Make Your Colors Sing in Perfect Harmony

Start with any color that you create in the Color panel or select from the Swatches panel. Then look in the new CS3 panel called Color Guide (Window > Color Guide), and your selected color will be shown as the Base Color. Using this color as a starting point, you can set up harmonious Color Groups in seconds. All you need to do is select the “rules” for your Color Group setup under the Harmony Rules pop-up menu (just under the Options menu in the upper right of the panel). This will pick the perfect colors to go with your Base Color instantly. To save the resulting colors as a Color Group, look under the palette’s Options menu and select “Save Colors as Swatches.” What I love about this feature is that anyone; from a color expert who’s totally familiar with the large number of preset rules to a novice who’s color challenged, can easily make their colors sing in perfect harmony.

Tip provided by Jeff Witchel, Certified Adobe® Training Provider.