Improve Your Design With This Colour Design Tool

Product/Tools Reviewed (Color Design Toolkit)

The video isn’t a single product review—it reviews six color tools/workflows for designers:

1) Adobe Color (free, web-based) — “Explore”

• Enter keywords from a brief/client research to generate emotion-aware color palettes.
• Focuses on targeting emotional responses using color theory.
• Example: for a modern tech startup logo, the generated palette can resemble palettes seen in real tech branding.
• Best use cases: logo design, branding, or when you need to evoke a specific emotion.

2) Physical color wheel (Amazon; ~\$10)

• Shows practical relationships, including:
  • Mixing/deriving colors using primaries (example: red + blue = purple).
  • White-to-black grayscale reference for print/production.
• Provides harmony references in real time:
  • Complementary, split complementary, tetrad
  • Plus analogous/triad and other harmony rules
• Includes tint, tone, and shade for each pure color.
• Note: the wheel “doubles up as a frisbee” (joking).

3) Adobe Illustrator — Recolor Artwork (built-in)

• Workflow: Edit Colors → Recolor Artwork and keep the link icon checked.
• Allows quick shifting of the entire color scheme.
• Optional: unlink to adjust individual colors.
• Pros: fast global variations; convenient for rapid iterations.
• Use case: quick variations of an entire design’s color scheme.

4) Pigment (website tool)

• Adjust brightness and saturation.
• Shows output values: HEX, RGB, and Pantone (useful for print).
• “More actions” includes:
  • Download in three file formats (unspecified)
  • Create/control gradients using two colors
  • Create duotone images (2-color duotone)
• Can share the color scheme with others.
• Positioning: best for a quick, intuitive way to generate duo-tone color schemes.

5) Paletton (more advanced palette tool)

• Initial interface may feel confusing.
• Supports:
  • Conventional color harmonies on a wheel
  • Related color options with hex codes
  • Real-world previews (including a website mock and “animator graphics”)
• Can export creator palettes.

6) Photoshop Hue-Saturation trick (no masks)

• Inspired by “pixin perfect.”
• Method:
  • Use a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer
  • Use the color sampling tool to pick the target color
• Photoshop auto-detects the sampled color, enabling quick Hue changes without masks.
• Benefit: faster color changes; simpler workflow for obvious areas.

---

Key Pros (as stated)

• Fast palette generation using brief keywords + emotional targeting (Adobe Color).
• Comprehensive harmony references and practical print references (physical wheel).
• Quick global color scheme variations (Illustrator recolor).
• HEX/RGB/Pantone outputs + duotone + gradient tools + sharing (Pigment).
• Harmony + previews + export options (Paletton).
• No-mask workflow for quick color replacement (Photoshop hue-saturation sampling).

---

Key Cons / Limitations (as stated)

• Paletton may be confusing at first.
• A mentioned logo maker option is dismissed as a less suitable choice (“less set about logo makers probably the better”).
• The physical wheel is described as relatively simple/physical compared to digital workflows (no direct drawback stated).

---

Comparisons / Positioning

Tools are mainly compared by speed and workflow purpose:

• Adobe Color: fast, emotion + brief keyword palette discovery (best for branding/logos).
• Illustrator: fast iteration on a specific design via recoloring.
• Pigment: quick, intuitive duotone/gradient generation with practical color systems (Pantone).
• Paletton: more advanced, with previews and export, but “confusing at first.”
• Photoshop trick: quickest method for changing obvious color selections without masks.

Paletton vs Adobe Color: Adobe Color is framed as easier and more targeted; Paletton is more powerful but initially harder to use.

---

Numerical / Rating Details

• Physical color wheel cost: about \$10 (approx. $10 on Amazon).
• No other explicit ratings/scores are provided.

---

Unique Points Mentioned (Complete List)

• Adobe Color: free; uses Explore + keyword inputs from brief/research.
• Adobe Color palettes: target emotions using color theory.
• Example: modern tech startup logo palette generation.
• Best for logo/branding and evoking a specific emotion.
• Physical wheel:
  • Primary color relationships (e.g., red + blue = purple)
  • Grayscale reference (white → black)
  • Harmony: complementary/split complementary/tetrad (+ others)
  • Provides tint/tone/shade
• Illustrator:
  • Recolor Artwork with linked scheme; optional unlinking for individual colors
  • Built for quick entire design color changes
• Pigment:
  • Adjust brightness and saturation
  • Shows HEX/RGB/Pantone
  • Download in three formats (unspecified)
  • Gradient control using two colors
  • Duotone creation with two colors
  • Shareable color schemes
• Paletton:
  • Harmony-based options + hex codes
  • Examples include a website mock and animator graphics
  • Exports creator palettes
• Photoshop:
  • Use Hue/Saturation adjustment layer + color sampling
  • Works without masks for obvious selections
• Jokes/notes:
  • Color wheel “doubles up as a frisbee”
  • Website example looks “straight up from the 1990s” (still cool)
  • Logo maker option not recommended

---

Speakers / Contributions

• A single main narrator described all tools and provided examples.
• Referenced third-party: “pixin perfect” as the source of the Photoshop trick (no separate speaker voice).

---

Concise Verdict / Recommendation

If you want faster, more structured color workflows, this toolkit is strongly recommended: Adobe Color + Illustrator recolor + Pigment + Paletton + Photoshop hue trick, plus a handy physical wheel.

• Start with Adobe Color for emotion/brief-driven palettes.
• Use Illustrator/Pigment for execution.
• Use Photoshop for quick recolors without masks.
• Paletton is the most powerful, but may require a bit of getting used to.