10 Color Palettes from the Natural World

to Inspire Your Creative Streak

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Color may well be the most powerful tool in the graphic designer’s toolkit.

色彩大概是图形设计师工具包中最强大的工具了。

Of course, elements such as concept, line, texture, and space are just as important in their own way. But nothing quite slaps the viewer around the chops like the striking use of color.

当然，概念、线条、纹理和空间等元素也是同样重要的。但是没有什么能像引人的颜色一样让观众们目瞪口呆。

Do you prefer a sparse, stylish two-color palette to seduce your audience, or are you of the school that likes to spatter everything you’ve got at the digital canvas? Either way, you’ll know the importance of always having a chromatic theme to unify your choices.

你是否喜欢用一种稀疏、时髦的双色调色板来吸引你的观众？还是你喜欢在数字画布上肆意挥洒？无论哪种方式，你都会知道，总是有一个色彩主题来统一你的选择。

Here are ten natural color palettes from beautiful landscapes to get you started. Who knew nature had such disciplined design principles?

下面有10个来自大自然美丽的风景的调色板。。谁曾想过，大自然有如此严苛的设计原则呢？

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1.Uyuni Salt Flats (Bolivia)

乌尤尼盐湖（玻利维亚）

Sundown over Bolivia’s famous dried lake land deals with a tricky chromatic conundrum: how to balance warm colors with cold?

日落时分，依偎在玻利维亚著名的干涸湖畔，我们遇到了一个棘手的色彩难题：如何平衡暖色和冷色的关系呢？

The shimmering surface of that alien and beautiful landscape suggests a solution through the reflection of warm pastel shades over the briny blues of the reflected sky in the water.

在这片陌生而美丽的景观闪闪发光的表面，在反射天空的海水中，透过温暖柔和的色调，似乎提出了一种解决方案。

The precise balance of warm and cold you use in a design will depend on your brief. It’s possible you may want to create something that uses either entirely warm or cold colors. It can help to think about concentrating on either warm or cold colors – and then finding a ‘cause and effect’ justification for using a bit of the other for relief.

你在设计中使用的冷暖的精确平衡将取决于你的简洁。你可能想要创造出一种完全暖色调或冷色调的东西。它可以帮助你集中注意力在暖色调或冷色调——然后找到一个“因果”的理由，用一点其他的元素来缓解。

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2.Okavango Delta (Botswana)

奥卡万戈三角洲（博茨瓦纳）

They know a thing or two about the damp in the Okavango Grassland. The swampy delta is saturated from seasonal flooding, and so its shades are full and saturated: vivid, healthy greens, blues, and mustard shades to make you thirsty.

他们对奥卡万戈草原的潮湿情况略知一二。沼泽三角洲被季节性的洪水浸透了，所以它的色调是饱满和饱和的:生动、健康的绿色、蓝色和芥末色使你感到无限的渴望。

Saturation in particular defines the way a design pops. Using your HSB (Hue-Saturation-Brightness) tools is a great way to experiment with the impact and meaning of your design.

饱和度特别定义了设计持久性的方式。使用HSB (hue -饱和度-亮度)工具是一个非常好的方法用来测试你的设计的影响和意义。

If it seems too loud and aggressive, try desaturating your colors; if your image seems kind of reverent and lifeless, upping the saturation can be a great way to get an overview of the dynamics at play.

如果它看起来太吵、太咄咄逼人，试着淡化你的颜色;如果你的形象看起来是一种敬畏和毫无生气的样子，那么提升饱和度就可以成为很好的动态概述。

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3.Lake Louise (Canada)

路易斯湖（加拿大）

It gets a bit fresh around chilly Lake Louise, which may be why the color palette recalls the design of toothpaste packaging! Minty greens and ice-cold blues are given added zing with the contrasting yellow of sun on rocks.

寒冷的路易丝湖周围的一点鲜活，这可能就是为什么调色板会让人想起牙膏包装的设计!明亮的绿色和冰冷的蓝色与太阳映照在岩石上的黄色形成了鲜明的对比。

There’s a good reason that so much advertising design eschews cold colors and shouts at you with warmer hues. Psychologically, warm colors feel like they’re closer, while cold colors create a sense of distance.

有一个很好的说法是，这么多的广告设计避免了冷色，并对你用温暖的色调大喊大叫。从心理上来讲，暖色调让人感觉更亲近，而冷色调则创造了一种距离感。

Advertisers want their product to reach out into your world and grab you. Integrating colder colors into your design can help create a sense of depth and set you apart from the competition.

广告商想要让他们的产品进入你的世界并抓住你的眼球。将更冷的颜色融入到你的设计中，可以帮助你创造一种深度感，让你远离竞争。

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4.Provence (France)

普罗旺斯（法国）

Provence is the first of the pack to go all-out with a bold leading color identity. The rude purples of the French farming region’s lavender fields force its supporting colors to step into line!

普罗旺斯是第一个用大胆的领先的颜色标识来全力以赴的。法国农业区薰衣草田的粗犷的紫色，迫使它的色彩成直线呈现!

Thankfully, the skies complement the fields by completing a classic claret-and-blue twofer; the dry straw yellows of the land beneath the flowers drain a little color out, making the whole thing bearable.

值得庆幸的是，天空通过一个经典完整的红葡萄酒和蓝色双面酒来补充能量场;在花海之下，干燥的稻草，黄色的叶子褪去一点颜色，使整个场景都是可以接受的。

A strong leading color is a powerful branding tool. There’s a certain shade of Facebook blue we all wish we could see without immediately thinking of Zuck! Many businesses capitalize on this effect by naming their brand after a striking color: Orange, Purplebricks, etc.

一个强大的主导色彩是一个强大的品牌工具。我们都希望看到Facebook的蓝色能不立刻想到扎克。许多商家利用这一效应，将其品牌命名为醒目的颜色:橙色、紫色等。

If you’re creating a campaign or your own series of works, think about how using a signature color can get your audience thinking about your brand before they even start to digest the content.

如果你正在创建一个活动或你自己的系列作品，考虑一下如何使用一个标志性的颜色这可以让你的观众在开始消化内容之前联想到你的品牌。

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5.Halong Bay (Vietnam)

哈龙湾（越南）

Ok, so there’s something of a theme here of nature using ‘magic hour’ to coat its beautiful landscapes in gold and thus add a little unity. But no place does it quite like this UNESCO World Heritage site in northeast Vietnam.

好吧，这里有个主题是大自然用“神奇的时刻”把美丽的风景涂成金色，这样就增加了一点整体性。但是没有一个地方能做到像联合国教科文组织在越南东北部的世界遗产一样。

Halong Bay is a living lesson in how minimalism is sometimes maximalism, and vice versa. Note the way that the limited palette is given extra reach with the use of varying textures and level of contrast – and the green adds stealthy relief, hidden as it is in the shadows.

哈龙湾是一个活生生的例子，它告诉我们，极简主义有时是最大的，反之亦然。注意，有限的调色板使用不同的纹理和对比度赋予了额外的效果——绿色增加了隐形的效果，隐藏在阴影中。

Of course, light effects play an enormous part in most of the images we see – not just in photography and figurative art.

当然，光效应在我们所看到的大多数图像中发挥着巨大的作用——不仅仅是在摄影和具象艺术中。

There are very few abstract works that can truly claim to disavow themselves of the way we see the world around us – we always see a map (Rothko) or movement (Pollock) or something else. Playing with lighting effects can be a sophisticated way to guide the beholder through your abstract artwork.

很少有抽象的作品能够真正地否认自己对我们周围世界的看法——我们总是看到一幅地图(Rothko)或移动(波洛克)或其他东西。使用灯光效果可以是一种复杂的方式，通过你的抽象艺术作品来引导观众。

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6.Vatnajökull (Iceland)

瓦特纳尤库尔（冰岛）

If Halong Bay was bold, Vatnajökul in Iceland goes even further, fully restricting its palette to a thin slice of the color wheel pizza.

如果说哈龙湾是大胆的，那么冰岛的Vatnajokul甚至更进一步，将它的调色板完全限制在一片薄薄的色轮匹萨上。

The play of light upon the icy rocks and the texture of the snow in the foreground use a form of natural pointillism to add interest and variety to an otherwise pale, monochromatic image.

阳光照射在冰冷的岩石上和前景中的雪地的纹理使用一种自然的形式-点，给原本苍白的单色图像增加兴趣和变化。

When you’re working with a limited palette, it can help to start by creating your outlines and then tinting the whole thing to your color of choice.

当你使用一个有限的调色板时，它可以帮助你从创建你的轮廓开始，然后把整个东西着色为你选择的颜色。

Experimenting with the HSB of each graphic element one by one will highlight which areas of your design require more dynamic contrast, and where you can get away with – and benefit from – using line or subtle changes in tone to express a visual idea.

每一个图形元素的HSB的实验都将突出显示你的设计中哪些领域需要更多的动态对比，以及你可以从哪些方面入手——利用线条或者微妙的色调变化来表达一个视觉的想法。

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7.Arashiyama (Japan)

岚山（日本）

Tall reeds and bamboo poles always stir thoughts of Japan. Perhaps it is the cramped nature of the island, coupled with its reverent gaze up to Mount Fuji, that make it a land of verticals.

高大的芦苇和竹竿总能激起人们对日本的念想。也许是岛屿的狭窄，再加上它虔诚地凝视著富士山，才使它成为一片垂直的土地。

The Japanese are known for formal simplicity and philosophical reflection, too; and that’s certainly what these calm, creative greens and modest bronzes inspire.

日本人也以正式的朴素和哲学的反思而闻名，这也正是这些冷静、有创意的绿色和朴素的青铜色所激发的灵感

Pale tones and pastels are a great way of creating calming design. But think outside the box – literally: even a pale frame can help to quieten your image.

淡色调和柔和色调是创造平静设计的好方法。但要跳出框框-字面上说：即使是一个苍白的框架，也能帮助你的形象平静下来。

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8.Mount Cook (New Zealand)

库克山（新西兰）

New Zealand’s tallest mountain has borrowed a dab or two from Vatnajökull’s palette. But following the pointillism of that uninhabitable glacier, Mount Cook delivers an advanced lesson in texture and stroke, since the colors of its epic centerpiece are reflected and developed in the lake at the mountain’s foot.

新西兰最高的山从瓦特纳的调色板上借来了一两个。但是，在那座不适合居住的冰川上，库克山提供了一个关于纹理和笔画的高级课程，因为它的史诗中心作品的色彩在山脚下的湖中得到了反映和发展。

Repetition is a simple, powerful tool to strengthen the identity of your design. Each time you add a new color, ask yourself: is there a color I’ve already used that could work instead? And: where else can I use this color?

重复是一种简单、有力的工具，可以增强你的设计的一致性。每次你添加一种新颜色时，问问自己:有没有一种颜色我已经用过了?我还能在哪里使用这种颜色呢?

Your audience will interpret your design by tracing the narrative of the colors across your image.

你的观众将通过跟踪你的图像的色彩叙事来解释你的设计。

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9.Benagil Cave (Portugal)

贝纳吉尔海滩洞穴（葡萄牙）

The southern coast of Portugal is a designer’s delight. There are few places in Europe where the color, pattern, and patina of the man-made environment are so rich and varied.

葡萄牙南部海岸是设计师的乐园。在欧洲，很少有地方能像人造环境那样丰富多彩。

And nature scores a point or two too, with its warm sandy beaches, frothy salt mines, and the gold and blues of the Benagil caves where the land and the sea intertwine.

大自然也有一两分之分，它有温暖的沙滩，泡沫的盐矿，以及贝纳基尔山洞的金色和蓝色，那里的陆地和海洋交织在一起。

There are many interesting ways to add patina to the elements of your image. It’s easy to get carried away with your digital tools, but look at the world around you. You’re surrounded by different surface textures that you can steal for your design!

有许多有趣的方法可以将帕蒂娜添加到您的图像元素中。你很容易被你的数字工具所迷惑，但看看你周围的世界。你被不同的表面纹理包围着，你可以为你的设计“偷”些东西!

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10.Bryce Canyon (United States)

布赖斯峡谷（美国）

What was that about verticals? Bryce Canyon has them to spare! One of the most eclectic palettes among this collection, the national park’s secret is to create the epic by deepening this beautiful landscape with new color after new color the further back you look.

垂直方向是什么?布莱斯峡谷有他们的空余!国家公园的秘密之一就是在这一集里，将这幅美丽的风景画以新的颜色加深，让你看起来更有新意。

Remember the tip about using cold colors at the back of your image to add depth? Here’s a tip to go with that: using an aerial perspective gives you license to add the haze of altitude to your landscape and other figurative designs, and gives you more background to soften.

还记得在图片后面用冷色来增加深度的技巧吗？这里有个小贴士：使用空中透视可以让你在景观和其他形象设计中增加高度的阴影，并给你更多的背景来软化。

Epic idea, no?

史诗般的想法，不是吗？

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