Design Principles - Colour Theory 1.0

Systematic Colour (Part 1) - An Introduction to Colour Theory

The eye can see many spectrums of colour but it can be manipulated by putting two tones of colour together. An example of this is when you stare at a red dot for a prolonged period of time and remove it, a pale blue is replaced.

This is an interesting concept to look into because people portray colour differently and in design I like people to experience a visual change that influences them. Using colour theory can be a good way to convey this concept.

An example of how colour can be used comes from Guy Featherstone and Peiter Hergert. They used colour and typography to communicate through the songs technological and insomniatic tone:

The video is intense to watch and listen to but I like the aggressive style. The vibrant green background with the white type cheat the eye because of the consistent use of flashing colour. When the green changes to white, there is a subtle hint of pink left from where the eye has become fatigued which results in deception. I like how two colours can be so simple but impactful. I am really interested in using simple 2D animation because it can be very bold or subtle, depending on how colour is used. 

The lecture introduced me to RGB and CMYK which was really useful when thinking about where my designs will be displayed. RGB stands for 'red', 'green', and 'blue' and should be used when designing digital outcomes such as web design and phone screens, etc. CMYK is used for printing and uses cyan, magenta, yellow, and key (black):

CMYK is used for printing, it is often found used in newspapers, books and bill-boards. The image is printed out as small dots which are visible the closer you look. I will need to think about which type of print colour I need when designing and printing my outcomes otherwise the colours won't match. 

Further terminology to remember: 

• Hue - One colour
• Colour - One or several hues

(These terms are often interchangeable and mean the same thing)

• Chroma - Refers to all colour including shades, tints and tones   
• Shades = Hues + Black
• Tints = Hues + White
• Tones = Hues + Grey

Task

Publishers such as Penguin use systematic colour palettes to represent a certain theme:

Penguin has taken advantage of the power of colour and used it to represent the genre of the book. This systematic use of colour can be found in everyday symbols/signs, for example black and yellow warning signs take advantage of the high contrasting colours to make the message clear and give a sense of urgency. Yellow is used all around the world to suggest caution, specifically traffic lights. 

Using Pantone to replicate the systematic tones, I was intrigued as to how much difference the colour would give the impression of the theme. Using the pantone's, I could easily find the colour of choice in my swatch palette on Photoshop by simply typing in the CMYK and then finding the library code. 

Crime 

For a crime book cover, we decided to use the connotations of colour to help us choose: 

We chose the deep tone of red (Pantone 186 C) because it represented blood, anger, desire and strength. The deep shade of red isn't too vibrant and 'in your face' because we made it a duller shade. A crime book is known for it's mix of danger and anger which are deep emotions and we wanted to represent that. An alternative would be the grey hue (Pantone 22303 C) as it has an emotionless, depressing connotation. This covers the morbid side of crime and captures why people do it. I think the deep red would work better but it definitely depends on the context and semantics of the book. Red is an emotional colour in any context so I think it would suit the crime genre better than grey because grey is a softer hue. 

                                                                        

Young Adult

The brief didn't specify a gender so I thought we should choose a colour that would work for males and females. To begin with we chose a very pale blue but we decided to use a deeper tone so that it had a matt finish (Pantone 2203C). The light, pastel blue didn't seem as functional due to its soft, understanding connotations. We felt that the blue suggest tranquility, freedom and calmness but the added tone makes it mysterious yet serious. The green (Pantone 2292C) suggests a lively, natural and adventurous book, however, I do think there is too much tone and it could do with a tint to make it vibrant. This would better reflect the natural connotations of life. I feel that young adults are mature enough to be open to deeper concepts and stories so I think the blue would be better suited. suggests freedom.

Chick Lit

Chick Lit's are predominantly read by females so we used two tones of pink that we thought would be reflect the tone of the genre. We used pink because we researched into chick lit books and found that they all use a soft tone of pink. 

The lighter tone of pink (Pantone 218 C) has a matt finish that is more feminine than the deeper tint (Pantone 2415 C) because it's a lot friendlier. Pink is known for being romantic, feminine and suggests empathy and kindness. For a chick lit, these are perfect connotations for the female audience and genre. The deeper tone is a lot stronger which suggests a more aggressive, powerful and intense conflict. Depending on what context the chick lit is set in, either of these colours would work because they both portray the genre in and friendly or powerful way. If I was to choose one, I would choose the lighter tone purely because it's friendlier.

Western

The context of Western books, as well as film, is very gritty and we found it a challenge to portray the genre as a colour. Western films are often set in America, using cowboys and outlaws as their main focus. A sandy tone (Pantone 726 C) would remind the audience of the landscape; very dry and pale due to the lack of water. The darker tone of brown (Pantone 469 C) portrays the wooden houses and leather. In my opinion, the dark could be too overwhelming for a book cover but white type would balance it out. On the other hand, the pale tone could get lost and the prominent brown would become more impactful. 


It is important to have a systematic approach to colour, which I will find easier in the future after learning more about colour swatches and tone/tint. Using the colour wheel and Pantone will give me a better approach to choosing harmonious and cohesive colour schemes. It's also important to think about the context for the genre which is a transferrable skill that I can use in future projects. 

David Marsh

Marsh is a British artist that used pantone swatches to recreate famous and iconic album artwork. 

Marsh uses the pantones like a CMYK print but each dot is a lot bigger and their is limited visual information to read apart from the colour.