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Home , Analogous colors

All are the friends of their neighbors and the lovers of their opposites. Marc Chagall

Color can convey a mood, describe Our perception of color depends reality, or codify information. not solely on the pigmentation of Words like “gloomy,” “drab,” and physical surfaces, but also on the “glittering” each bring to mind a brightness and character of ambient general climate of colors, a palette . We also perceive a given of relationships. Designers use color in relation to the other colors color to make some things stand out around it. For example, a light tone (warning signs) and to make other looks lighter against a dark ground things disappear (camouflage). Color than against a pale one. serves to differentiate and connect, Likewise, color changes meaning to highlight and to hide. from culture to culture. Colors Graphic design was once seen carry different connotations as a fundamentally -and- in different societies. White signals enterprise. This is no longer the virginity and purity in the West, case. Color has become integral to but it is the color of death in Eastern the design process. , cultures. , worn by brides in once a luxury, has become routine. Japan, is considered racy and erotic An infinite range of and in Europe and the United States. intensities bring modern media to Colors go in an out of fashion, and an life, energizing the page, the screen, entire industry has emerged to guide and the built environment with and predict its course. sensuality and significance. Graphics To say, however, that color is and color have converged. a shifting phenomenon—both According to the classical physically and culturally—is not tradition, the essence of design to say that it can’t be described or lies in linear structures and tonal understood. A precise vocabulary relationships (drawing and ), has been established over time not in fleeting optical effects (, that makes it possible for designers, intensity, luminosity). Design used software systems, printers, and to be understood as an abstract manufacturers to communicate to armature that underlies appearances. one another with some degree Opposites Attract Strong color contrasts add Color, in contrast, was seen as of clarity. This chapter outlines the visual energy to this dense physical montage subjective and unstable. basic terms of and made from flowers. and stand out And, indeed, it is. Color exists, shows ways to build purposeful against , , and red. Nancy Froehlich and Zvezdana Rogic. literally, in the eye of the beholder. relationships among colors. We cannot perceive color until light bounces off an object or is emitted from a source and enters the eye. 73 Color

color. differences. colors) have Tertiary Colors schemes Primary Colors primary colors. sit near to each are mixed Analogous Colors other on the color from one primary wheel (analogous Colors such as red orange and minimal chromatic and one secondary are pure; they can’t are pure; they can’t colors on the wheel built from hues that be mixed from other

Red, yellow, and blue Red, yellow,

are created by mixing colors. All of the other

opposites near opposites near

Complements Red/green, blue/orange, Red/green, wheel. For more subtle sit opposite each combinations, choose green, or a tertiary blue tertiary a or green, and yellow/purple as red plus a tertiary and a tertiary orange. other on the color Secondary Colors Orange, purple, and green each consist of two primaries mixed together. The This basic map shows relationships among colors. Children learn to mix colors according to this model, and artists use it for working with pigments (oil paint, watercolor, gouache, and so on). “near opposites,” such

1 Designer’s Color (San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 2004). Books, Chronicle Francisco: (San Why is the color wheel a useful of any composition. 1. On basic color theory and practice, see Tom Fraser and Adam Banks, Manual Basic Color Theory discovered In 1665 Sir Isaac Newton light into that a prism separates red, orange, the spectrum of colors: and green, blue, , yellow, . He organized the colors around a wheel very much like the one artists use today to describe the relationships among colors. design tool? Colors that sit near each other on the spectrum or close together on the color wheel are analogous. Using them together provides minimal color contrast and because each an innate , color has some element in common with others in the sequence. Analogous colors also have a related colors . Two sitting opposite each other on the wheel are complements. Each color and other, the of element no contains they have opposing temperatures (warm versus cool). Deciding to use analogous or contrasting colors affects the visual energy and mood

Complementary and Analogous Colors This diagram shows combinations of and tertiary colors. secondary, primary, Studio. Robert Lewis, MFA 75 Color

Robert Lewis, Use the graduated color wheel to look for combinations of colors that are similar in value or saturation, or use it to build contrasting relationships. Studio. MFA Each hue on the Graduated Color Wheel color wheel is shown here in a progressive series of values (shades and tints). Note that the point of greatest saturation is not is of greatest the same for each hue. Yellow intensity toward the lighter end of the value scale, while blue is more intense in the darker zone.

These colors are close in hue and value but different in intensity. (also Saturation called chroma) is the relative purity of the color as it neutralizes to gray.

is a variation of Tint a hue produced by the addition of white. is the brightness or dullness is the brightness These colors are close in value and and just intensity, slightly different in hue. Intensity duller by A color is made of a color. well as by adding black or white, as (lowering its neutralizing it toward gray saturation). is a variation the addition of black. Shade of a hue produced by

is the light or dark character of the is the place of is the place

to bring forms into sharp focus, while combining colors that are close in value softens the distinction between elements. can help you make color choices and build color combinations. Using colors with contrasting values tends Aspects of Color Every color can be described in relation to a range of attributes. Understanding these characteristics you eliminate its hue but preserve its tonal relationships. color, also called its luminance, brightness, color, is independent of , or tone. Value When you the hue or intensity of the color. convert a to , Value the color within the spectrum. A red hue can look at a low saturation, or pink at a pale value. Hue

74 Graphic Design: The New Basics 77 Color

Whatever your software is using, if you are viewing it on screen, it is RGB. If you are viewing it in print, it is CMYK. This detail from a Optical of principle the shows billboard paper printed process printing (CMYK). Viewed four-color from a distance, the flecks of color mix Seen up close, the pattern together optically. of dots is strongly evident.

= The medium of light is ■ ■ ■ ■

= = = +

■ ■ ■ ■ Any given color can be described with is the additive system used for + + + +

Transparent Light also transparent. The colors of an emitted image are generated when different colors as well as when tiny of light mix directly, adjacent pixels combine optically. ■ ■ ■ ■ RGB designing on screen. Different percentages of red, green, and blue light combine to generate the colors of the spectrum. White occurs when all three colors are at full strength. Black occurs when zero light (and thus zero color) is emitted. both CMYK and RGB values, as well as with other color models. Each model (called a “”) uses numbers to convey globe the around uniformly information color printing monitors, Different media. across and conditions, and paper stocks all affect the light the does as color, final the of appearance viewed. is color the where environment the in Colors look different under fluorescent, incandescent, and natural light. Colors rarely another. to space one from perfectly translate

■ =

■ ■ ■ ■ Printer’s inks are transparent, are inks Printer’s = = = +

■ ■ ■ ■ is used in the printing process. While In principle, C, M, and Y should + + + +

performed optically when the image is broken down into tiny dots of varying size. The resulting colors are mixed by the eye. Transparent Ink Transparent so color mixing occurs as colors show through each other. Color mixing is also CYMK painters use the basic color wheel as a guide for mixing paint, printing ink uses a different and set of colors: , , yellow, black, which are ideal for reproducing the range of colors found in color photographs. and K are known as the “process C, M, Y, colors,” and full-color printing is called process.” Ink-jet and color laser “four-color printers use CMYK, as does the commercial books print to used equipment printing offset such as this one. produce black, but the resulting mix is not rich enough to reproduce color images with a full tonal range. Thus black is needed to process. complete the four-color ■ ■ ■ ■ Offset and desktop printing In theory, combining red and In theory, cyan and magenta pigments mixes more purely into new hues than the light reflected off of blue and red pigments. methods use CMYK, a subtractive system. Nonstandard colors are used because the light reflected off mixed, less light is reflected. Thus pigment-based color systems are called “subtractive.” is because pigments absorb more light than they reflect, making any mix of pigments darker than its source colors. As more colors are green paint should produce yellow. green paint should produce yellow. these pigments In practice, however, combine into a blackish brown. This light system is called “additive” because the three primaries together create all the hues in the spectrum. The light reflected back is the light we see. The true primaries of visible light are red, green, and blue. The Color Models Surfaces absorb certain light waves and reflect back others onto the color receptors (cones) in our eyes.

76 Graphic Design: The New Basics 81 Color Anna Eshelman The muted neutral hues allow the forms to gently commingle, while contrasting values break and hues the elements apart. Julie Diewald In the first color study above, the complementary orange and blue squares vibrate against each other, while the analogous yellow and green play a more passive role. In the second the dark blue study, and burgundy tones frame and push forward the brighter in the center. Anna Eshelman

The similarly muted hues of olive and brown sit back, allowing a pale yellow pattern to come forward. Next, gradations of orange, and yellow, red weave through a green background of equivalent value, blue dark the causing shapes to command attention. Anna Eshelman

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r Colors close in value but different in hue create a vibrant yet soft effect. The effect becomes even softer when analogous colors are used.

Ellen Kling

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rr rr rr r r r r r r affect the way the patterns feel and behave. Through selective emphasis, some elements pull forward and others recede. Jennifer Cole Phillips, faculty. Experiments with hue, value, and saturation, as well as with analogous, complementary, and near complementary color juxtapositions,

By changing the colors of background and foreground completely elements, new forms appear and disappear. Katie Evans These studies use pattern built from a single font single a from and built pattern letterform. typographic pattern to explore how color alters not just the mood of a pattern, but shapesitswaythefiguresand perceived.are Color affects both the parts and the whole. Each study begins with a black and white Selective Emphasis a more linear effect. combine to make a quietoverallpattern, while a palette with strong contrasts of value and hue yields Neutral earth tones Joanna Marshall

80 Graphic Design: The New Basics n in in brow in Pinwheel Pinwheel n in lime in brow in Pinwheel Pinwheel in pink in cream Pinwheel Pinwheel in pink in cream Pinwheel Pinwheel Jessica Textile designers often create numerous designers Textile color ways for a single pattern, allowing the same printing plates or weaving templates to generate diverse patterns. Different color palettes make different elements of the pattern come forward or recede. Studio. MFA Pilar,

What investigation into pattern, form, and color, investigation into pattern, form, and color, thesis project manifesting itself in an MFA and now an online business. Passion, Palettes, and Products began as a love for Portuguese tile patterns on a trip to Lisbon evolved into an intensive

82 Graphic Design: The New Basics