Understanding Color, 5th Edition

10 THE MEDIUM OF LIGHT Images of Light / Lost in Translation / The Screen Display / Color Display Modes / Color Management / Color on the Web / Web Color Coding / Emerging Media: E-Ink

Now that we have the machines let us, instead of imitating former products and techniques, try to design goods that are characteristic of machine production—do not let us imitate former designs. Let us, with the help of these technical aids, produce the new.

—Gregor Paulsson, Design and Machinery, 1919

Few designers today remember a time before drawings were made on a screen, but the medium that allows the exploration of design solutions with speed and precision has existed for barely two generations. When it became possible to create images of light—when editing and correcting became the work of an instant—the studio workplace and the design industries changed forever. With rare exceptions, drawing in light is standard practice today in studios of all types and sizes.

Screen drawings are created for two principal end uses. Some are made as preparation for print; others are destined to be seen only on a screen. And while many color challenges are the same for all kinds of media, some are unique to digital drawing, and each end use has its own set of protocols and constraints. Color issues that must be addressed for screen-to-print distribution are not necessarily the same as those for screen-to-screen.

Images of Light

A graphic image can be as simple as black-and-white text or drawing or as complex ...