TASK:
1. Photograph a scene in Leeds
2. Using Adobe software, make a Pantone group/colour swatch of chosen scene
3. Design a folded sketchbook in a design of your choice, backed by research included in the book
4. The colour swatch
5. In your own words, research into: Albers use of colour; Klein blue; Pantone; RGB v CMYK; usage of colour within Graphic Design.
ALBERS USE OF COLOUR:
Josef Albers is widely known as a colour
theorist, he wrote a book called ‘Interaction of colour’ where he explains
multiple, complex colour theory principles. Although it seems like Alber’s
talks of a lot of colour theories, he tries to make it clear he isn’t
presenting any new approaches to colour, only new attitudes of studying it, “In my color book there is no new
theory of color. But, in it, there is a way to learn to see.” Within these
approaches, Alber’s makes clear that colour is the most relative form of medium
within art because without truly understanding or experimenting with it you can
not see how the same colour may appear differently when next to another colour.
“I have not taught art. Instead of art, I have taught philosophy…I never have
taught [techniques for] how to paint. All my doing was to make people to see.”
Our eyes need to be trained to fully understand colour, only when we begin to
compare various contrasts will we appreciate its interaction. Alber’s explains
how colour can be deceiving, again going back to the point of colours appearing
differently, they are absolute therefore change upon different surroundings. In
1949, Alber’s began his series ‘Homage to the square’, where he explored
chromatic interactions with the squares. The colours used as well as the order
of each square heavily influenced these designs and made them incredibly iconic,
this again was aimed at forming an interaction with colours.
KLEIN BLUE:
In
1957, Yves Klein produced a series of paintings in Milan which each featured a
distinct, ultramarine colour describing it himself as “a
blue in itself, disengaged from all functional justification”. The idea of this
colour came from himself saying “the blue sky is my artwork” Klein called the
colour, International Klein Blue and he created it by suspending pure pigment
in synthetic resin- this ensured the dye retained its same colour on canvas. He
registered IK as a trademark colour in 1957. IK Blue, for Klein embodied a
sense of boundlessness and pure space, he believed it had “the power to reveal
the indefinable” and associated it with the immaterial values of beyond what we
can both see and touch. He applied this colour to various approaches to art
such as recreations of famous sculptures, which turned them into something out
of the ordinary. Klein mostly embodied this colour into all of his work up
until his death. Klein had an obsession with the impact of colour and the fact
his creation of IK almost revolutionized the art world is something quite
inspiring. “For me, each
nuance of a color is in some way an individual, a being who is not only from
the same race as the base color, but who definitely possesses a distinct
character and personal soul.”
KLEIN BLUE IN GRAPHIC DESIGN:
IK
Blue is very popular among designers and there are lots of existing pieces of
graphic design that uses it. This LCC poster is a very simple design using only
Klein Blue and white, leaving lots of negative space around it. As there are
only two colours being used blue is dominant on the design, which reflects the
colours impact within design and how influential it has been.
The
use of IKB on this poster is a lot subtler than the first, it has been applied
on a small amount of the poster, which means it doesn’t jump out to you
straight away, the design is a lot subtler. The poster design goes to show that
IKB is a colour that can be applied to various colour pallets and it still
works effectively.
Like
the first image, this also uses only primarily IKB and white, creating lots of
negative space within the piece of work. I think this is an effective piece of
design because the record in IKB dominates the page, which again reinforces the
fact it is such an influential colour.
This
abstract poster uses IKB very dominantly and contrasts it with another vibrant
colour, personally I do not feel the two colours work that well together as it
creates a strong colour clash with not much appealing aesthetic.
The
final poster design that uses IKB is very bold and vibrant. Its main colour is
Klein Blue and it is very predominant upon the poster design. I think the
composition of the design works really well despite there being lots of
negative space around it.
This
piece of work is my favourite out of all the designs that use IKB, I think the
contrasting pink colour works really well against the blue because the pink
softens the almost harsh blue against it meaning it becomes more angelic and
appealing to the eye.
PANTONE:
Lawrence Herbert founded Pantone in
1962. He changed the direction of the company immediately, at the time the
business manufactured colour cards for cosmetic companies- it then went on to
develop the first colour matching system in 1963. The main product of the
company are the Pantone Guides, they consist of a small number of cardboard
sheets, on one side there is a series of related colour swatches which are
bound into a small flipbook. They are a set of standard colours for printing,
each of which is specified by a single number. You can buy a Pantone swatch
book containing samples of each colour.
RGB V CMYK:
It is
important to know that when you are designing for print, the colours you see on
the screen will appear differently once printed; this is why it is essential to
know the difference between RGB AND CMYK. RGB stands for red, green and blue,
the base colours to form just about any other colour therefore they create
other colours by combining various quantities of red, green and blue. CMYK
stands for cyan, magenta, yellow and black, all of these colours are
subtractive thus the more colours you add, the darker it will become.
Ultimately, you must ALWAYS use RGB for digital mediums and ALWAYS use CMYK
when designing for print.
COLOUR WITHIN GRAPHIC DESIGN:
Graphic
Design would be very dull without any colour. Not only do we need to consider
colour pallets when designing a piece of work but we need to carefully select
those colours when it comes to printing. When it comes to selecting those
colours, what influences our choices? For me, my ‘go to’ colour pallet is
usually reflective of what to wear or what kind of music I’m listening to at
the moment, I love to find colour inspiration from natural forms. I’m not
usually one to follow a certain colour trend, take Klein Blue for example,
before this project I was not even aware it had a name or how popular it was
among designers. But I wouldn’t necessarily go to this colour choice within my
design work because it doesn’t reflect my personality. Personal traits I think
heavily influence the colour choices a designer uses; I feel designers with a
more bold personality are more likely to choose brighter and vibrant colours in
order to make their work stand out among others. I do not feel the need to
follow a trend because then your work is just like everyone else’s, there is
nothing to distinguish you from the rest or make you distinctive. So why do
people do it? Colour in design can be influential and iconic, companies have
colours associated with them used within their logos, branding and advertising
campaigns. The colour red is instantly connected with Coca-Cola, purple with
Cadbury’s and blue with Facebook, this is a clever trait companies have and
prove how influential the use of colour has in the way recognise a companies identity
from the colour of its branding and not just its logotype. I think we are
automatically drawn to pieces of work with lots of colour on it; it can be used
for positivity as we associate certain colours with being happy but we also
associate colours with feeling sad. That is why it is important to consider
what colours you are using within your work because it will create a certain
emotion.
