Color Tools — Color Grid

Of all the color tools I have, Color Grid by Gail Callahan is probably the most unusual. It costs $7.95 plus $3.50 for shipping and handling, although the $3.50 will cover shipping up to four grids.

Most of my color tools are cards or decks or color wheels. This one is a glossy-print grid with a viewer. In some ways, it is almost like a slide ruler. The grid has 12 colors based on the classic red-blue-yellow painter's color wheel. Pure hues run down the middle of the grid, with five tints above and five shades below. There are no tones. The viewfinder has a 3 by 3 grid of holes. The center hole is larger than the surrounding eight. And the viewer has a thin rectangular box.

To use the tool, place the viewer on the grid, centering the large hole on the color that most closely matches your main color. The viewer then shows you surrounding colors that make a good analogous color scheme, as well as complementary colors way over on the other side of the color wheel. The size of the holes is purposeful, as the complementary color is supposed to be a "pop."

This is the tool I use the least. It is useful for generating ideas. But it doesn't generate the full variety you can with a color wheel. You can't get split-complementary or triadic off this tool. The back of the viewer is black, which is helpful for viewing the colors. It would be nice if the tool came with a variety of viewer types to generate other schemes and with viewers in white and gray as well as black. That would enable the user to generate several different color schemes, and to evaluate against a variety of gray scales. I appreciate this tool has the full range of tints and shades. I think a grid with tones would be helpful, too.

In sum, this is a useful tool for someone with little color education. It will generate a quick usable color scheme that is good for someone working with paint and the yellow-red-blue primaries. It can help get you out of color habits, especially if you typically don't explore complementary color options. I think there are ways it could be expanded to improve the range of solutions it provides. On the other hand, this could be a useful tool when getting dressed, as the color pop could suggest jewelry, bags, shoes, or other accessories to enliven an outfit.