Color for Designers: Ninety-five things you need to know when choosing and using colors for layouts and illustrations

Color for Designers: Ninety-five things you need to know when choosing and using colors for layouts and illustrations

Released September 2014
Publisher(s): New Riders
ISBN: 9780133760279

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Book description

Most of today’s books on color lean in one of two directions: toward heavy-handed theory-speak or toward ready-to-use palettes that will likely be out-of-step before the book has received its first coffee stain. Color For Designers leans in neither direction, instead choosing to simply tell it like it is while bringing home the timeless thinking behind effective color selection and palette building.

In this fundamental guide to understanding and working with color, bestselling author Jim Krause starts out by explaining the basics with an introduction to the color wheel, hue, saturation, value, and more. He then dives deeper into the practical application of color with instruction on how to alter hues, create palettes, target themes, paint with color, use digital color, and accurately output your colorful creations to print.

The book is set up in easy-to-digest spreads that are straight-to-the-point, fun to read, and delightfully visual. Color For Designers–releasing on the heels of its companion volume, Visual Design–is the second book in the New Riders Creative Core series, which aims to provide instruction on the fundamental concepts and techniques that all designers must master to become skilled professionals.

Table of contents

  1. Title Page
  2. Copyright Page
  3. Table of Contents
  4. Introduction
  5. Chapter 1. Color 101+
    1. 1 Light
    2. 2 Wheels of Color
    3. 3 Primary Colors
    4. 4 Secondary Colors
    5. 5 Tertiary Colors
    6. 6 HSV: The Anatomy of a Color
    7. 7 Warm and Cool
    8. 8 Additive and Subtractive Color
  6. Chapter 2. Value Over All
    1. 9 No Value, No Color
    2. 10 Hue, Saturation, and Value, Together
    3. 11 Value and Hierarchy
    4. 12 Value and Mood
    5. 13 Keying Palettes
    6. 14 Darkening Colors
    7. 15 Lightening and Muting
    8. 16 Digital Color Aids
  7. Chapter 3. Color Relationships
    1. 17 Monochromatic
    2. 18 Analogous
    3. 19 Triadic
    4. 20 Complementary
    5. 21 Split Complementary
    6. 22 Tetradic
    7. 23 Whatever Looks Good
  8. Chapter 4. Practical Palettes for Designers
    1. 24 Single Color
    2. 25 Black Plus One Color
    3. 26 Pairing Colors
    4. 27 There Are No Bad Colors
    5. 28 Seeding Multicolor Palettes
    6. 29 Controlled Complexity
    7. 30 Establishing Connection
    8. 31 Dangerous Color
  9. Chapter 5. Neutrals
    1. 32 Grays and Temperature
    2. 33 What Is Brown, Anyway?
    3. 34 Combining Neutrals
    4. 35 Brown Plus Black
    5. 36 Blacks
    6. 37 Colors with Grays
    7. 38 Colors with Browns
    8. 39 Pale Neutrals
    9. 40 Muted Alternatives
  10. Chapter 6. Interacting with the Eye
    1. 41 Guiding with Hues
    2. 42 Punching with Color
    3. 43 Building a Cast
    4. 44 Color and Depth
    5. 45 What Color Is a Shadow?
    6. 46 Letting Hues Breathe
    7. 47 Color as Backdrop
    8. 48 Background Hues as Components
    9. 49 The Forgiving Eye
  11. Chapter 7. Illustrations, Graphics, and Photos
    1. 50 Planning and Applying
    2. 51 Enhancing Value Distinctions
    3. 52 Linework Between Colors
    4. 53 Photographic Palettes
    5. 54 Tinting Monochromatic Images
    6. 55 Considering Whites
    7. 56 A Touch of Texture
    8. 57 Exploring Variations
  12. Chapter 8. Conveyances
    1. 58 Color and Connection
    2. 59 Color and Meaning
    3. 60 Color and Culture
    4. 61 Intentional Nonsense
    5. 62 Fueling Intuition
  13. Chapter 9. Corporate Color
    1. 63 Knowing Your Audience
    2. 64 Evaluating Competition
    3. 65 Practical Concerns
    4. 66 Assessing Trends
    5. 67 Selling It
  14. Chapter 10. Inspiration and Education
    1. 68 Seeing Color
    2. 69 Look. Evaluate. Take a Picture.
    3. 70 Borrowing Inspiration
    4. 71 Historical Awareness
    5. 72 Perception Problems
    6. 73 Other Color Systems
  15. Chapter 11. Digital Color
    1. 74 The WYSIWYG Dream
    2. 75 Web-Safe RGB
    3. 76 Letting the Computer Help
    4. 77 Not Letting the Computer Hurt
    5. 78 Digital Blending
    6. 79 Infinite Options
    7. 80 Redefining Possible
  16. Chapter 12. Color and Printing
    1. 81 CMYK
    2. 82 Spot Colors
    3. 83 Ink vs. Reality
    4. 84 The Paper Effect
    5. 85 Avoiding Difficulties
    6. 86 Proofing and Predicting
    7. 87 Press Checks
    8. 88 Experience: The Teacher
  17. Chapter 13. Paint? Paint!
    1. 89 Paint, and Know
    2. 90 Kinds of Paint
    3. 91 Brushes and Paper
    4. 92 Project Ideas
    5. 93 Going Further
    6. 94 The Drawing Connection
    7. 95 Technology and Design
  18. Glossary
  19. Index

Product information

  • Title: Color for Designers: Ninety-five things you need to know when choosing and using colors for layouts and illustrations
  • Author(s):
  • Release date: September 2014
  • Publisher(s): New Riders
  • ISBN: 9780133760279