I usually find a photo that inspires me and then I sample it to get the overall mood and feeling down.

For example here is my latest one:

Step 1: Find your inspirational photo

Step 2: Add a mosaic filter to the photo, get the squares large but not too large. Alternatively, you can select the area and gaussian blur it into 1 color.

Step 3: Make sure to get what you will need. Get a background color, text color, and at least 2 separate highlight colors

I just use blue.

I just design in black & white because I've got a terrible sense of colour.

• https://kuler.adobe.com/

If you have a photo - go straight to Kuler. It just works.

• http://www.colourlovers.com/

For inspiration, for when you need to find what could go well with that perfect shade of blue you already have, or to find unique color combos that you wouldn't have considered, I recommend colourlovers.com. Use their search functionality.

• http://paletton.com/

Paletton is a nice place to go next (or first), once you have some level of inspiration and need to expand the shades of your palette. Sometimes, I'm able to use the 3 or 4 color off my primary color to get something I'm really happy with. Otherwise, I'll just use this to grab the different shades of my 3-4 colors from colourlovers or kuler.

Their exports to css, etc. are fantastic. It really seems to work best for standard shades off an existing palette though - you won't get highly unique color combos unless you really dive into the settings.

• http://bjango.com/articles/adjustmentlayers/

Then, once you have your palette, you need to upgrade that shit. Fuck your shades. That's elementary. This is a remarkably easy way to create more awesome color palettes using adjustment layers. You get some really interesting results that have so much more depth. I often start with paletton and then make it more interesting with adjustment layers.

Web Dev Bonus:

• http://www.regbirch.com/blog/colour-picker-for-sass

This is a nifty way to do color picker w/ sass colors.

• http://erskinedesign.com/blog/friendlier-colour-names-sass-maps/

Make sure to get your pre-processor variables names in order.

Photography, my visual inspiration tumblr, looking at home furnishing catalogs and the like, etc.

Nobody spoke about the awesome spectrum?!

I've used Erica Schoonmaker's technique and loved it. She has a finishing touch to get nice harmonious color scheme.

http://flatuicolors.com/http://ios7colors.com/

Im using the Google Material Design palette

https://www.google.com/design/spec/style/color.html#

I'd recommend Kuler as well https://kuler.adobe.com/

Creating a custom color palette was something I struggled with at times, usually my process involved researching the values important to the client/project I was designing for and then using psychological association of colors to come up with a color palette. I recently started using Adobe Kuler and I believe that it has refined my process significantly and allowed me to explore a variety of vibrant selection through its color rules. Would definitely recommend its use!

1. Colour Lovers.

2. Illustrator's "Color Guide" toolbox. Incredible little feature which I couldn't do without. Combined with the "Recolor Artwork" tool this is a great way to explore colours.

I sometimes use ColorSchemer Studio. It has some nice features to come up with color palettes. It also integrates nicely with Colourlovers.com. https://itunes.apple.com/nl/app/colorschemer-studio/id417896628?mt=12

Most of the time I will use Illustrator. A nice trick is to use the Blend tool to get color steps between two colors. I use layers with blend modes to modify the colors even further.

I use my own tool: http://coleure.com/

I usually just sit in Photoshop and play around with a main colour, and then add supporting colours. I use the LAB mode as it has more organicness that the standard HSB picker. Also with LAB you can match the same perceived lightness between colours in an accurate way, just use the same lightness value.

I create circles for each colour and overlap and move them next to each of the other colours, and see how well they sit together or clash. Of course another good idea from there is to make a mini mockup and see how the colours work as UI or text in the way you are going to be using them.

If possible, I try to take colors directly from the world I'm designing for. I think the palattes end up cleaner and clearer than if I took them from a photograph, and the result is more meaningful and more at home with its environment.

For example, I work in agriculture now. Our colors started as colors to indicate corn, soybeans, etc on a map, then and gradually bubbled up to our UI and brand.

The Kuler app for the iOS is pretty nice https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nuXG-MOL6-0

I like to find a photo and use Color Thief to get a foundation and modify the color scheme from there.

I recently built a simple API/web app that will give you color data and scheme/palettes from a seed color: thecolorapi.com