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5958
(Text)
color
6
Color is one of the most
powerful and communica-
tive elements in a graphic
designer’s language. It
affects all of us by providing visual energy and variety in what we
see and experience on a daily basis. Color is used to attract atten-
tion, group disparate elements, reinforce meaning, and enhance
“Color is the place where our brain and the universe meet.”
Paul Klee (1879–1940), Swiss, Author, Educator, Painter
col·or \'k -l r\ n
1 a: a phenomenon of light (as red,
brown, pink, or gray) or visual percep-
tion that enables one to differentiate
otherwise identical objects
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th e la n guag e of gr ap hic d es i gn
(Text)
RodRigo CoRRal design
New York, New York, USA
Coney Island of
the Mind
1984
Los Angeles, California, USA
Since 1980, Deborah Sussman (b. 1931)
and her firm, Sussman/Prejza & Company,
have advanced the field of environmental
graphic design, creating urban sign pro-
grams for numerous cities in California as
well as environmental graphics for Disney,
Hasbro, and Apple Computer.
In the 1960s, Sussman worked
with two pioneers of twentieth-century
American design, Charles and Ray Eames,
whose creative imprint revolutionized the
look of postwar America. It was during this
mentoring period that she became rooted in
an Eamesian joy of color, pattern, cultural
influences, and ethnic design.
Her environmental graphics program
for the 1984 Summer Olympics literally
changed the way we experience color in
an urban environment. This comprehensive
program guided an enormous international
audience through a series of complex ven-
ues, while visually celebrating the games
and the surrounding city on a grand scale
and in a festival-like manner. Sussman’s
system of temporary structures, scaffold-
ing, striped columns, large-scale graphics,
and bright colors were inventive, function-
al, and extremely accessible.
The Olympic colors were unexpected,
exciting, and distinct from the everyday
visual fabric of an urban city. Magenta was
the base color on which the color palette
was built. Sports pictograms were white on
magenta; freeway signs were magenta with
aqua; the interaction of magenta against
yellow, vermilion, and aqua was the most
important interrelationship of the palette.
The colors also had strong ties to locale—
magenta and yellow are of the Pacific Rim,
Mexico, and the Far East. Aqua is Mediter-
ranean and a strong counterpoint to the
warmer Pacific colors.
visual compositions. It can also immediately
convey an attitude or an emotion, provoke
a response, create emphasis and variety,
communicate a specific message, and further
strengthen an established hierarchy.
Color increases visual interest and can
reinforce the meaning and organization of
elements in any visual composition. As a
primary visual element, color enhances the
emotional and psychological nuances of
any visual message. It assists in creating the
mood you desire. For example, light colors
produce pleasant responses whereas darker
colors produce quieter effects.
(continued on page 62)
adamsmoRioka inC.
Beverly Hills, California, USA
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