Life would be Pleasantville without it. Black and white can be dramatic, but life is so much more exciting with color.
Color really matters. When you select clothes or school supplies - your choices are guided by many concepts - personal preferences, how a color makes you feel, how our different cultures even assign meaning to colors.
Ya’ll have already tried your hand at designing with color – some in the resume project and all with the poster project – and can attest that it's easier said than done.
I found an article at the Color + Design blog that gives some basic info on color theory and designing. Read this post before beginning the below assignment.
Also, for fun check out this Fashion Color Report that Pantone (yes, Pantone) puts out every year with predictions for the season’s favorite colors. Read through the descriptions of what designers are saying about the colors they use.
Eventually you, too, should be able to say why you use a color and think about what kinds of color you should use to add that extra meaning and effect to your design. For that, you have to get into the head of your audience!
ASSIGNMENT
For this week, POST FOUR examples of color (image, poster, video – to use video, just copy and paste the embed code on the youtube page):
- Subtle use of color (monochromatic or very little color)
- Bold use of color (bright color, many colors, etc.)
- Black and white only
- Strong contrast in values other than black and white (light and dark areas using tints of the same color or different light and dark colors)
Things to think about: are they using one color (monochrome) or many colors, like this relaxing Sony Bravia commercial?
Offer brief analysis on why the color used is so effective. What does the color make you feel? Luxury? Aggression? Calm? Speak to whether analogous or complementary colors are used. For that, you may want to look at this Flash application that is really handy for learning those terms and what they mean. It’s also linked from the Color + Design post.
Remember, this is an introduction to each of the elements of color. We'll be taking an in-depth look at color in class soon.
Don't forget to title your post and put labels on it (your name, any elements of your post that would easily identify it - e.g. Tide ad or Wired Magazine layout).
Other color sites that are fun:
http://kuler.adobe.com/ - helps you find CMYK, RGB and Hex values for a wide range of colors and also helps you find color themes/palettes easily.
