, which tie to wear. Laugh now, or try it – it’s free.
Pictaculous leans on the design site ColourLovers and the user-generated palettes it has saved previously, delivering five relevant color palettes for you to work with. You are able to select from the color codes provided to add design-appropriate colors to use in your preferred graphic application or download it directly into Adobe products by using the Adobe Swatch file of the palette you’ve selected.
Here is an example
I submit this image on Pictaculous:
This is the palette I get back:
This has helped me when I sit in front of my screen, looking at an image and knowing that something just doesn’t look right. If getting your graphics looking the best they can be, this free tool is worth bookmarking.
Try it with your own logo or an image that you want to work with and see what comes back for you. I’d love to hear what your results are and to have you share other resources that help create professional graphics for your presentations, websites and other sales materials.