This is aimed at the more proficient visual designers among us, and I think I may speak on behalf of the other, shall I say, more crappy designers

Having just redesigned my portfolio site (watch this space) and found myself reasonably pleased with it, I've noticed the following.  The only sites I've designed, and liked the design, tend to be almost monochrome.

In short, I am rubbish with colours. 

My question is: is this just a case of if you're not born with it, tough luck, or can I learn.  If so, care to give any tips/ resources?

Ta muchly

** waits for Dizi to make an appearance **

I often find monochrome sites the hardest to design for, as it takes a strong design and good layout to pull off such a bold design statement

I'm surprised by this - but I can sort of see what you mean. I'll definitely have another look at colour theory, but I have to confess the last time I tried I was somewhat baffled by it 

Took your time, didn't you!

I often find monochrome sites the hardest to design for, as it takes a strong design and good layout to pull off such a bold design statement

i think the problem with monochrome sites is getting the balance to make it look appealing and inviting while using well monochrome colours, i to have a problem with defining what colours are good but sometimes i just throw it together and see what falls out at the end...seems to work for me : )

Monochrome is definitely a difficult thing use when designing but when pulled off correctly it looks really good.

I agree - that's why I'm abandoning it! Not good enough to pull it off yet.  In the process of a total redesign as we speak.  First reveal ETA 2-3 weeks

Colours are difficult. Yes, there are basic colour theories that might help, and there are plenty of tools to give you colours in complimentary, monochromatic, shades, tetra, quarts, compound, contrast and penta. Following these with care, I suppose it can't go totally wrong.

I did a NCS (Natural Colour System) course in art school many moons ago, and though it made me aware and able to mix paint with cmyk, I still find a lot of colour theory .. well.. subjective and theoretical. We say that blue is a cold colour, unless some red/magenta is mixed in to make it warmer, but I find it hard to agree with these convensions at times. Mind you: they are often culturally and historically based. These views actually change. Newton insisted on seven colours in the rainbow, where others wanted six.

The thing is: a good deal of people have some sort of colour-blindness/distortedness (how on earth do they figure that out!?), and the sensitivity to colour varies greatly. So we will probably never agree on colours. I worked with a guy, in the printing industry, who called cerise for burgundy. To him, it was wine-coloured; to me it was shock-pink.

To answer your question; assuming you have a reasonable "normal" colour vision, working with colours is practice, practice and observation. Noting things around you that works or doesn't, and a whole lot of fiddling around with colour pickers.

(At the risk of being seen as shamelessly self-promoting; some of you may find my old post on the history of the colour blue interesting http://barebente.com/blog/2008/05/the-colour-blue-the-devil-the-virgin-and-the-red-dyers-bribes/ )

What I struggle with is not only my color palette but also design ideas.