d3 LA04 - Colour Fundamentals 9

LEARNING ACTIVITY

1. Your client whose Brisbane-based business is supplying OH&S resources (books, clothing, measuring equipment etc.) to Mining / Civil & Mechanical engineering fields needs a new business identity/ brand. You need to suggest a new colour scheme for their business.

 

2. Your client whose business is producing rugged outdoor footwear for the domestic (Australian) market has developed a new range for teenage girls. What could you suggest would be the colour scheme for this new brand? Fill the swatches below with 

your choices. Explain why you chose these colours.

 

 

Most outdoors footwear use the colour brown. In order to keep with this fashion I would incorporate a brown/tan colour in my colour scheme. I would also add a splash off colour to look more appealing to young teenagers.


3. A client who represents an Australian Govt. agency to support drug rehabilitation services needs a new corporate identity for them. What could you suggest would be the colour scheme for this agency? Fill the swatches below with your choices. Explain why you chose these colours.

 

Based on the “Life Matters” interview with Anjel O’Bryant, ‘The Power of Colour’, Creative Rehabilitation colours are: pale blue, pale pink, and pale aqua.

4. How many colours can be represented by the Pantone CMYK process for print?

Most of the Pantone system's 1,114 spot colours cannot be simulated with CMYK but with 13 base pigments (14 including black) mixed in specified amounts. “The number of unique colours has now grown from 1,114 in the current base PMS books to 2,058 in Pantone Goe. More colours were added in the greens and blues, and the total colour gamut has increased” (Gable, 2007).
  
5. List 3 free-to-use online software tools to help you develop colour schemes. List their URLs and describe the one you like best and why you like it.

•    Colour Scheme Designer 3 http://colorschemedesigner.com/
•    Colour Lovers http://www.colourlovers.com/create
•    Instant Colour Schemes http://www.gpeters.com/color/color-schemes.php

Colour Scheme Designer 3 is the one I like best. It is extremely user friendly and allows you to choose from mono, complement, triad, tetrad, analogic or accented analogic.
Colour Lovers is free, but you will need to register if you want to save your created palettes.
Instant colour schemes are a close 2nd. I particularly love how easy it is to find colour schemes to match eras from within this site.

* A useful link that provides many more colour scheme tools http://designshack.net/articles/inspiration/25-awesome-tools-for-choosing-a-website-color-scheme/


6. Colour Models; describe in your own words the four computer-graphics colour models hint: RGB is one model. Just a few important details on each are fine.

RYB: Red, yellow, and blue (RYB) are the primary colours, which became the foundation of colour theories. It describes how artists mixed paint pigments to produce colours. The RYB Colour Model is a subtractive system. A mixture of two primary colours is darker than the original colours. A mixture of all three primary colours should approximate black, although this is usually not precisely true.

CMYK: Cyan, magenta, and yellow are the secondary colours on the RGB colour wheel. Black is used in addition to CMY for these reasons:

•  Black ink is cheaper than mixing C, M, and Y to obtain black.
•  Text printed in black has fine detail that would be blurred if printed with three different colours.
•  A mixture of C, M, and Y produces an imperfect shade of black.

RGB: The RGB Colour Model is an additive system. The RGB model is the basis for displaying colours in television and computer screens. Each pixel of the screen is recorded as the triple R, G, and B of numbers. The RGB model is also used for recording colours in digital cameras, including still image and video cameras. In practice, the RGB model must be modified to account for the characteristics of each device.

HSV: Hue, Saturation, Value. When artists began to use computers for graphic design, it was soon discovered that the RGB system is not a very intuitive way to represent colours. “Graphic artists like the HSV colour model because it is an intuitive way to modify the colours in a region of an image. For example:
•    Add more green to a region translates to ‘rotate the hue towards 120 degrees.’
•    Make the colour more of a pastel colour translates to ‘decrease the saturation.’
•    Make the colours in the image darker translates to ‘decrease the value’” (The HVS Colour Model, n.d).


7. According to “Western” perception of colours, describe the emotion associated with the following colours (see table below) and provide an example of its use in contemporary culture.

References

Empower yourself with colour psychology.com, (2014). Cultural Colour. Retrieved from http://www.empower-yourself-with-color-psychology.com/cultural-color.html 

Marx, L. (2006). Colour. Symbolism – Western Culture. Retrieved from http://www.lieslmwdesign.com/symbolism/symbol.htm
 

Note:
To do the following activity you’ll need to determine the RGB value for a colour using MS Word. You can find this out by using the Shape Fill palette / More fill colours/ Custom (see below):

8. Demonstrate your understanding of the following colour terms:

a. Hue. Show an example of a “hue” in the swatch below and name it. Indicate its RGB value.

Aquamarine
RGB: 57, 197, 169


b. Lightness. Make the hue you chose lighter and represent it in this swatch. Indicate its RGB value. Hint: Use the vertical slider in the Colours dialog box to “lighten” a hue.

RGB: 69, 246, 211


c. Saturation. Pick a new hue and in the swatches below represent it at 3 levels of saturation. Indicate the RGB values of each. 
Hint:    In MS Word, use HSL instead of RGB Colour model to easily change the saturation value, see below left:

d. Define Tint

Tint increases a colour’s lightness by adding white to it.

e. Define Shade

Shade increases a colour’s darkness by adding black to it.

f. Define Tone

Tone changes a colour by adding grey to it, i.e. black and white.

g. Define Gamut

Gamut is the entire range of colour within a given colour space. “For example, while pure red can be expressed in the RGB colour space, it cannot be expressed in the CMYK colour space, pure red is out of gamut in the CMYK colour space” (Wikipedia, 2014).

h. Warm colours. Fill the 3 swatches below with examples.

 

i. Cool colours. Fill the 3 swatches below with examples

j. Define “Gradient” in the context of colour, in your own words.

The gradient is all the colours in between a colour blend, from one colour point, to another colour point. It is the change in the colours.

e.g

  

k. Primary colours. Use the swatches below to represent Primary colours:

l. Secondary colours. Use the swatches below to represent Secondary colours:

m. Tertiary colours. Use the swatches below to represent Tertiary colours:

9. Contrast & Harmony
Designers employ colour contrasts, scale contrasts and style contrasts to direct flow, establish focus, and control overall layout hierarchy.

In terms of colour, represent the different types of contrast using the pairs of swatches below:

Contrast of Value

Contrast of Hue

Complementary Contrast

Contrast of Saturation

Cool/ Hot Contrast

10. Colour Harmony

Find an example of a design that demonstrates a very obvious use of colour harmony (from any website/ broadcast or print media) and paste it below:

References

Gable, G. (2007). CreativePro.com. Accessed April 29, 2014 from http://www.creativepro.com/article/pantone-2-0-after-45-years-the-sequel-to-pms-

The HSV Colour Model, (n.d). Accessed April 29, 2014 from http://condor.depaul.edu/sjost/gph205/paint-pigments/color-spaces.htm

Wikipedia, (2014). Gamut. Accessed April 30, 2104 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamut

d3 LA04 - Colour Fundamentals 1-8

1.  Colour Squares

Collect 10 squares of coloured paper. Cut into quarters.

•    Wattyl paint swatches


2.  Colour Associations

1. Write five words I associate with each colour: red, blue, yellow, green, black and white.

Red: Fire, Love, Anger, Passion, Sexy
Blue: Cold, Winter, Water, Relaxing, Ice
Yellow: Summer, Happy, Friendly, Playful, Daffodil
Green: Spring, Balance, Harmony, Nature, Foliage
Black: Secretive, Dark, Space, Death, Nothing,
White: Pure, Clean, Honest, Bride, Heavenly,  

2. Find a hue among the colour squares I collected that matches most closely each word from my list.

Red: I only have one hue for red; ‘Red Barron+’ (RGB: 183,85,63). I think it represents Sexy. In my opinion, it is the perfect shade for a lipstick.
 

Blue: Cold; ‘Lacecap’,  (RGB: 183, 210, 227). This light shade of blue resembles ice. Winter; ‘Tall Ships’, (RGB: 0,128,128) To me this colour looks like the colour of cold grass. Water; ‘Cousteau’, (RGB: 95,158,160) This mid-blue shade looks like the ocean. Relaxing; ‘Silk Sari’, (RGB: 22, 116, 149). This blue-green incorporates some hint of green, a colour that I relate strongly to relaxing. Ice; ‘Brookshire’ (RGB: 238, 240, 223), this off-white colour looks like frozen water.
 

Yellow: Summer; ‘Sun Day’ (RGB: 255,227,132), this shade of yellow matches it’s name and is aptly suited to the word Summer. Happy; ‘Happy’ (RGB: 218,165,32), another colour choice that matches its word. Friendly/Playful; ‘Lemon Delicious’ (RGB: 255,233,115), This shade of yellow is very inviting, a characteristic which closely follows being friendly and playful. Daffodil; ‘Goldilux’ (RGB: 255, 215, 0). This bright yellow is just bright enough to be able to be compared to that of the brightness in the daffodil.
 

Green: Spring; ‘Soul Mate’ (RB: 200, 224, 199). This shade looks like the end of winter welcoming the greens of spring. Balance/Harmony; ’Bright Balm’ (RGB: 106, 175, 132). This has shade has a balancing tone about it. Not too green, but just right. Nature/Foliage; ‘Charmed Forest’, this deepish green is as lush as the leaves in the Daintree.
 

Black: I have only one hue in the colour black, ‘Nightsky’ (RGB: 64, 64, 64)
 

White: I have only one swatch in white also, ‘Classic White’ (RGB: 250, 250, 250).

3. Question – were there differences in opinion of what some colours represent? Were some colours easier than others to identify?
 

Most colours, in my mind, represented the description given. Obvious ones were Red (love and anger), and Yellow (caution and good cheer). A surprise one was Blue (intelligence and faith).


3.  Colour Wheel

From the Colour Wheel ……..

    What are the 3 Primary colours?
        • Yellow • Red • Blue
    What are the 3 Secondary colours?
        • Orange • Purple • Green
    What are the 6 Tertiary colours?
        • Yellow-Orange • Red-Orange • Red-Purple
        • Blue-Purple • Blue-Green • Yellow-Green

4.  The Colour Wheel and Colour Schemes

1.    Following the colour wheel arrange your set of squares collected. Identify primary, secondary and tertiary colours.

Primary:        Yellow –  Goldilux (RGB: 255, 210, 85)
                     Red –     Red Barron+ (RGB: 183, 85, 63)
                     Blue –    Hidden Springs (RGB: 12, 104, 63)

Secondary:     Orange –    Tangella (RGB: 230, 141, 81)
                     Purple –      Prado Pink (RGB: 133, 89, 120)
                     Green –      Charmed Forest (RGB: 58, 133, 102)

Tertiary:        Yellow-Orange – Laughter (RGB: 253, 220, 112),
                    Red-Orange –     Ballistic (RGB: 234, 118, 63)
                    Red-Purple –      C’Est La Vie (RGB: 161, 91, 105
                    Blue-Purple –     Lydia’s Purple (RGB: 97, 94, 127)
                    Blue-Green –      Silk Sari (RGB: 22, 116, 149)
                    Yellow-Green –   Apple Fresh (RGB: 200, 217, 154


2.    Create four different colour schemes by pulling out complementary and contrasting colours.

                 Ballistic                    C’Est La Vie                   Silk Sari                  Apple Fresh  

         

               Goldiluxe                     Tangella                 Hidden Springs              Prado Pink   

      

             Goldiluxe                     Red Barron                Prado Pink                     Charmed Forest     

      

               Lydia’s Purple              Silk Sari                      Laughter                    Ballistic



5.  Learning Activity – Create a Colour Collage

 

1.  Monochromatic – one colour on the colour wheel including tints and shades of that colour. (RGB: 108, 190, 69).

6.  Colour Associations ‘Australia’

1.    Select colour squares, that reflects ‘Australia.

       

                  Laughter                       Goldiluxe                  Hidden Springs          Charmed ForestThese colour squares, to me, reflects the beaches of Australia, with its Golden sands, Blue oceans and surrounding Green BBQ areas.

Question – Are there common selections or combinations – for example, burnt orange and sky blue to represent the desert, or green and yellow to represent wattle or sporting cultural stereotypes?

Answer - I think the most common colour combination would be the Green and Gold. These are the traditional sporting colours and are usually present throughout the Commonwealth Games. I think that oranges and dessert colours would also represent our famous Ulluru and golden sunsets.

2.    What colour is Australia to me. Create a mood board that reflects colours that you feel represent the essence of Australia. Then create a mood board of colours that represent my own lifestyle.

https://bubbl.us/?h=1f58d0/40ee1c/20W4LOOxgEW/.&r=630848712

https://bubbl.us/?h=1f58d0/40edfd/20yrxhOXzujug&r=1112163695

7.  Colour Branding

1.    Collect a range of logos (e.g. Woolworths, Channel 10, Telstra, Google, Qantas, Breast Cancer Foundation).

Questions – What associations do you have with the colours? What do you think the design is communicating through colour? How would the communication of the logo shift if you changed the colour of the logo?

i.         

McDonalds - red and yellow. Studies have shown that the first two colours that the eyes process and signals to the brain are red and yellow. "Looking at the positive psychology qualities of red & yellow in relation to the fast food industry, red triggers stimulation, appetite, hunger, and it attracts attention.  Yellow triggers the feelings of happiness and friendliness. When you combine red and yellow it’s about speed, quickness.  In, eat and out again. Yellow is also the most visible colour in daylight, which is why the McDonald’s M can be seen from a far distance. The language of colour is communicated quicker to the brain than words or shapes as they work directly on our feelings and emotions" (Haller, 2011).

If the colours were different it most definitely would impact on the ‘fast food’ image and brain thoughts.

ii.       

Starbucks – green. Peace, health and balance. Plain colors are used in the Starbucks logo, which characterize the simplicity of it. The only colors used are black, white and deep green. Dark green represents wealth and therefore makes people feel rich in their choice of coffee brand when choosing Starbucks.

The company logo is a two-tailed siren. The logo has been streamlined over the years. In the first version, the Starbucks siren had bare breasts and a fully visible double fish tail. In the second version, her breasts were covered by hair, but her navel was still visible, and the fish tail was cropped slightly. In this current version, her navel and breasts are not visible at all, and only vestiges remain of the fish tails. The original logo can still be seen on the Starbucks store in Seattle's Pike Place Market.

I don’t think people would associate its richness to flavor if they had used a different colour in their logo.

iii.       

Taco Bell – purple and pink, the colours of imagination and wisdom. Purple combines the calm stability of blue and the fierce energy of red. The color purple is often associated with royalty and luxury. It is a rare occurring color in nature and as a result is often seen as having sacred meaning. Because combining a strong warm with a strong cool color creates the purple color, the color retains both warm and cool properties.

“The Taco Bell logo features bright shades of purple, pink and yellow to appeal to its young customers. While the purple color stands for approachability, excellence and grace, the pink depicts youthfulness and affection. The yellow color, on the other hand, symbolizes happiness, optimism and joy” (Famous Logos, 2013).

 
I, therefore, don’t think that it would maintain its youthful feel if different colours were used.

iv.       

Yellow Pages – yellow and black. Yellow represents clarity. Studies show that the meaning of the colour yellow can be warmth, cheerfulness, increased mental activity, increased muscle energy. The colour yellow helps activate the memory, encourage communication, enhance vision, build confidence, and stimulate the nervous system.
Bright yellow is an attention getting colour, and when used in combination with black, is creates one of the easiest colour combinations to read and see from long distances. This is why school buses, taxi’s, and traffic signs are painted yellow and black. Henry Alexander created the “Walking Fingers” logo in 1962. Within a year it became the national trademark for their yellow pages.
 
Their site states: “Yellow Pages® has business listings, phone numbers, maps, email addresses & websites for local Australian businesses to help you get the job done” (Google, n.d).  The use of this bright yellow enhances this statement and makes the consumer feel confident that they will, indeed, get the job done with Yellow Pages.

v.         

Nickelodeon – orange. Orange is the color of joy and creativity. It is the blend of red and yellow, and is a mixture of the energy associated with red and the happiness associated with yellow. It is researched that the orange color can create physical effects such as heightened sense of activity and increased socialization.

The color orange has very high visibility and is often used to gain attention. It still gets your message noticed without the bold, in-your-face presence that the color red has. 

   

8.  Illustration Briefs – effective limited use of colour

                                        My First Kafka: Runaways, Rodents, and Giant Bugs

When no colour is used in illustration, the artist creates more patterns within the images. This creates the illusion of depth.
The advantages of black and white illustration
•    Sometimes, colours can be distracting and may even make the picture look complicated. It can be hard to focus on the subject because of too much colour. But when it comes to black and white illustration, the subject is much easier to focus on.
•    Black and white keeps you focused on the actual composition and texture of the image. It allows you to focus on shapes, light and shadows, lines and perspective. That is why some photos look definitely more convincing in black and white.
•    Black and white illustrations have a classy and exquisite feel about them. They have an aesthetic, artistic look that is hard to produce in colour. They definitely look timeless (The Pho.to blog, 2014).
    
                

                                                                     Gobble you up!
 

"Readers familiar with a certain old lady who swallowed a fly will revel in this adaptation of a Rajasthani trickster tale. Beautifully illustrated . . . this handsome volume is an art object in itself."- Kirkus Reviews

Illustrating the story in the Meena style of art involved two kinds of movement. The first was to build a visual narrative sequencing from a tradition, which favored single, static images. The second challenge was to keep the quality of the wall art, while transferring it to a different, while also smaller, surface. We decided on using large sheets of brown paper, with Sunita squeezing diluted white acrylic paint through her fingers (Popova, n.d).

             

                                                              Jane, the Fox & Me
 

Full colour graphic novels are expensive to print. But with the understanding that children will only read black and white books on occasion, a judicious use of colour seems the perfect solution. In this book varying hues of reds are used. Splashes of other colours are introduced slowly, a blue wall, some green jungle leaves and although these changes are small, they are evident.

“Arsenault captures the sense of solace Helene finds in this book by using colour – she favours red, turquoise and a lush green – only when our heroine has her nose in it; the rest of the time, the world is rendered in shades of grey and brown” (Cooke, 2014). 

References

Bourn Creative, (2011). Color Meaning: Meaning of the Color Green. Retrieved from http://www.bourncreative.com/meaning-of-the-color-green/

Cooke, R. (2014). Jane, the Fox & Me review – beat the bullies with the help of Jane Eyre. Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/mar/31/jane-fox-me-fanny-review-eyre-britt-arsenault

Famous Logos, (2013). Retrieve from http://famouslogos.net/

Gobble You Up. Gina Wolf (Author), Sunita Sunita (Illustrator). Review from https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17465834-gobble-you-up

Google search, (2014). Yellow Pages. Retrieved from https://www.google.com.au/search?q=yellow+pages+logo&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&channel=fflb&gfe_rd=cr&ei=2LZcU-ntIcGN8QepkIGYAg#channel=fflb&q=yellow+pages+&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official

Jane, the Fox & Me. Fanny Britt (Author), Isabelle Arsenault (Illustrator). Review from https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17214302-jane-the-fox-and-me

Haller, K. (2011). Branding, why red & yellow is used by the fast food industry. Retrieved from http://karenhaller.co.uk/blog/branding-why-red-yellow-is-used-by-the-fast-food-industry/

My First Kafka: Runaways, Rodents, and Giant Bugs. Matthue Roth (Author), Rohan Daniel Eason (Illustrator). Review from http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1935548255/braipick-20

Popova, Maria. (n.d). The 13 Best Children’s, Illustrated, and Picture Books of 2013. Retrieved from http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2013/12/09/best-childrens-books-2013/

The Pho.to blog, (2014). Accessed April 28 2014, from http://blog.pho.to/the-power-of-black-and-white-photography/bw_example/

Wattyl, (2014). My Projects. Accessed from http://www.wattyl.com.au/en/my-projects/index.html?ref=myprojects_homepage_menu

d3 LA03 - Positive and Negative Form

Part A: Positive versus Negative Space

This activity encourages you to explore the nature of negative space to visually nterpret a subject. Choose 3 from the following subjects:

• clouds               • Moby Dick      • sugar         • polar bear         • ice cream cone
• whipped cream  • Jaws              • ghost         • smoke              • kangaroo

The subjects themselves should not be drawn, only the surrounding negative space and use black ONLY.

Draw 2 thumbnail sketches for each subject then select the most effective solution for each and re-draw in the larger box.

Analysis:
The concept of drawing an image by only addressing its background changes our natural approach to seeing. When we are led to focus only on the background the unmarked portion of the page (the white ground) becomes transformed into a recognizable subject. Our traditional image making process is thereby reversed, with a greater emphasis on composition, positive-negative relationships and framal reference (i.e. the "box"). The use of negative space in a design often results in greater "retention"; where the viewer retains the mental image of the design for a long time. There may be other influences at work here of course, like intriguing copywriting, the nature of the image etc.

Part B:

Find 4 examples where whitespace has been used effectively in -

1. Print-publishing (magazine/newspapers)        3. A website
2. Street advertising (billboards/shop-frontage   4. My choice

1. This book has used subtle whitespace to create the roots of the tree.

2. Dee Why RSL Club, located 10 minutes from my house. This clever design incorporates the words Dee Why with its signage of a letter D and a letter Y.

3. This website uses clever whitespace, and no doubt, as it is for an advertising company. http://www.twocreate.co.uk/

4. My choice

I saw an advertisement some time ago and managed to track down the image in Google Images (http://moscowcoffeereview.com/carpecakem/wp-content/uploads/invisible-wine-glass.jpg). I think its use of white space gives off an amazing effect.

 • another cute little logo which uses whitespace