For the first Rockware Freebie post, I’m going to start off with an oldie, but definitely a goodie. This tool has been around for a long time, however I haven’t worked on a project without using this tool at least once, in years. This week’s freebie comes from a seemingly long-since forgotten website, SlayerOffice, and we are referring to the awesome color palette tool.
Basically, you enter the hexadecimal value of any color into their tool, and it automatically generates 9 new colors from that one, 4 of them created by adding different amounts of white to your color, the rest created by adding different amounts of black to your color. Here’s a quick screenshot: 
This tool is amazing at generating a list of colors that will match perfectly with your base color or generating different versions of your base color to try if you’re still undecided. It also allows you to change the default blending colors. For instance, as stated, the default is that the colors are generated by adding white and black, in different amounts, to your base color; you can change the white and black colors used to create the blends, to any colors you desire – enabling an endless variety of color palettes available to auto blend. It may not sound like a whole terrible lot at first glance – but trust us, this tool is invaluable in adjusting, creating and adding to your color palette.
Are we aware, you might be asking yourself, that this website is quite outdated and neglected, that there may be better, flashier, shinier tools available by now? Yes, yes we are. However, here at Rockware we recognize that the shiny, flashy, new versions of things, tend to be bloated, busy and distracting. When you’re spending countless hours working on a design, sifting through hundreds of colors, images and ideas, a tool like this, without any fluff, or unnecessary interface elements, can be an amazing asset.
Give her a try, she’s old, but still got a lot of spunk in her. 😉
