One of my inspirations is film.
Now, I was fortunate to work with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences,
the Sundance Film Festival,
and even the Slamdance Film Festival for many years.
I know how much I enjoy designing for these clients,
so our final project will be a series of posters for three different film festivals.
At the end of this video,
I'll give you instructions for a task as a warm-up for the final project.
I hope you'll enjoy it.
Now, moving on,
let's talk about color and meaning.
First, color is subjective.
That's the most important issue when talking about color.
I can explain how color works and different approaches to succeed,
but color is tied to one's identity.
It's often the most volatile element of a project.
To
declare that your friend's choice of a favorite color is inferior is to attack that person's core personality.
A
client may arbitrarily demand a specific color or reject another based on seemingly irrelevant reasons,
because our response to color is based on our experiences and cultural associations.
When I was in the first grade,
my teacher asked us to name our favorite colors.
You probably did this too.
My
favorite colors were from a book I had with a green and red zebra.
Remember how you were sure your colors were best,
and how could anyone ever think another color was good?
One of my earliest memories is of another boy in class telling me those colors didn't belong on a zebra.
What
a dull way to look at the world.
The same is true when we choose colors and present them now.
We
can apply all the logic in the world to a choice.
But if someone has a bad association with green,
it's rather hard to change their mind.
I had a client once who insisted that his logo be the same color as his car,
a forest green jaguar.
I
took the Pantone color swatches out and compared them to the car's hood.
I found the perfect match,
designed the identity system,
and presented it.
All
good.
Wrong.
He
insisted that the green was nothing like his car,
and couldn't understand why I didn't see that.
It was clear as anything to him.
I realized that the color he had in his head might be different than the swatch.
For
him, it was a combination of the image on a brochure,
the light in the car's showroom when he bought it,
and the angle he saw when he opened the door.
So,
rather than trying to convince him that I was right,
I gave him the Pantone swatch book to choose the color,
and insisted he join me at the printer when the stationery printed to approve that final green.
The subjective issue aside,
we're hardwired as a species to respond to color.
In
theory, our eyes evolved with life-saving skills related to color.
We
don't need to see ultraviolet light,
but we do need to tell the difference between good or spoiled fruit,
or the slight variation in tone between the lion and the tall grass.
These skills led to our responses to color.
First,
brighter colors tended to be life-affirming.
Fresh berries,
flowers,
clean water, or a blue sky.
These
are good things, and they help keep us alive.
Muted
colors were tied to rotting meat, a storm,
or dirty water.
Hence,
we navigate to bright and pure,
and assign positive meaning to those colors.
Second, we feel stress when we are given choices.
Should
I quit my job or stay?
One of these may lead to problems.
Even
tiny choices create a second of stress.
Should I buy the white or off-white shirt?
Simple
colors, such as red, blue, and yellow, are easy to identify.
So,
we have less stress.
I know that's red.
Case closed.
Clearly,
it's red.
More
complex colors, like olive green,
require more decision-making.
Is that green or gray?
Is there any blue in that?
This
is why we see primary colors for a mobile above a crib,
or identities for children's entertainment.
Olive,
burnt orange, and ochre tend to be a bit more adult.
Like
Brussels sprouts,
the more complex colors may seem more sophisticated.
They're an acquired taste.
Color
is the first element a viewer sees on any design solution in any medium.
The
color tells me immediately if the subject is light or heavy, formal
or
casual,
playful
or clinical,
or a range of a million other possibilities.
The
viewer will always see the color as a
dominant color first and determine the tone of the message.
Only
after one has that first impression from that color do they investigate more.
Second,
looking at the image,
and then the typography to understand the message.
If
the viewer finds the color, image,
and words to be pleasing or intriguing,
then they take the time to digest the information.
It's
just like being presented with a plate of beautiful
looking and great smelling food.
That's
a remarkable tool for communication,
but I find many designers are wary of color.
They're sure they might choose the wrong one or break a rule.
So
they depend on the default color swatches in a software product, or
stick with black, white, and something dour just to be safe.
That's
neither unique or amazing.
It's
time to be bold.
Now, you may be asking,
Sean, are we talking about printed color or on a screen or something else?
Let's
cover these three most common ways to design with color before digging into other issues.
First,
CMYK is the basis for offset and digital printing.
Cyan,
magenta, yellow, and black are common base printing colors used universally.
Each color is printed with tiny halftone dots.
Our brain fills in the gaps to help identify the image.
Combined,
it creates a continuous color image.
We don't see the dots any longer.
RGB,
red,
green, and blue, are used for screen-based applications.
Rather
than printed items where light bounces off the surface for us to see,
light comes in from the screen here,
and RGB is used to create an image.
An
image on the screen that looks like one continuous photograph is created with red,
green, and blue pixels combined.
Back
up, and the pixels merge to produce one screen color.
And
then we have Pantone matching system colors.
Before
PMS colors,
designers gave the printer a swatch that they painted to matte.
Now, sometimes it was perfect.
Other times, not at all.
And
printing the same item in different places or at different times
led to several versions of the same color.
Pantone colors solve the problem.
The same formula for ink would be used anywhere in the world.
Designers
choose a color for printing,
and the printer can match it exactly.
This is critical for brand equity.
A brand can't own a color if it never matches exactly.
So,
we can identify Tiffany blue and Coca-Cola red.
Here
are the three systems.
CMYK uses cyan and yellow to produce this color.
RGB
uses light and pixels.
And
Pantone is one formula of ink that will always be consistent.
However we produce it,
color is amazing.
We respond emotionally,
and they convey joy and delight,
or anxiety and fear.
With this power, why be safe?
Be fearless in color.