Color

October 25, 2013March 22, 2023

Adobe Kuler

Adobe Kuler is an iPhone app that allows you to create a themed color palette based on photos taken with an iPhone camera or from imported photos from the web (the app provides you with a Google Images search option, which is convenient). As soon as you show the Kuler app an image, it starts capturing colors from the image and creates a customizable color theme. You can also create themes manually using the color wheel and standard color rules—analogous, monochromatic, triad, complementary). The themes are editable, and you can sync them with your Adobe account and the Creative Cloud and can be used for design purposes—it works especially well with Adobe Illustrator.

For more information about the Kuler app, visit the web version‘s color wheel or the app. We have the app installed on the VRC’s iPad, so feel free to come check it out!

The image examples are left: my desk in the VRC and right: Sandy Skoglund’s Revenge of the Goldfish (1981).

Via Wired

July 31, 2012March 22, 2023

Color Uncovered: Free App for iPad

Color Uncovered is a free app for iPad that explores various aspects of color:

How is Monet like a honeybee? What color is a whisper? Why is it so hard to find your car in a lamp-lit parking lot?

Color Uncovered features a wide spectrum of cool color-related topics to explore. Learn why friends shouldn’t let men buy bananas. Try your own color experiments on the iPad using simple items you have at home: a CD case, a drop of water, and a piece of paper. Discover how the iPad and other devices create color. Find out what causes afterimages—and more.

For more information, view the Exploratorium website.

August 16, 2011March 22, 2023

See the Average Color of the NYC Sky

The website NSKYC updates every 5 minutes with the new average color of the NYC sky. (Washington D.C. is also available).

Contact the site’s creator, Mike Bodge, to add your city (must have access to webcam, Internet, and excellent view).

March 18, 2010March 22, 2023

The History of the Color Pink

Pink Is for Battleships: A history of a decidedly unladylike color by Slate writer Jude Stewart explores the history of the color pink from children’s toys to kamikaze planes. Click the image above to launch the slide show.

April 10, 2007March 22, 2023

Quality Control Improvements

The VRC has instituted new quality control measures for digitization. We now perform flatbed book scanning with the gretagmacbeth ColorChecker(TM) Color Rendition Chart. The color chart especially improves the color contrast of manuscripts and black and white line drawings.