Handmade Code: ColorMatch from 26OliveStreet

Vanessa

Story by Vanessa

Published on June 11, 2009 in Seller Handbook

Photo by 26OliveStreet

Vanessa

As part of our Handmade Code series, we’re bringing you news and how-to’s about the innovations emerging from the Etsy Developer Community. Located at developer.etsy.com, the Etsy Developer Community serves as a hub for third-party software developers who are making neat and helpful programs for Etsy shoppers and sellers. In this edition, Staci and Alex of 26OliveStreet tells us all about their application called ColorMatch.

Love finding and hearting (favoriting) new shops and items? Get chills when the Treasury’s about to open up? Brainstorming for tomorrow’s blog post? Have something in mind for that gift and want to find it in a specific hue? Buying craft supplies by color palette? …Yes, we thought so. Try out 26 Olive Street’s ColorMatch!

Alex, the developer and web designer half of 26 Olive Street, whipped up ColorMatch after the exciting news of Etsy’s API release to not only enhance our own Etsy experience (we’re avid sellers, buyers, and browsing addicts), but also that of our fellow Etsy users and any other website or blogger fan of all things Etsy handmade and vintage.

What’s the basic idea of the application? What need does it fill?
ColorMatch is designed to allow anyone to easily upload an inspiration jpeg and have the hues analyzed into a paint palette used for searching items on Etsy by color. Get even more creative by adding optional keywords.

Discover new Etsy favorite sellers. Find an Etsy item in that color you’ve been searching for. Find color-specific inspiration for Etsy Treasuries and/or blog posts.

C:\Users\Staci Maikut\Pictures\BLOG PICS (lacie backup 032509)0-colormatch-etsydevcomm.jpg
Where do we go to find it? What’s the URL, etc?
You can visit us and try it out at: http://26olivestreet.com/colormatch

How do you use it?
ColorMatch is a breeze! Here’s a little step-by-step tutorial if you’d like some visuals. Here we are…a fresh ColorMatch palette:

C:\Users\Staci Maikut\Pictures1 colormatch blankpalette .jpg

Start by clicking the “browse” button to open up a “file upload” window to locate your chosen image from your computer. (You’ll know if this worked if the image title shows up on the image line after the “file upload” window closes.)

C:\Users\Staci Maikut\Pictures\BLOG PICS (lacie backup 032509)\colormatch-inspirationimage.jpg

(We used FoundVintageStyle‘s vintage buttons.)

C:\Users\Staci Maikut\Pictures\BLOG PICS (lacie backup 032509)2-colormatch-fileuploadwindow.jpg

If you’d like to narrow down your results, type in a keyword or multiple keywords at any time. Example: soap, purse, illustration, felt, bead, etc… Keywords are optional. You can leave this space blank if you’d like ColorMatch to give you a set of random Etsy items in your image’s colors.

Click the “analyze” paint splotch button, and voila! ColorMatch will start loading and extract out the different color hues of your image and compile an Etsy item grid with items that…well, match!

C:\Users\Staci Maikut\Pictures\BLOG PICS (lacie backup 032509)3-colormatch-colorpalette.jpg

The first ColorMatch “quilt” is made of a random selection from the palette.

Now here comes the extra fun part…. Go on and click any and/or each individual palette color and ColorMatch will find images that match that hue predominately.

C:\Users\Staci Maikut\Pictures\BLOG PICS (lacie backup 032509)4-colormatch-singlecolorpalette.jpg

See an item in the “quilt” you want more info on? Click it and a new window will appear that shows a mini Etsy listing hosted on the 26 Olive Street website.

C:\Users\Staci Maikut\Pictures\BLOG PICS (lacie backup 032509)5-colormatch-singleitem.jpg

Click the item title, picture, or “see additional details” link to go straight to that item on Etsy. Click the shop name to go straight to that shop on Etsy.

Easy as pie! And more colorful!

Are there any costs or further opportunities/ways to get involved?
ColorMatch is free to anyone who would like to use it and free to anyone whose item happens to be viewed. Ah yes, that explains the traffic coming from 26 Olive Street! :) Yes guys, we advertise you for free!

We’re in the process of allowing an option to customize size and embed your ColorMatch color “quilt” results straight to your blog or website! Keep an eye out on the news section of our blog for updates.

What should one do if there’s a bug or a problem? Who should one contact?
If you having trouble or have got some questions, please don’t be shy! The idea behind ColorMatch is for others to enjoy it, so we will be more than happy to help in any way we can.

There’s also bound to be some bugs, so if you run into any, let us know! We want to keep everything running smoothly.

Suggestions? Send ‘em over! We like a good brainstorming! Contact us regarding ColorMatch at colormatch@26olivestreet.com.

What’s one surprising/fun/amazing story you’ve heard about someone using your app? Or what is your favorite part about the app?
We just relocated cross-country from NE to CA. Alex happened to mention ColorMatch on his first day of work at his new faculty position at a nearby university and found to his surprise that several colleagues already knew of and use the application! Small world!

We’re so glad to see people using ColorMatch and have been featured a few times out there in the blog world at The Glass Onion and by Celeste Frittata. Celeste actually said, “Using ColorMatch is like being in heaven!” Ah, an Etsy user after our own heart!

Below are a few of our favorite listings from the above tutorial including our inspiration image and some of our reviewer shops…

Post in the comments below if you use ColorMatch. And tell us your favorite color!

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