Colour can do more than brighten a room or transform a design. It shapes ideas, sparks conversation and helps bring creative visions to life. Whether you enjoy painting, teaching, designing or simply exploring the possibilities of colour, the right tools make every project feel different. Some approaches allow you to work with your hands and see theory come alive. Others promise reliable results across many materials or focus on techniques that have stood the test of time.
What are 2D Color Wheels?
2D color wheels are a classic tool used to understand color relationships and create harmonious color schemes. They consist of a circular diagram with colors arranged in a specific order. By looking at a 2D color wheel, you identify complementary, analogous, and triadic color schemes.
Comparing Color Swatch Books
Color swatch books are physical collections of color samples that allow you to compare and match colors accurately. They are commonly used in industries like fashion, graphic design, and interior design. In 2025, color swatch books have evolved to include a wider range of colors and finishes, making them more versatile than ever.
Kolormondo
Kolormondois a globe where you see all colors related to one another - as opposed to a flat traditional 2 D colorwheel or swatch book. It is a tactile 3D colour wheel that functions as both a teaching aid and a design object. It translates abstract colour theory—hue, value and saturation—into something you can hold, spin and rearrange, making theory immediately practical for students, designers and hobbyists. The globe works equally well on a classroom table, a design studio desk or a salon counter. It is thoughtful, durable and unapologetically hands-on.
Core Features
Kolormondo is a 3D colour wheel that invites touch and manipulation, enabling users to identify, match, mix and discuss colours in a spatial way. The globe is made from durable materials meant for repeated assembly and exploration, and it doubles as a decorative object as well as a functional tool. Models include a compact mini version for quick reference and a professional variant that carries NCS and CMY codes for specification.
Pros
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Engages users with a tactile and visual approach to understanding colours, making abstract concepts tangible for learners and practitioners.
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Versatile for education, design and personal projects, so you can use the same tool for classroom demonstrations, mood-boarding and home decoration.
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Beautiful design that also functions as a decorative object, meaning it enhances a studio or shelf while remaining useful.
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Developed by an award-winning Swedish designer, which assures thoughtful manufacture and innovative form.
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Helps bridge the gap between colour theory and practical application by showing real blending and relationship effects in three dimensions.
Who It’s For
Kolormondo is aimed at artists, designers, students, educators and hobbyists who prefer hands-on learning and need a practical reference for real projects. If you teach colour theory, plan wardrobes, develop interior palettes, match hair dyes or sketch with accurate relationships in mind, Kolormondo gives immediate, visual feedback that flat charts cannot. It is especially valuable where discussion and demonstration are part of the process.
Unique Value Proposition
Kolormondo’s unique value is its conversion of two-dimensional colour systems into a manipulable 3D form: you can physically juxtapose complements, rotate to test value contrasts and assemble segments to simulate blends. That spatial clarity accelerates comprehension—students grasp relationships faster, designers prototype palettes with greater confidence, and practitioners translate selections into real-world outcomes more reliably. Unlike passive swatch books, Kolormondo invites experimentation; its professional model adds NCS and CMY codes so decisions are reproducible. In short: it is a teaching device, a specification tool and an inspiring object in one. That combination—tactility, specification and aesthetics—sets Kolormondo apart from standard flat charts.
Pricing
Kolormondo mini is priced at $21.00, and the pro version is priced at $109.00.
Website: https://kolormondo.com
Pantone
At a Glance
Pantone is the industry benchmark for colour standards, offering both tactile guides and digital tools that help designers and manufacturers achieve consistent colour across media. Its ecosystem—from the Capsure device to the Connect platform—bridges physical samples and on-screen palettes with reassuring precision.
Pros
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Global authority on colour standards: Pantone is recognised worldwide.
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Comprehensive toolkit for colour matching: The combination of physical guides and digital bundles provides the resources needed to match and reproduce colour reliably in multiple materials.
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Digital solutions for palette management: Pantone Connect simplifies building and organising palettes from files or sampled colours, saving time when you iterate designs.
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Cross-industry support: The tools and services cater to fashion, interiors, packaging and plastics, making Pantone versatile for multidisciplinary projects.
Cons
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Website content is product-led rather than descriptive of services: The site prioritises product promotion, which can leave you searching for detailed explanations of consultancy and subscription features.
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Cost may be prohibitive for individuals or small studios
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Limited detail on digital subscription features in provided content: Information on the finer capabilities of Pantone Connect and subscription tiers is sparse in the material given, making comparison and decision-making harder.
Unique Value Proposition
Pantone’s unique value lies in its authoritative colour language that unites physical swatches and digital tools, enabling teams to specify, sample and replicate colour consistently across diverse materials and industries.
Pricing
Pantone’s products range from approximately $99 to over $543 for various guides and bundles, reflecting the premium positioning of professional physical sets and integrated digital tools.
Website: https://pantone.com
Munsell Color System
At a Glance
Munsell Color System supplies physical colour standards grounded in the Munsell colour order system. It excels at giving perceptually uniform, tangible references that support consistent colour communication across science, design and industry.
Core Features
The offering focuses on physical colour standards derived from the Munsell colour order system, enabling clear and repeatable colour description and matching. It includes solutions for colour communication, applications for colour harmonies such as analogous and complementary palettes, and tools suited to scientific data visualisation and environmental studies. The company also provides educational resources and blog entries that contextualise use in fields from archaeology to food development.
Pros
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Provides reliable and perceptually uniform colour standards: The system is designed to align with human perception, making comparisons and descriptions consistent across users.
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Supports clear and consistent colour communication across industries: Its physical standards create a common vocabulary for designers, manufacturers and scientists.
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Versatile applications in science, design and industry: The standards are suitable for quality control, research, environmental studies and educational settings.
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Offers educational resources and expert insights: Guides and blog entries help users apply the system in specialised contexts.
Cons
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Specific focus on physical colour standards may limit digital colour applications: Users seeking an exclusively digital workflow will find fewer native tools here.
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Potentially higher cost compared to digital colour solutions for some users: Physical standards and calibrated tools can be more expensive than app-based alternatives.
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Complexity of the Munsell colour system may require training for effective use: Mastering the notation and perceptual scales takes time and practice.
Unique Value Proposition
What sets Munsell apart is its perceptual uniformity and the tactile certainty of physical samples. Rather than relying solely on device-dependent colour values, the system gives people an immediate, human-centred method to identify and communicate hue, value and chroma with minimal ambiguity.
Pricing
Not specified on the website.
Website: https://munsell.com
NCS Colour (Natural Colour System)
At a Glance
NCS Colour offers a rigorous, scientifically grounded system for naming, communicating and reproducing colour that has stood the test of time since 1945. It is a valuable backbone for designers, manufacturers and educators who need unambiguous colour communication across materials and markets. Expect a professionally developed platform with deep educational resources, albeit one that assumes some technical familiarity to extract maximum value. In short: indispensable for precision work, less approachable for casual users.
Pros
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Scientific precision in notation ensures consistency: The NCS system formalises how colours are described, which reduces ambiguity when matching across suppliers and substrates.
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Comprehensive platform combining colour and material data: NCS+ lets you manage colour libraries and related material information in one place, improving collaboration and version control.
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Supports global communication and business processes: The system is designed to function across markets, making it suitable for international manufacturing and specification.
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Offers innovative tools and strong educational support: Forecasting, training and documentation help teams understand colour behaviour and trends, not just pick swatches.
Cons
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Pricing information is not explicit on the website, which complicates budgeting for teams seeking to adopt NCS.
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Technical knowledge may be required to fully utilise the tools and standards, so newcomers may face a learning curve.
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Some advanced features, such as NCS+ Pro, are paid services and may increase total cost of ownership for professional users.
Who It’s For
NCS is tailored to designers, manufacturers, coatings professionals and educators who require standardised, reproducible colour communication. If your work depends on matching colour across paints, textiles, plastics or digital specifications — and you need documentation that suppliers will understand — NCS is a practical choice.
Pricing
Pricing is not explicitly provided on the website.
Website: https://ncscolour.com
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