Kuler | Adobe’s Answer to Color Scheming
Tim March 2nd, 2007
There’s been a lot of excitement recently with the developments coming out of Adobe, especially regarding the news that they would be bringing Photoshop online as a free, ad-supported application. Adobe also recently released another online application called Kuler which, despite the rediculous name, is a great for creating and sharing color schemes. The web is already ripe with Color Scheme Generators but if anyone knows color it’s Adobe so one would expect a quality product from them. We decided to see how they match up.
1. Kuler requires Flash Player 9 so if it’s not installed you will be prompted on first visit to download and install it. After that it’s smooth sailing and we make it to the front page which shows the latest popular color scheme.
2. The interface is very easy to use and the black background helps to make the design all about the colors themselves. Clicking on a color scheme fills the whole screen with the palette, allowing you to really experience it up close.
3. Adobe also has a page of links to other content and information on color theory and forums about the application.
4. One of the really great features that I’m seeing in a lot of apps these days is the ability to use the interface without signing in. Here we’ve gone to create our own color scheme and we can mix and match colors to our hearts content without signing up. Signing up gives you the advantage of downloading, saving, and sharing your color schemes as well as commenting on others.
5. You can move the sliders around, remove specific colors, add new ones, and change the rules (monotone, triad schemes, etc.) until you’ve found the perfect colors for your project. It’s hard to show in screenshots just how lovely this all works so I really encourage you to head over there and give it a try. I did notice that more often than not the color palettes being generated were quite pleasing, so that’s a plus.
6. Of course I also wanted to see what other things I could do with a logged in account so that requires signing up with Adobe. If you already have an Adobe account you’re good to go, if not just sign up using the form that you’re redirected to when clicking “Sign Up”.
7. Once registered you can log in at Kuler with a drop-down box. Everything is quick to load thanks to the flash interface and while usually I’m not a fan of Flash sites, Adobe rightly has done well with this app.
8. After logging in you’ll have the ability to Title, Tag, and Save your palette of colors as well as publish the scheme for all to see. When testing this I had trouble saving the scheme, possibly due to the heavy use their servers are getting at the moment, so I’ll just have to remember my beautiful color scheme for now.
9. When signed in you will also have a “MyKuler” section that shows you all the color palettes you have created thus far. Since I had difficulty saving mine, I’m empty inside. How appropriate.
10. When browsing the list of popular color schemes you will also notice that after signing in you have the option of saving the scheme to your computer for use in Photoshop, Illustrator, and other applications (the filetype is ASE, Adobe Swatch Exchange File). You can also open the scheme in the Create section and edit the colors if you like where something is headed but want to change one or two of the colors.
There’s no doubt when Adobe decides to enter a market they mean serious business. There’s not a single person who thinks they won’t dominate the Online Photo Editing marketplace by brand alone. This color application is no exception and they’ve really made a product that does one thing and does it well. From the design to the interface, all aspects of the site are aimed at getting good color schemes for your project. It would be nice if they incorporated a more social feel to it. You can currently comment on color schemes but that option is not immediately obvious. Despite this and the fact that I had some trouble saving my schemes, the product as a whole is a killer application that I’ll definitely be using in the future for my projects.
