You wouldn't even know that the Roomba is a vacuum when looking through these photos. The idea of turning everyday things into art work is something more creatives thrive on, and this is no exception.

The "Roomba Art" series was originally produced by Tobias Baumgartner, Marcus Brandenburger, Tom Kamphans, Alexander Kroeller, and Christiane Schmidt of the IBR Algorithm Group and Braunschweig University of Technology. "We had a swarm of seven Roombas, each with a differently colored LED on top. The roombas are operating at the same time -- can you spot the collisions?" Source

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After this initial series was created several others tried their version of such an idea and pretty soon various versions of this concept were created and posted online. Hope you enjoy the round-up we have put together.

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Have any of you tried this yet? Would love to hear your thoughts on this awesome photo series and creative concept.

Zazzle is one of those totally awesome online brands that has just about everything you could wish for on one website. Aside from offering so many different products, Zazzle also gives you the chance to customize your own. Make sure you check out their selection of goods.

Did you all enjoy creating iPad cases for our Zazzle contest? I hope so. There were so many fabulous entries, you guys are great at creating some inspiring pieces. So thank you for entering.

Today we are here to announce the winners of the Zazzle contest.

• Grand prize winner will receive $500 + a copy of their winning iPad Sleeve
• 1 Runner-up will receive $100 Zazzle gift certificate + copy of their iPad Sleeve
• 2 Honorable mentions will receive $50 Zazzle gift certificates + copies of their iPad Sleeves

The runner-up who will be receiving a $100 Zazzle gift certificate + copy of their iPad Sleeve is: Vintage Flowers iPad Sleeve by HazelAgnes.

The 2 Honorable mentions who will be receiving a $50 Zazzle gift certificates + copies of their iPad Sleeves: PATTERN {chevron 011} by Schatzibrown

And finally, Vintage Floral by pinkinkstudio

Congrats to all the winners! Thank you so much to everyone who entered the Zazzle contest. I hope you had a lot of fun with this contest and we are excited to keep bringing you more.

When lots of people gather in a park and fly kites together, the outcome is one incredibly colorful sky. Here are some  photos from Kite Fest in Austin, Texas.

What colors do you see when you look at these shots? Woud love to see what color palettes and patterns you COLOURlovers come up with!

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Has anyone attended any fun and colorful activities recently? Would love to see what you are all doing!

Today we are here with a really fun iPad sleeve design contest brought to you by Zazzle. Have you taken the time to play on  Zazzle yet?

The site is filled with so many awesome products from iPhone + iPad cases, office products, clothing and accessories and just about everything else you could want. What's more, they have an option for you to go ahead and design your own pieces. Want to put your artwork on t-shirts? Zazzle can do that!

We are excited to announce the Zazzle iPad sleeve design contest. We are calling upon the COLOURlovers community to design the coolest sleeve you can through zazzle.com. Once you have created something you love, submit the design and share it so you can get lots of votes on your submission.

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How it Works:

Participants will be designing an iPad sleeve using the design tool on zazzle.com. Here is how to enter:

• Create a Zazzle Account (It’s free!)
• Download our iPad Sleeve Templates and use them to create your design.
• Go here , select the sleeve you’d like to create and use your design to finalize your entry.
• “Post for Sale” (red link towards the bottom right) your iPad Sleeve with the tag colourloversipadcontest in the Zazzle Marketplace

For the official rules, find out more on zazzle.com. You’re done! Now you can go vote for your favorites but clicking the “like” button below the entry!

The Prizes:

• Grand prize winner will receive $500 + a copy of their winning iPad Sleeve
• 1 Runner-up will receive $100 Zazzle gift certificate + copy of their iPad Sleeve
• 2 Honorable mentions will receive $50 Zazzle gift certificates + copies of their iPad Sleeves

We will be announcing the winners on May 14, 2012. Good Luck to all and happy designing!

Did you know that adding foods to your diet that are high in pigmentation is one of the best things that you could do for your health and creativity? Broccoli, carrots, beets, peas, blueberries, raspberries, cherries, etc. all contain whopping doses of antioxidants, the super-hero of the super-fit, chasing away free radicals that cause disease and degeneration.

Every runway supermodel knows that the key to staying slim and shiny is to avoid foods that are white, or pale in color—potatoes, breads, pastas, white rice, sugar—and to eat fabulously colorful foods that are ALIVE and JUICY.

Not only will brightly colored foods make you a brightly colored person, (add a rosy glow to your cheeks, bring the sparkle and shimmer back to your eyes) they become a cheerful accent splash of color to your kitchen when stacked in a bowl near the Kitchen-Aid or french press, and make a lively center-piece for the dinner table.

Dust off that brightly painted Mexican-ceramic bowl and fill it up with the season's best apples and oranges and color your world from the inside out.

As individuals, we change our colors often. We reflect our inner palettes in what we wear, what we buy, where we cast our gaze. We have the freedom to engage unlimited combinations whenever we see fit.

But what about the colors of the websites we visit daily? Do websites shift in these same ways, or even at this rate? Over the course of a year we change our color preferences untold times, but looking at how websites evolve over a similar time period indicates something quite different.

I recently examined a representative sample of websites that have gone through a significant redesign in the last year to analyze just how much, if at all, these websites changed in terms of their inner color palettes. These few examples represent a trend I noticed - that some websites have gone through massive shifts in layout, usability, and general structure. In comparing their palettes, however, you don't see such shifting.

In the example of target.com below, you can see that there has been an obvious overhaul of structure, reorganizing the site completely. While there is a subtle increase in a practical implementation of color 'coding' (notably pink to indicate a 'spring' item and brighter link colors), the base of the palette remains the same. This shows that Target knows the importance of evolving functionality (and product) independent of base branding colors.

Another great example of a structural overhaul is bankofamerica.com. Here you can see they've moved to a centered layout and are using a few brighter blues for specific calls to action, but again, the remainder of the palette remains unchanged.

Another website I took a look at was twitter.com, which went through somewhat of a transformation last year. Save for a button color change (for the better) the base of their palette and branding remains the same.

Of particular interest this past year were the transformations undertaken on dennys.com. Around July last year they went with an overhaul not just of structure but of color as well. I don’t think the color portion of the overhaul was that successful, as a look around six months later shows they've reversed their direction. They've gone closer to what they had previous to the saturated yellow look, dialing back to a more traditional food-friendly palette of light tans/browns and creamy whites. Did Denny’s find out how much is too much? Was bright yellow too much of a stretch from what is traditionally a red-dominated industry?

In the case of our recent Purple.us redesign, you can see that we’ve maintained the base of the palette, only adding a select aqua to draw emphasis to the site’s informational hierarchy. Again, you can see how important the core of a palette is to the site’s overall presentation.

It is important to understand that while sites adapt and alter in various ways and degrees, there are some decisions that must be absolutely correct in early stages of development, namely color. Color delineates brand. Color can define a site. Color resonates in the mind of the user, whether they notice or not. Color is vital. If a website requires modifications, initial color choice and primary concepts must be considered just as vital.

Today MOO and COLOURlovers are coming together to bring you a business card color palette contest. Just think about it, you have the chance to spruce up a pack of business cards that many people will receive that is sure to brighten their day when they do. Of course we know that this is the perfect task for the COLOURlovers community since you are all great when it comes to playing with color, so check out how to enter below and get going.

MOO is an online print company that creates a variety of materials including business cards, postcards, and MiniCards. The attention to design, focus on only a few products done well, and care for their customers, are just a few things that set MOO apart from other similar companies. Products that are high-quality are a must in making the best first impression possible, and MOO knows that, so they strive to offer top designs and make the process as easy as possible. Here are some of the pre-designed business card templates you will find at moo.com.

How to Enter:

Submit your best 5 color palette for a MOO business card pack. Once you have created something you are proud of, show it off! The palette will be in the gallery to gain "love" from the community.

As a tip, you can adjust the width of each color using the red bar right above the palette color.

Submissions close at the end of the night on Sunday April 8, 2012. You will have the chance to gain love notes until April 12, 2012. We will announce the winner on Friday April 13. The top five most ‘loved’ designs will be announced as the winners and these five designs will be bundled as a new COLOURlovers pack and will be available for sale on moo.com.

Once you create your awesome, check out the other entries and vote for your favorites.

The Prizes:

The people who created 5 most loved color palettes will each receive a $100 MOO voucher to be used at Moo.com for any of their available products.

Not only will you receive a voucher, but the 5 most loved palettes will be included in the next set of COLOURlovers business cards by MOO.

Good luck and get designing!

We are excited to team up with FLOR for such a fun & creative contest. "I've been a fan of FLOR for a long time now, and when I was remodeling my home office I figured it was about time to put some color under my feet. All day when I'm working, my chair sits on this color inspiration... Now I need to cover the rest of the floors in the house. ~COLOURlover"

If you haven't heard of FLOR yet, it is about time you did. This unconventional carpet company gives you flexibility and creative freedom when it comes to designing the perfect rug for your home. Additionally, FLOR tiles allow you to customize the size of your rug so it fits in the space you need. As you can see through experiencing FLOR online, you will easily get lost in the patterns, colors and textures they provide. The design possibilities are endless for creative people like us.

In their eyes, the world of design is inspiring and ever-changing but must be practical based on your needs. FLOR makes it possible for you to find that perfect solution for room in your home.

The Contest Details

Submissions will close on March 15, but voting will be open until March 20th (11:59pm PST) to get as much love as you can on your design.
On March 20 we will announce the winner with the most love votes on their design.

The winner will receive a $500 gift certificate to spend on any FLOR styles, including your own design. This will give you the chance to pick out your fully customizable rug, then set it up however and wherever you choose.

Design Your FLOR: How to Enter the Contest

So how do you win such an awesome prize like this? Head over to the COLOURlovers FLOR builder for a 4x5 blank template of squares. Using the FLOR tiles, create your best “wow!” rug with FLOR’s color palette.

Once you feel you have fashioned something you love, submit the final creations to our gallery and spread the word about your awesome FLOR design... and remember, the one with the most "love" votes will be the winner of the $500 prize.

Check out the entries page and make sure to "love" your favorites.

As a side note, check back next Monday, March 12, for a FLOR Scavenger Hunt and small prize. You definitely don't want to miss a chance to get your hands on a few FLOR tiles, now do you? Want to know more about FLOR? Check out their About page and watch the video.

Today we are chatting with Matthew Smith, currently the creative director of Zaarly. Known for his online persona as "whale," Matt has proven himself as a great designer and influencer in the field.

Zaarly is a marketplace where you can ask for anything, set the price, and keep the community rooted by building local economy and helping each other out.

Follow Matthew on Dribbble and Twitter.

First up, why don't you tell the community a bit about who you are, what you do, how long you have been doing it. 

I'm the Creative Director at Zaarly, a place that's bringing business back to neighborhoods again, because life is better when you talk face to face, when you're not just a number. I've been drinking this kool aid for a little less than a year. Before that I owned Squared Eye for about 4 years. Before that I worked at a thrift store.

Poster design is a really fun, inexpensive and unique way to explore your creative side. From the 1,000's of fonts, variety of poster sizes, and layouts, sometimes, it's difficult to know where to start!

Once you master your design techniques visit Next Day Flyers for fast poster printing at great prices.

Today we are interviewing Jessica Sprague, design guru and owner of JessicaSprague.com. In February, Jessica is heading off a four week Poster Design course. She is also giving away not one, but TWO seats to this really awesome class! I couldn't be more excited about the class after taking Jessica's Subway Art class. I'm a busy mom, so I don't have a whole lot of time to join in a live class, which is why I love Jessica's classes- they are self-paced and available forever!

Follow Jessica: Twitter & Facebook

Can you tell us about yourself, how long have you been designing? Teaching? Do you have a job outside of JS.com?

In my former life I was a web & user interface designer for a software company, so I've been designing in some form or another for about 14 years. I started teaching digital scrapbooking, Photoshop, and graphic design in 2007 when I opened  JessicaSprague.com. Since then it is my full-time job, and I love it!

What three (or less) singular colors do you most identify with, why?

My favorite color is green - I love it in almost all of its shades from lime to olive. It's the color of growth and regeneration, of calm energy, of prosperity, learning, balance, and harmony.

If you had to describe yourself [currently] as a five color palette, what colors would they be? Could you provide me with HEX codes so I can create a JS palette for you? :)

I feel like I am a blue, two greens, and a red, coupled with a dark grey. Hex: aed835, d9ea65, 81c9c0, a90c19, a90c19

The greens I've already described. The blue is an ocean representing responsibility, stability, trustworthiness. The red represents fire and emotion, and the dark grey brings some gravity, but also represents the dark that balances the lighter, fresher colors.

If you could be a shape, what shape would you be? (i.e. a polygon = triangle, hexagon etc...)

I would be a 5-pointed star. :)