Color Tool Examples

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EXAMPLES OF COLOR TOOL USES

On This Page: • Color Space Visualization • Locating Particular Colors • Display Prototyping

** The Color Tool was originally designed to run as a Java applet in the user’s browser. This functionality is no longer supported by modern browsers. Therefore, the Color Tool has been removed from this website. We apologize for this inconvenience, and hope to some day rebuild the Color Tool as a standalone application. In the meantime, we hope that the Color Usage Research Lab website remains a useful resource for those who are interested in color science. **

The examples below illustrate a few uses for the Color Tool.

Color Space Visualization

One good use for the Color Tool is to get an overview of the perceptual organization of the colors available on a display. The "Choose by Hue" and "Choose by Lightness" color selection panels let us look at representative samples of all of the colors in the 3D gamut of a color display. Users who don't have extensive training or experience with applied color perception (and maybe even a few who do have color training) can quickly see a few things about the visual possibilities supported by the display by browsing through this space.
Color Space Visualization Example.
More about 3D gamut of a display.

Locating a Color with Particular Properties

We can also use the tool to seek a color with particular visual properties. For example, suppose we want to find a cyan (blue-green) that is both highly-saturated and bright. We can find it with the Color Tool using either panel.
Color Search Example.

Display Prototyping

The tool can help with development of color schemes for complicated information displays. The organization of the color selection panels supports better understanding of the perceptual consequences of particular color choices than with other color pickers.
Display Prototyping Example.