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One of my inspirations is film.

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Now, I was fortunate to work with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences,

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the Sundance Film Festival,

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and even the Slamdance Film Festival for many years.

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I know how much I enjoy designing for these clients,

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so our final project will be a series of posters for three different film festivals.

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At the end of this video,

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I'll give you instructions for a task as a warm-up for the final project.

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I hope you'll enjoy it.

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Now, moving on,

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let's talk about color and meaning.

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First, color is subjective.

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That's the most important issue when talking about color.

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I can explain how color works and different approaches to succeed,

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but color is tied to one's identity.

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It's often the most volatile element of a project.

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To

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declare that your friend's choice of a favorite color is inferior is to attack that person's core personality.

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A

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client may arbitrarily demand a specific color or reject another based on seemingly irrelevant reasons,

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because our response to color is based on our experiences and cultural associations.

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When I was in the first grade,

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my teacher asked us to name our favorite colors.

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You probably did this too.

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My

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favorite colors were from a book I had with a green and red zebra.

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Remember how you were sure your colors were best,

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and how could anyone ever think another color was good?

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One of my earliest memories is of another boy in class telling me those colors didn't belong on a zebra.

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What

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a dull way to look at the world.

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The same is true when we choose colors and present them now.

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We

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can apply all the logic in the world to a choice.

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But if someone has a bad association with green,

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it's rather hard to change their mind.

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I had a client once who insisted that his logo be the same color as his car,

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a forest green jaguar.

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I

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took the Pantone color swatches out and compared them to the car's hood.

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I found the perfect match,

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designed the identity system,

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and presented it.

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All

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good.

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Wrong.

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He

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insisted that the green was nothing like his car,

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and couldn't understand why I didn't see that.

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It was clear as anything to him.

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I realized that the color he had in his head might be different than the swatch.

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For

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him, it was a combination of the image on a brochure,

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the light in the car's showroom when he bought it,

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and the angle he saw when he opened the door.

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So,

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rather than trying to convince him that I was right,

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I gave him the Pantone swatch book to choose the color,

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and insisted he join me at the printer when the stationery printed to approve that final green.

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The subjective issue aside,

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we're hardwired as a species to respond to color.

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In

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theory, our eyes evolved with life-saving skills related to color.

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We

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don't need to see ultraviolet light,

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but we do need to tell the difference between good or spoiled fruit,

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or the slight variation in tone between the lion and the tall grass.

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These skills led to our responses to color.

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First,

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brighter colors tended to be life-affirming.

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Fresh berries,

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flowers,

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clean water, or a blue sky.

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These

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are good things, and they help keep us alive.

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Muted

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colors were tied to rotting meat, a storm,

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or dirty water.

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Hence,

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we navigate to bright and pure,

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and assign positive meaning to those colors.

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Second, we feel stress when we are given choices.

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Should

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I quit my job or stay?

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One of these may lead to problems.

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Even

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tiny choices create a second of stress.

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Should I buy the white or off-white shirt?

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Simple

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colors, such as red, blue, and yellow, are easy to identify.

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So,

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we have less stress.

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I know that's red.

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Case closed.

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Clearly,

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it's red.

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More

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complex colors, like olive green,

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require more decision-making.

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Is that green or gray?

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Is there any blue in that?

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This

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is why we see primary colors for a mobile above a crib,

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or identities for children's entertainment.

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Olive,

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burnt orange, and ochre tend to be a bit more adult.

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Like

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Brussels sprouts,

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the more complex colors may seem more sophisticated.

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They're an acquired taste.

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Color

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is the first element a viewer sees on any design solution in any medium.

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The

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color tells me immediately if the subject is light or heavy, formal

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or

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casual,

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playful

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or clinical,

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or a range of a million other possibilities.

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The

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viewer will always see the color as a

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dominant color first and determine the tone of the message.

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Only

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after one has that first impression from that color do they investigate more.

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Second,

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looking at the image,

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and then the typography to understand the message.

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If

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the viewer finds the color, image,

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and words to be pleasing or intriguing,

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then they take the time to digest the information.

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It's

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just like being presented with a plate of beautiful

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looking and great smelling food.

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That's

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a remarkable tool for communication,

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but I find many designers are wary of color.

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They're sure they might choose the wrong one or break a rule.

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So

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they depend on the default color swatches in a software product, or

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stick with black, white, and something dour just to be safe.

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That's

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neither unique or amazing.

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It's

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time to be bold.

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Now, you may be asking,

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Sean, are we talking about printed color or on a screen or something else?

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Let's

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cover these three most common ways to design with color before digging into other issues.

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First,

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CMYK is the basis for offset and digital printing.

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Cyan,

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magenta, yellow, and black are common base printing colors used universally.

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Each color is printed with tiny halftone dots.

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Our brain fills in the gaps to help identify the image.

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Combined,

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it creates a continuous color image.

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We don't see the dots any longer.

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RGB,

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red,

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green, and blue, are used for screen-based applications.

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Rather

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than printed items where light bounces off the surface for us to see,

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light comes in from the screen here,

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and RGB is used to create an image.

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An

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image on the screen that looks like one continuous photograph is created with red,

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green, and blue pixels combined.

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Back

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up, and the pixels merge to produce one screen color.

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And

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then we have Pantone matching system colors.

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Before

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PMS colors,

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designers gave the printer a swatch that they painted to matte.

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Now, sometimes it was perfect.

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Other times, not at all.

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And

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printing the same item in different places or at different times

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led to several versions of the same color.

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Pantone colors solve the problem.

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The same formula for ink would be used anywhere in the world.

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Designers

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choose a color for printing,

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and the printer can match it exactly.

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This is critical for brand equity.

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A brand can't own a color if it never matches exactly.

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So,

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we can identify Tiffany blue and Coca-Cola red.

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Here

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are the three systems.

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CMYK uses cyan and yellow to produce this color.

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RGB

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uses light and pixels.

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And

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Pantone is one formula of ink that will always be consistent.

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However we produce it,

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color is amazing.

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We respond emotionally,

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and they convey joy and delight,

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or anxiety and fear.

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With this power, why be safe?

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Be fearless in color.