When I start on a new project, one of my first tasks is always to nail down the colors to be used. This is especially important when building a Web site so that all the correct colors can be applied in the right places.

While some projects may involve coming up with a color scheme from scratch, most projects have existing artwork from which I can steal colors. It may come from a logo, a brochure or any project where the client has a well-defined color scheme. On a recent Web site project, I used an older version of the site to grab colors.

Each of the pages of the existing site had multiple shades of a particular color. In CorelDRAW, I drew some rectangles to receive the colors. Then I used the Eyedropper tool to “Select From Desktop” and pointed at the desired color on the old Web site. Once captured, I then filled a rectangle with that color. Below is the series of rectangles with the main colors of the old Web site.

When I’m doing this for a Web site, I’ll then go back and make note of the Hex values for each color as that is the way to enter colors for Web design. With newer versions of CorelDRAW, it is as simple as looking at the Status Bar where the hex value is clearly listed.

I’ll also build a custom palette from these rectangles to make it easy to use them for all graphics created as part of the project. You may want to read Building Custom Palettes Using CorelDRAW’s Blend Effect and ColorSchemer Studio 2 for more tips on building color palettes for projects. This is also one of many topics covered in the Color Management and Colors Success Kit for CorelDRAW X5, X6 and X7.