Who doesn't love the ampersand? It is one of those symbols that is used in a lot of designs and something that will class up any logo. Here is a collection of ampersands that people have created for various uses. How fun are these?

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This artistic Ampersand is the branding behind makeup company MAC teaming up with social community Milk for a campaign.

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Which ones are you favorite? Do you use an ampersand in your design work?

Gelaskins is filled with some amazing designs, and the option to make your own. Is really doesn't get better than that, does it? Thanks so much to Gelaskins for allowing one awesome COLOURlover to be the next Gelaskins artist!

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We hope you have had time to poke around their site, especially to check out their newest product, the Hardcase.

You guys really killed it with the designs this time around. There were so many awesome ones, it is hard to choose a favorite.

The Winners:

1st place prize:
Winner will become the next GelaSkins artist, and will collect royalties on the sale of their design to our customers. Chosen by Gelaskins.

close to you by jjolimie

Runners Up:
The 2nd-5th runners up will receive $100 gift card towards custom GelaSkins featuring your pattern. Selected by most votes on COLOURlovers.

❤Plasmic by praxicalidocious

Wilderness Glory by o2bqueen

Tweet iPhone's Tone by Any Palacios

C a n d y * by hana*

Congrats to all the winners! And thanks to everyone for voting.

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.

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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.

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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.

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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?

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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.

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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 we become more aware of how things affect our environment and about earth-friendly living,a huge focus has been geared toward non-toxic paints. Being an Interior Designer, I am by any means not a paint expert, but have done some research and have come across some very interesting tidbits that everyone should be aware of, if they are not already.

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I have learned that the majority of paints have a degree of toxicity, only egg tempera can really be accepted as completely non-toxic if using non-toxic pigments. Egg tempera is basically pigment paste and egg yolk. The benefits of non-toxic paint are that they are ideal for those with allergies, have a low-odor and are ultimately better for the Earth.

A soft color palette of organic paints by ECOS Organic Paints.

Benjamin Moore's Natural Paint Colors.

Image from Mythic Paints room visualizer page.

Yolo's Boho trend colors.

Anna Sova's food paint.

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.

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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.

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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!