Graphic Designers Discuss: Spring Color & Your Palette

Color for April This month we enjoy the winner's comments about COLORS. During March, readers were challenged with deciding on a color palette for spring, or just to share a tip, trick, technique or antidote about SPRING COLORS! BRAVO... they WIN PRIZES for their insightful comments...

Our best Color Reference

... C. Catiller who wrote in saying:

Quoting  begins Do you scan in great color art work,only to see something completely different from what your original painting or pencil drawing looks like? This link (ColorMatters.com) gives information on how to get good colors on your monitor.
      My computer plaftform is Macintosh, favorite sotfware Photoshop and Corel Painter. I do not rely on software, being an Illustrator, I start with roughs, paint in gouache or acrylics, colored pencil.
      Thanks, DT&G, for the great newsletter every month! Quoting  ends

[END QUOTE] C. Catiller is an Illustrator from Winter Haven, Florida See: ArtMuvz.com

Colors that didn't work out too well

Marcy writes:

Quoting  begins ... I was doing a print job for a client - a brochure that was to mail to thousands of people. Every time we showed a design comp, the client kept saying "make the colors brighter, it looks too dull."
      The colors were already a nice bright blue and sunny yellow. We went back and forth like this many, many times. I could not understand why she kept thinking it was too dull despite my many explanations of why we chose the colors we did (based on the defined audience, subject matter and tone of the piece).
      Finally, as we were getting way over budget, I called up the client and asked if she had access to a Pantone book. She did. I asked that she pick out the colors they wanted to use and tell me the numbers. We printed the piece with a neon yellow and Viking football purple to the delight of the client, and the horror of the design team.
      A few days later, the client called to thank me for being so patient with her. Then she said, "You know, I'm probably not the best person to pick colors since I'm partially color blind. Quoting  ends

[END QUOTE] Marcy is a self employed freelancer from New York, NY! She uses Mac OSX, photoshop and flashSee: MarcyRye.com
Editor's Note: The customer is always right. Right? Not!

Color palette inspired by Alaska

Bonnie writes:

Quoting  begins My favorite color combination features a range of blues and greens--especially in Spring.
      When I was designing our Alaska Naturalist On-Line course website, I selected photos in those hues and worked my navigation and text into the palette to give the participants an aura of water and plants. It's a quiet site, like a walk in the forest just before dusk. I suppose living in Alaska might have some influence on my choices. We have our fair share of "grand soft days"!
      The website address I've included is the index page. Only the "Birds" module is active since this is a sample, not the full course. Other links have been disabled.
      My computer platform is PC running Windows XP Professional. My favorite software used to be PageMaker, but InDesign is fast overtaking it as I learn the program. I'm a DTG newsletter subscriber! Quoting  ends

[END QUOTE] Bonnie is a Desktop Publishing professional from Sitka, Alaska
[Editor's Note: Bonnie, I'm going to get up there to see you one of these days!]

Aye, it's green!!

Mike writes:

Quoting  begins Aye, it's green!! My favorite Scotty quote, and strangely appropriate for this month's contest. Let's see, I'm on a Mac, of course, and I guess I'd have to say that my favorite software is Photoshop. Non design related would be this game called Warlords II (grin) Quoting  ends

[END QUOTE] Mike is in business, other than the design field, from Redondo Beach, CA

Color Palette from Fabric

Chris writes:

Quoting  begins Some may scoff, but I recently set up a studio and my own business. I found some fabric I liked for curtains and pillows in the studio. I took my palette from there. I used that palette for my business stationery and even the Web site. It creates a very focused environment for me and visually sets the work space off from the rest of the house. The site is not ready yet. I use Windows XP and love CorelDraw. Quoting  ends

[END QUOTE] Chris is a Design professional from Warrenton, VA

Spring Color Palette from Photo

Mike writes:

Quoting  begins I have always had difficulties choosing color palettes. I understand the color wheel, try to refer to it often, and have even used computer-based color wheels in attempts to quickly decide on palettes for projects. Unfortunately, all but one of the computer-based wheels produce garish results and present color combinations in grids of one kind or another.
      As I grow, I have learned to use photographs (when such are available) to choose my palettes and arranging the swatches by value and color. This technique produces not only pleasant combinations, it also produces more sophisticated "natural" combinations. So for a spring project, I might select a spring photo and begin working from there Quoting  ends

[END QUOTE] Mike is a Web Design professional from Wichita, Kansas See: Swope Design.com

Well, you're not going to beleave this but this article was first published in the "Creative Networking" department in April of 2004. So, you see, color issues aren't necessarily tied to a trend or time! A dozen years later and it's just as good as it was then.

. . . and, thanks for reading

Fred Showker

      Editor/Publisher : DTG Magazine
      +FredShowker on Google+ or most social medias @Showker
      Published online since 1988

 


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