Palettes from the COLOURlovers' group started by the beloved faded jeans: 2+2=5 Colour Palette Game.

Original format: Pick two of your favorite colors, any two that you've created and send them to a fellow CL'r. In return, they will do the same and send you two personal faves from their own collection of colors. Then each of you should create a palette of the four colors with the fifth color in the palette being your own personal choice.

NOTE: It's important that you send ONLY the 6 digit hex code for the color so that the actual colors aren't seen ahead of time, possibly influencing the choices made by the other person.

Second format: You choose two colours that are from THEIR collection of colours (colours created by them) and they choose two colours from your colour archives. Send each other the hex codes and proceed as above. Whatever format you choose, it's always easy, fun and sometimes a real challenge!

Oh and thanks to all of you that are having fun playing my game and sharing the love!

Thanks to Julee for the suggestion.

Today, in an effort to spread awareness and a better understanding of COLOURlovers, including practical ways to apply the tools and community knowledge on the site, we're highlighting the COLOURlovers group t3achers and the Forum Topic: Using COLOURLovers in the Classroom, where one member of this group, speakin_colors, shared her blog post (reposted below) with some ways she engages her students using COLOURlovers. Her ideas are shared by some like Klip who said, "I use COLOURlovers in my teaching all the time - mostly to get my (university aged new media design) students sensitised to colour combinations. Seeing how seriously many of the users of this forum take colours and colour combinations is usually a surprise to my students, and helps them to get used to the idea of spending time just playing with colour." While others suggested that it could be used for more technical training, that COLOURlovers  "could be useful for introducing them (to) RGB/HSV color schemes."

How to Use Colors & Palettes from COLOURlovers

Using Patterns in the Classroom

Students can be given patterns to colour. By teaching students the meaning of colours and how to use colour not at random but creatively, patterns can acquire powerful meaningful connotations.

Wow! What an honor.  It's so amazing how many of you have taken the time to share your color ideas & inspiration with us.  COLOURlovers continues to make me very proud to be part of such a great community.  Our 1,000,000th palette is a great milestone and we're excited and inspired to continue sharing the color love with you all.  You're all so awesome.

Some Color Palette Milestones...

#1	#1 (Community Palette)
#100	#10,000
#100,000	#1,000,000
#999,999	#1,000,001

But our 1,000,000 wouldn't have been possible without our 999,999th... and every palette that has been lovingly shared on this site.  Thank you all so much.

All 1,000,000 Color Palettes...

(Each pixel is a color strip in a palette) Click to see larger version.

Some Interesting Color Coincidences

One of my favorite things to watch is the interesting coincidences that pop up when you have people from all over the world naming colors and putting them in palettes.  Some fun stuff in there... go have a look and laugh.

What Do We Do With So Many Palettes?

Ok, so that's a lot of color... We're working hard on the code for Version 4 of COLOURlovers that will make it easier to find the color inspiration you're looking for, to share your color ideas with others and to make even more palettes.

Make Something Awesomely Colorful!

We have an API... Who knows what awesome stuff you might build with access to 1 million palettes.  Some things that have already been built:

Codename Cuttlefish by serostar

DekafLovers by VisualRinse

Pulse by Michael Mahemoff

Desktop Color Finder by Levi McCallum

Circle Growth 1 from Alex Stanciu on Vimeo

Your Palettes... Your Stories: Share Why You Create

In the comments below, share a bit of your story with us.  I'd love to hear your answers to these questions. (They might help us explain to new lovers just why this place is so great.)
Why do you create palettes?

What do you like about it?

If you use palettes from COLOURlovers, what for?

What makes COLOURlovers such a great creative community?

Thank you all so much.  I'm looking forward to the next million, 10 million... and every other colorful milestone we'll reach together.

+Darius (COLOURlover)

"For Anyone who loves to indulge in the rich variety of everything chocolate !!"

Palettes from the COLOURlovers' group CHOCOLATElovers.

"This is a group for that leaf pattern. All different colors and ways. Usually I like making it like autumn but you can make it any way you want. You can even make it blue, or even pink!"

A selection from the COLOURlovers' Group Leaves.

"... do you have stuff inspired by exaggerated sentimentality, glamour or melodrama??? kitsch is said to be a gesture imitative of the superficial appearances of art..."

"So, this is a place to show in a creative way, all what you consider kitsch. tadaaaaa!"

A selection of patterns from the COLOURlovers' group Kitsch!

Something compels us to create palettes and patterns, sometimes at an alarming rate. Here you can share those creations motivated by your individual passions, obsessions and dedications. If it moves you, and you felt the desire to express it through color/colour, then you're in good company. Come on in and show off your work ~ you might persuade other CLers to share your enthusiasm, or you might even share theirs. Happy creating! - COLOURlovers' group Inspired Fascination.

Patterns

Palettes from the COLOURlovers' group Plantlife.

Palettes created on a random basis from the COLOURlovers' Group rAnDoM RaNdOm Random.

Here are a few suggestions on good ways to create random palettes from the group's message board:

1. electrikmonk has on his profile-page a great flash tool called RANDOM PALETTE GENERATOR.

2. COLOURlovers has some random functions by itself. By clicking Colors > Random in the menue you choose random colors out of all colors created at CL so far. Lesaint has made a whole series based on this system.

3. Choose five random palettes out of all CL palettes so far and collect one color from each of it to create a new palette.

4. Choose one color from each of the five newest palettes to create a new palette.

5. Clicking randomly on the Color Picker.

What is ugly to some is beautiful to others?

While this group ask, "Ever make a palette or pattern you know is ugly, but you love it anyway? And maybe you made it just because it is ugly? Give it the honor it deserves!" I couldn't help but find some palettes I consider to be quite nice, but maybe it's just an attraction to the unusual and unique. What do you think? Take a look through the COLOURlovers' group Love for Ugly and decide for yourself whether these are in fact ugly or merely unusual and not pleasing to the creator's eye.