Design Elements, 2nd Edition

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TEXT

color fundamentals

112

Color Logic: Defining a Palette Just as

it’s important for a designer to define a

clear, unified form language and composi-

tional idea—and one that includes contrast

among these variables—so too must a

designer establish an overall logic that gov-

erns the color within a project. This idea of

color logic is more commonly referred to

as a “palette,” or a specific combination of

hues that interact in specific relationships

of value, temperature, and saturation.

The first direction a designer may pursue

in developing a color palette for a project

is that of optical interaction. Creating a

rich palette depends on combining colors

that can be clearly distinguished from each

other but that also share some unifying

optical relationships. Because of the strong

opposition of complements, palettes based

on this relationship tend to be the most

optically dynamic—that is, cells in the eye

are stimulated more aggressively, and the

brain is provoked into greater activity as

a result. Analogous colors, by their very

similarity, create more complex, but less

varied, palettes. Using such a basic rela-

tionship as a starting point guarantees a

viewer’s clear perception of a color idea; the

designer may opt to maintain its simplicity,

or introduce complexity—adjusting the

value or intensity differences between the

base colors, or adding colors that support

and expand their relationship.

COLOR SYSTEMS

The process of defining a palette

can begin very simply: choosing

colors for their optical relation-

ship—in this case, a pair of

complements—because their

interaction is so strong (top).

Adjusting the relative values of

the complements creates greater

contrast without disturbing

the clarity of the relationship

(bottom).

Seeking a richer experience, the

designer may shift the tempera-

ture of one or both complements,

maintaining the essential rela-

tionship but skewing it slightly.

Altering the intensities of one

or both introduces yet greater

richness without sacrificing the

fundamental logic of the palette.

The addition of a neutral version

of one of the complements

expands the palette; a second

version of the neutral, lighter

in value, introduces greater

variation.

To this already complex mix, the

designer lastly adds the analog

of one of the base complements,

adjusting its value and intensity

to correspond more closely to one

of the neutrals.

Each of these two ads, part

of a campaign promoting a

newspaper, presents a specific,

focused palette of hues—and a

specific set of hue, temperature,

and saturation relationships.

The ad at far left shows an

analogous palette of reds and

yellows, with greater contrast

in saturation and value. The

ad at near left shows a primary

palette—a triadic relation-

ship—of blue, red, and yellow,

with overall diminished satura-

tion and less contrast in value.

UMBRELLA DESIGN INDIA

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