Overview

COLOURlovers.com is really cool niche social site. You can create and share color pallets with other users, and is a great source of inspiration to designers everywhere.

Project Name:

COLOURlovers

URL:

http://www.colourlovers.com

Artist/Creator:

Darius A Monsef IV

Country:

USA

Tags:

AJAX Web Color Social Threadless Pantone

Darius A Monsef IV

Biography

I studied business management and fashion design in college, but my professional background has predominately been in web development and branding. I have always had an interest in the creative arts and COLOURlovers is my project that aims to unite the creative force behind color and provide inspiration to the creative class.

Where do you work? What do you do there?

I am Creator & Editor of COLOURlovers.com. I work with a small team of people to keep the development of new site features evolving and our blog content inspirational and fresh.

How long have you been in this field?

I have been working professionally in the web world for 6 years. COLOURlovers has been online for 2 years.

What role did (are) you play(ing) in the project?

I created, designed and hand coded the first version of the COLOURlovers site and have planned all growth and direction for it. Our current version was coded by Chris Williams our in-house developer and designed by a couple very talented designers. I now sketch new features and work with designers and Chris to develop the ideas into working features. I also edit the blog and work with Ruecian our staff writer to deliver daily unique and interesting color content.

What was (is) your inspiration for this project?

I had just finished a color theory course at fashion school when I had the idea for the site: HotorNot.com, but for color... The site idea first started as a simple place where people could rate color squares. It quickly evolved and grew into the foundation for what the community has grown into today.

What is in your equipment/gear setup?

Our site is powered by two dedicated servers at RackSpace.com. I myself work on a dual 19” monitor HP desktop computer with some pretty hefty external storage drives. My Macbook keeps me productive on the road.

What are some websites you visit daily?

swissmiss.typepad.com
www.notcot.org
designsponge.blogspot.com
www.neatorama.com
www.popurls.com
www.digg.com

Who's work do you most enjoy?

I enjoy the work of all the members on COLOURlovers.com. I'm amazed daily at their creativity and ability to make simple 5 color strips into pieces of art. I constantly see palettes with color arrangements I never would have considered or even some I would have considered to be ugly until seeing them together.

What advice can you share to people just getting into this field?

Be creative. Be Bold. I think now more than ever there are more freedoms in the creative world to do what hasn’t been done and or to rehash in a new way an old idea. Indie-designers are becoming international icons, so take a chance and dream big.