1. 1.05 On The Importance of Color

2. Color… color never changes Knowing your way around color is one of the two things that any designer must, indispensably, understand and use with great passion. To be able to use color is to be able to apply subtle psychology to any composition and elicit feeling from the viewer. What was the question again? -When asked what his name was, Mr. Buck, 2014

3. Color We’ve talked a little bit about color, in so far as we’ve acknowledged that it exists, and we can use it. But more in depth, we need to talk about the two most common color modes, RGB and CMYK, in more depth.

4. RGB Red, Green, Blue RGB is the color mode we use for designing with the intent of being it being displayed digitally. All display technology, including phones, monitors, digital billboards and projectors use RGB as the way to display the colors.

5. Color System type This is all stuff, though, that we already know. In RGB (and CMYK), each color is called a channel. A channel in this context is the grayscale image of the same size as a color image, made of just one of these primary colors. So any picture you’re looking at is a mixture of a red-colored grayscale image, combined with a blue-colored and green- colored image as well, to make the whole document. How these colors mix with each other makes the colors you recognize.

6. All channels present

7. Only the Red Channel

8. Only the Green Channel

9. Only the Blue Channel

10. Additive Color System You may have noticed something, especially in the Red channel. Especially on the baby, whatever was supposed to be red in the Red channel appears to be light. You might think that the opposite would be true, but RGB is an additive color system. An additive color system applies to systems following the logic of white light. Just like white light as we know it is broken down into color channels (ROYGBIV), equal presence of three RGB channels makes white. If none of those channels are present, we’re left with darkness. The end game is that everything adds up to white.

11. Makes a little more sense I hope?

12. In the opposing corner, CMYK! CMYK functions on the other end of the spectrum, as a subtractive color system. The end game of CMYK is that the colors subtract from the white of the paper to make its colors. Adding them all together makes black instead of white. This color system is more in line with what you’re used to, but still not quite your finger-paint logic of color mixing. Look at the diagram here. The colors mix to form RGB, with black in the middle of the mixture.

13. Why it’s important to distinguish RGB and CMYK seem like needless or unnecessary things to pay attention to. But one of the reasons that this is so important is because of this: RGB is almost universally standardized across all mediums. Color won’t vary too terribly. CMYK varies from printer to printer and the things you do in class will not always stay digital. It’s important to know when a file is going to be printed, because it may change your design approach. Never give a printer an RGB file without proofing it first to see how the color might change.

14. Using color effectively To use color effectively, you should totally understand the concept of the color wheel. To keep your heads from exploding, we’re going to build a color wheel in your notebook with the traditional studio colors of Red, Yellow, and Blue.

15. Start by making 3 circles in a triangle pattern. Label them each with a primary color. Red BlueYellow

16. Mix their neighbors to make the secondary colors. VioletOrange Green

17. This is your basic color wheel. VioletOrange Green Red BlueYellow

18. Complementary colors Complementary colors are directly across from each other on the color wheel and when used together, cause maximum contrast. AAA

19. COMPLEMENTARY colors VioletOrange Green Red BlueYellow

20. COMPLEMENTARY colors VioletOrange Green Red BlueYellow

21. COMPLEMENTARY colors VioletOrange Green Red BlueYellow

22. Analogous Colors Usually termed as coming in groups of 3 or five, analogous colors consist of a particular color and its direct neighbors.

23. ANALOGOUS colors

24. Triadic Color Any three colors that are equally spaced from each other, forming a perfect triangle, are triadic. Red, Yellow, Blue, for instance.

25. Triadic colors

26. Split-Complementary Colors This is a tough one to explain. Pick a single color, for instance, red. Green is its complementary color, however… Instead, choose each color directly bordering green instead.

27. Split-Complementary

28. Warm and Cool The color wheel is also divided into warm and cool colors, with each half triggering a generally consistent psychological response. Warm colors look vivid and give us a sense of energy and comfort. They also appear closer to the viewer. Cool colors look calm and give us a refreshing feeling. Cool colors appear farther from the viewer which makes them perfect for background colors.

29. Warm and Cool Colors

30. Class Assignments Rubric should be online by now. If not, Mr. Buck has ignored the advice of Buck-from- christmas-past. If so, go to my website and look at the color rubric.