BE CERTAIN TO READ ALL INFORMATION CAREFULLY AS THERE WILL BE AN INTERACTIVE TEST ON ALL MATERIAL COVERED IN THIS SECTION.
TABLE OF CONTENTS Understanding ColorPrinting Color and Color Separation
What exactly do I need to learn about color?
The beginning artist or designer is usually anxious to add color to a design. However, color presents a challenge to any artist, photographer, and printer since it creates reproduction challenges for each and adds to the expense of a job. Therefore, it is essential to understand simple color theory, color psychology, spot color reproduction and process color reproduction. This is important information, so read carefully and be sure to complete your review sheet notes, so you can understand, study, and use it in the future.
Color Theory
The first color theory you need to learn is the color wheel. This will help you to learn about color relationships and mixing of colors. Next, you need to understand how colors effect and are perceived by people. Color can actually trigger emotional feelings and responses. Then you must learn how colors are printed by the print shop. This will have a major effect on how you will create artwork for clients who need multiple colors in their work. This is called "color separation". That is the process used by graphic designers to allow for the printing of color jobs. Last, but not least, every designer should know what a color matching system is and how it is used to create color separations on a laser printer or high resolution imagesetter.
The Color Wheel
A color wheel is a device that is used by artists to understand the relationship of colors and color theory. There are different classifications or levels of colors that help us to mix or create new colors. There are also special words that we need to learn and understand about the relationships of the colors next to each other or across from each other on the color wheel. By learning. this special vocabulary, you will be able to communicate more accurate information to other artists and use the information to create more interesting graphic designs. Study this information below and you may use the color wheel illustration to clarify the theory:
There are three PRIMARY colors - RED • BLUE • YELLOW. These colors are the primary colors because they can NOT be mixed from any other color. However, by mixing only these three colors, using various amounts of white and black, it is possible to mix millions (or even billions) of colors. Using this information, we are now able to have color computer printers that create 16.7 million colors using only black, red, blue and yellow inks!
There are three SECONDARY colors - ORANGE • GREEN • VIOLET. Theoretically, we create secondary colors by mixing a primary color with another primary color. For example, if we mix red and yellow, we create orange. There are six TERTIARY colors - RED-ORANGE • RED-VIOLET • BLUE-GREEN • BLUE-VIOLET • YELLOW-ORANGE • YELLOW GREEN. Tertiary colors are created by mixing a primary color with a secondary color. COOL COLORS are colors that contain blue or violet. These colors create a cold feeling and are used to illustrate cold items. For example, if you are asked to create a package for ice cubes, you should use colors in blue. WARM COLORS are colors that contain red or yellow. These colors create a warm feeling and are used to illustrate warm items. For example, if you are asked to create a sign for "Fire Hazard", you should use colors in red and/or yellow. COMPLEMENTARY COLORS are colors that are across from each other on a color wheel. They consist of primary and secondary colors. For example, red and green are "complementary colors". Using these colors in a design can create maximum contrast since the colors are opposites. ANALOGOUS COLORS are colors that are next to each other on the color wheel. These colors will usually go well together in a design. A TINT is a color with white added to lighten it. This is sometimes confused with tinting a color when printing. It is possible to achieve monochromatic harmony (the use of one color to look like you used more than one color) by printing only a portion of that color. For instance, we can make blue look like light blue by only printing dots of blue on white paper. This creates an "illusion" of light blue. A SHADE is a color with black added to darken it.| This concludes the first portion of your introduction to color theory. You should have completed your sheet on "Understanding Color". Be sure to hand in the sheet for credit. Click the link below to return to the Table of Contents at the top of the page. |
/ Table of Contents (Top of This Page) / Electronic Art & Design Page /
Every advertising designer wants to work with colors. There are many creative things you can do with colors. Colors in advertising are used for two practical reasons: 1) to give high visibility to an ad, drawing the reader's eye to it, and 2) to establish a mood that supports and enhances the advertising message.
The trouble with color is the expense involved. Full-color ads, for which black and three elementary colors are needed, are very expensive, and in some publications very, very expensive. Even the addition of just one color to a black-and-white ad cuts a big chunk out of an advertising budget. But, despite this extra cost, it is sometimes worth it because of color's talent for grabbing attention.OK, so color gets your ad noticed. But you'd better be sure of using the "right" color or you may not get your money's worth. Just about every color triggers a particular sensuous reaction in the mind of its viewer. Some cause pleasant reactions, others cause reactions similar to discords in music. Thus, an ad with a color or colors attuned to the product and message is a more effective ad.
Color Affects Taste
You'd better believe it. Some years ago, a company selling orange soda in orange-colored cans tried using another color on the cans. Sales dropped off, because people said the orange soda "tasted different." You may have heard of the soda. It's name is "Orange Crush". The makers of the soda agreed with a design company to go with a blue can with orange lettering on it. At the time, it seemed like a great idea. If you think about the color theory you learned above, the use of complementary colors like blue and orange create maximum contrast. People started noticing the blue cans and sales increased. However, soon sales dropped off and studies began to try to figure out why. Through color psychology, the consumers thought the soda tasted different. Another study looked at serving food dyed different colors. The results were the same. People responded that food dyed to different colors tasted different, however, the dyes were unflavored. Color psychology is important, and it is the smart artist and designer who will use this information to their benefit.
Color Symbolism
Colors are also used as symbols. Since birth we've been taught, or we've learned by experience, that certain colors are symbolic of certain moods, conditions, even holidays. Our language is colored with colors. We say: "Fire-engine red," "green with envy," and "feeling blue."
If you are asked to design an advertisement or sign for a particular season, event or holiday, please keep the following color associations in mind:
Christmas - Red and Green
Easter - Pastel Colors, Violet and Yellow
Halloween - Orange and Black
St. Patrick's Day - Kelly Green
Winter - White and Blue
Spring - Pale Green, Floral Colors
Summer - Yellow
Autumn - Orange and Brown
Boy's Birth - Pastel Blue
Girl's Birth - Pastel Pink
The following information is related to moods and conditions. Try to use these color associations when designing illustrations, signs or greeting cards:
Yellow - Warmth, gaiety, optimism
Red - Heat, anger, excitement
Light Blue - Coolness, sadness, serenity
Green - Fertility, envy, finance
Violet - Royalty, elegance
Black - Mourning, solidity
White - Purity, innocence
| This concludes the second portion of your introduction to color theory. You should have completed your sheet on "Color Psychology". Be sure to hand in the sheet for credit. Click the link below to return to the Table of Contents at the top of the page. |
/ Table of Contents (Top of This Page) / Electronic Art & Design Page /
A printing press uses a particular process to print color work. It is not the same as having a color inkjet hooked up to your printer. The print shop requires graphic artists to know how to provide the proper artwork for them. They have to prepare or arrange the preparation of a color separation. There are three basic types of color separations. A hand-created mechanical separation, a computer-generated spot color separation, and a computer generated process color separation. If you can not provide these for a printer, you are not going to survive as a graphic artist. When a graphic artist needs to lay out a job of more than one color, it is necessary to create a color separation. In other words, if a client wants a job in three colors, there must be three pieces of artwork prepared. One layout is prepared for each color in the design. There are three specific methods for producing color separations. They are outlined below:
Mechanical Color Separation The artist begins with a "base sheet". This is the first layout, and is computer generated or hand drawn. It may be a piece of paper or board. Then a clear sheet of plastic or acetate is taped on top of this base sheet. The top layers are called "overlays". Artwork is then pasted to these layers or drawn on these layers. This artwork lines up with the artwork below it, but the top layer will be used to create a plate for printing a different color. Certain masking films like Rubylith and Amberlith are used as overlays too. These films can fill larger areas to speed up production. Registration marks are attached to the base sheet and overlays to help a printer line up the artwork when the job is printed.
Computer Generated Spot Color Separation The artist creates the artwork in a software program like Corel DRAW, but only uses "spot colors". "Pantone spot colors" are usually used. The software has the capability to electronically separate the colors and print them on separate sheets. It will print the registration marks on the sheets as well. This is the most widely used technology for producing simple spot color separations. It is excellent for simple business cards, letterheads, and silk screen designs.
Process Color Separation There are four primary process colors. They are cyan (blue), magenta (red), yellow, and black. This process is the most common process used to print the color we see in magazines, comic books, and on shirt designs containing photographs. When these colors are used in combination, they can produce millions of colors. This is done by printing tints or percentages of colors next to or on top of each other. This cannot be accomplished without having the full color artwork scanned or it may be created in a special computer software program that supports this process. The major drawback to this type of color separation is that is very expensive to produce from start to finish. There must be four negatives produced, four plates made, and the paper must be run through the press up to four times. This process may also be used for screen printing. However, there must also be four positives produced, four screens made, and the shirt or printed product must be printed on the press up to four times.
There are certain vocabulary terms that the artist or designer must learn that relate to specific parts of a color separation mechanical. They are as follows:
base sheet - This is the paper or board onto which the inked design is created, or the art copy is pasted to.
cellophane tape - (also called "Scotch" tape) It is used as a "hinge" to attach an overlay.
masking tape - This tape is used to hold down the bottom of the overlay, so that it can be lifted off easily by the printer when the positives or negatives are produced on the camera.
overlay - This part of the color separation mechanical is usually a plastic sheet or special masking film that is taped onto the base sheet, over the original artwork.
register mark - (also called "registration mark" or "bullseye register mark") These are marks that are placed on each layer of a color separation. They must be lined up perfectly, to assist in lining up the colors when printing.
Review the illustration below, to learn which vocabulary terms correspond to the specific parts of a color separation mechanical.
| This concludes the third portion of your introduction to color theory. You should have completed your sheet on "Color Separation". Be sure to hand in the sheet for credit. Click the link below to return to the Table of Contents at the top of the page. |
/ Table of Contents (Top of This Page) / Electronic Art & Design Page /
Color Matching Systems Theory
Clients are sometimes very particular about the color they want in a design. It would be difficult, if not impossible, to satisfy some clients without the use of a "color matching system". A color matching system is a standard for insuring that colors will appear the same when reprinted or printed in another geographical location. For example, most anyone is familiar with the color of a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup candy bar. We immediately identify its orange wrapper on the shelf. This is because regardless of where the wrapper is printed, the ink is mixed to a very specific formula so that it will appear the same in all geographical areas.
The most popular color matching system in the world today is the Pantone Color Matching System (CMS). This system is largely supported by all major software manufacturers and ink manufacturers. Understand that the Pantone company does NOT sell ink. It sells the technology for mixing colors to achieve other colors. Some of its products are shown in the photo below.
Why would I need to use a Color Matching System?
If you have developed a logo for a client that includes green and they decide they want a particular color of green, you would use a "swatch book" from Pantone to allow the client to pick the exact color that they want. You would then take the color swatch formula and give it to the printer. The printer would use very specific equipment to mix the ink and match the exact color that the client wanted. This avoids the possibility that the client will receive the printed job and then be unhappy.
Are color matching systems used only for printing?
With much design now taking place for computers and the World Wide
Web, there is a need for color control online as well. There are now color matching
products available to insure that viewers of a web page all see the same colors in the
page as well. This is important when matching existing logos for established companies.
However, it has changed the way that we design. Many designers now design a logo for the
Web, and work backwards to acheive its equivalent in printed form.
This can become extremely costly, confusing and time consuming. In order to create color
matched electronic documents for the web or multimedia, you must be able to calibrate your
equipment properly. Calibration is the process of setting up all your devices (printer,
monitor, and scanner) to produce consistent accurate color. This may have to be
accomplished by investing in better equipment and hiring consultants to assist in the
process.
When would I use a color matching system...does this really concern me?
As soon as you start producing any kind of artwork for a client, you should be concerned with color quality. It can help to establish a good rapport with a client and reult in a financially rewarding relationship with that client. It also demonstrates that you are knowledgable in design, and a professional in your area. Clients will then trust you and recommend you to other potential clients.
| This concludes the final portion of your introduction to color theory. You should have completed your sheet on "Color Matching Systems". Be sure to hand in the sheet for credit. Click the link below to return to the Table of Contents at the top of the page. |
/ Table of Contents (Top of This Page) / Electronic Art & Design Page /