Check out our slideshow for more palettes.

When it's a gray day I find myself  glued to my computer, soaking in the eye-stimulating color palettes at design-seeds.com. Like Liz, I'm hoarding a stash of swatches so when I'm out of my rented apartment and can actually paint my own place, I'll have some striking combos to turn to. But the site was created as purely an artistic diary for its creator. 

Jessica Colaluca started Design Seeds in 2009 as an online journal for her color obsession. Based out of Madison, Wisconsin, Colaluca has since published two Design Seeds books (get a peek inside one here), with more on the way. Her combinations are imagined from real-world color palettes she draws from images depicting things like cups of coffee or plates of sushi. Here's what she says: 

"Design Seeds are a passion project. I absolutely love color. I love the process of color forecasting, as well as creating palettes which combine unexpected hues. [The palettes] are born from a very organic, creative process. But just as any with editorial, I'm very strategic in selecting photos to create the imagery and how the posts will flow. Inspiration and ideas pop into my head while tracking emerging color and aesthetic trends.

In creating each post, I think about the aesthetic, mood, and palette I want to convey and then I purchase the photography. Very recently, 'pinning' on Pinterest has triggered so many concepts. It has been a great way to share the research which triggers inspiration for each 'seed.'"

I'd love to see her do one from a bright-green-grass-under-storm-gray-sky photograph--they're the colors I see in the Wyoming summer, and they're breathtaking. I'd reference that dream palette for my future home.

Check out our top Design Seeds palettes in this color-happy slideshow.

5 Comments