1 In this lesson, we'll explore ways to apply the color palette to additional applications,
maintain a cohesive voice without being boring.
We'll also look at some of the technical solutions
to maintain rich colors.
Now, there's a couple of terms in graphic design
that relate to lazy solutions.
Type and stripe, which is simply adding a color bar and type at the top of every application.
And logo slapping, which is just dropping a logo in a corner of everything.
The same thing happens with color.
We build a great palette and end up using the same two colors in the same way repeatedly.
Consistency is great for branding purposes,
but too much of the same thing
creates wallpaper.
People stop seeing it.
I like to think of using color not to make everything identical,
but
to maintain the same spirit.
The
Sundance project had a huge number of materials to create from the posters to merchandise.
This gave me the opportunity to work with all the stories in my toolbox and to put the entire palette to work.
The refined palette worked well.
There
are enough dark and light tones,
jewel tones,
and neutral colors for all the items.
To recap,
I created the CMYK,
RGB, and PMS versions.
I found myself at first slipping into the mode of realism,
and that's no fun.
I
planned to be liberal and unexpected with the palette,
but slowly found myself making things the right color.
This
was a perfect time to stop and adjust.
Again,
I had retreated to something safe I thought the client would accept.
But what did I think it should be?
The
Trojan horse could be yellow.
Isaac Newton Chartreuse.
A
mustard-colored Helen of Troy launched the thousand ships on a turquoise ocean.
A mustard-colored Helen of Troy launched a thousand ships on a turquoise ocean.
Only Moby Dick, the white whale,
stayed white.
Sort of.
The
minimal form and color here asks the viewer to do some work.
First,
they needed to solve the puzzle.
Who is that?
What is that story?
How does that connect to the festival?
Once they determine that's Icarus falling from the sun,
they're forced to stop and ask,
why
is he red?
It's
a small question, but these interactions make something memorable.
When we do that much work in our head,
we've invested in the piece,
and it's personal.
We
feel good that we solved the question.
I prefer to use sustainable materials when I print,
and all the items used recycled paper that was less than bright white.
We
talked about this before,
but simulating the result of a color on paper that isn't bright white
isn't reliable.
It needs to be seen physically.
For colors to feel deep and not anemic,
I ask for as much ink as possible to be printed without losing the type quality.
I
also work with the printers to adjust their curves.
This sounds complicated, but it isn't.
Ink
sits on the surface of coated paper and is absorbed in the uncoated paper.
By
slightly modifying the curves,
the images print beautifully.
This
publication I did for Mohawk paper has a pretty good explanation.
In
the simplest terms, when using uncoated paper,
adjust the curves of the images to open them up and reduce the dot size.
Tell your printer, they'll know what to do.
Another trick I
use is to add fluorescent color to CMYK to give the color more punch.
On
this spread, the left side is printed with cyan,
magenta, yellow, and black inks.
The
right side has a touch plate,
meaning selected areas of added fluorescent
magenta and yellow.
The
result is an exceptionally technicolor image.
Some call that flashy.
I like it.
To
recap, I used the entire palette on all the materials.
I ignored reality and made the items whatever color I wanted.
This kept the viewer interested each time they found a new item or saw something on the screen.
Maintaining the colors on the printed materials worked well.
Even
with uncoated recycled paper,
the colors remained rich and matched the palette.
The
on-screen base colors also worked.
In
all honesty, some items, such as vinyl banners or scrims,
lost some of the brilliance.
Obsessing about that was fruitless.
Some materials can only do so much.
I might have been the only person to notice this deviation,
but all one can do is start with the right colors and hope every material works.
And
other items printed digitally worked perfectly.
That's
why we spent so much time refining and refining.
It's
critical when color is applied to so many items on every possible material.
The
next year's festival was about
telling stories around the campfire and fire as a symbol of passion.
That's
an entirely different color story to tell.