Best Practices for Graphic Designers, Color Works

Print magazine commissioned

Spin to design a special edition centered

on the theme of movement. For the cover,

Spin uses a mixture of halftoning, grada-

tion, and overprinting. Notice the change

in coloration when the halftone gradation

from red to yellow overlaps the halftone

gradation of light to dark blue, symboliz-

ing change and movement.

Concept

and Color

Tony Brook

The way I work is conceptual—I’m looking for ideas

and connections that allow form to be delivered

and content to be expressed. Part of this is under-

standing that the use of color can be both rational

and emotional.

fig. 001

1.4

Context30 Color Works

1.2

6.3

1.2

5.5

1.5/2.2

1.5

Concept and Color

Spin uses overlay and overprint-

ing techniques with subtle changes in

translucency and halftoning. Notice how

the overlapping of colored imagery gener-

ates a dynamic feel to the overall spreads,

connecting once disparate imagery and

typography into a flowing composition.

By playing off the vibrancy of the

yellow and using the white as a highlight

to contrast with the black, Spin reinvents

the colors. Then their boldness and solid-

ity are reinforced through the strength

and composition of the form.

I once saw an exhibition composed of several tunnels made out of

a semitransparent material, and each tunnel was flooded with colored

light. I hadn’t realized the profound physical reaction the body has to

color until I walked into the cavern of the red tube and a feeling of

warmth engulfed me. Imagine not being able to see any horizon,

your eyes completely full of color. Then moving into the blue tube you

physically feel cold, the temperature seems to change. It’s a remarkable

thing. There are subconscious responses to color within specific

contextual spaces.

Color sets the psychological tone of what one is trying to create, where

color follows form. I believe in beginning to design from a rational start-

ing point, then applying the emotional. I have achieved this successfully

whenever I’m not beholden to a particular color. If the visual language

and behavior is strong, that should give you license to play with color

and to use color as a tool to express different emotions.

In our project for the Proa Foundation in Argentina, the color of the

space was a reaction to the physical environment. It’s located in

a profoundly colorful and vibrant area in the Boca District of Buenos

Aires. The beginning of the color conversation with the Foundation

was based around that context, which eventually allowed the space

to find its own voice, and therefore its color. Now our color options have

gone from being inspired by the surroundings to being inspired

by a specific artist or artists on exhibit. For example, we created

a color palette for a group show on Brazilian and Argentinean pop art.

This allowed us to have fun using the national colors of both countries

and then imagining what those national colors were like in the 1960s

and 1970s, and how the sun might have faded them over time. This

procedure became purely subjective and emotional, with the

colors ending up as a pale blue and a slightly dirty green. So time has

become an effective factor in thinking about color. The type is evoca-

tive—it’s telling you this is about 1960s and ’70s South American

pop art—and the color is intended to be a reflection of us today looking

back at that period, kind of how we use Instagram.

All of the ideas that go into a designer’s work can never be fully articu-

lated or explained. But I think if you design with a sense of purpose,

and you’re thoughtful about your ideas, they will come across.

For Renault 4+, a new warranty program for the car manufacturer, the

project started as pure corporate design, with an identity package to

be developed from the existing Renault corporate branding specifica-

tions, including existing colors (golden yellow, white, and gray). But

Renault had never really used the golden ochre yellow (Pantone 7408)

in the way we proposed; we also replaced the dark gray (Pantone 432)

with a solid black and used these colors in a way that, through scale,

felt dense.

This technique is used to vivid effect in several publications, notably on

the cover of Kwadraat-Bladen, and in a special issue of Print magazine

designed by Spin. Kwadraat-Bladen, a book by Unit Editions, showcases

fig. 002

fig. 003