Color – Why?

Well, after laying in bed last night and trying desperately to get to sleep– by the way, my new cut-off for iced tea is now 4 p.m.! – I pondered why this topic (see below) struck such a nerve with me. This topic has been gnawing at me and maybe it surfaced because this last week I seemed to run into way too many websites with grey, grey and more grey. Or websites that use only the worst combinations of hues, ones which counteract the intended message. Like orange and black being used for a calm, spa experience. Don't get me wrong, I'm all about rule breaking. But you need to know the rules before you can effectively break them. In art, there are no rules. Here I find it necessary to distinguish between art and design. If you're a  jewelry designer, that's an art, do it your way by all means. If you design craft projects, that's really more art than design and is all about your personal expression of an idea. no rules. But if you offer GRAPHIC DESIGN or PRODUCT DESIGN services, you have an obligation to get it right. I would be remiss if I didn't follow up with some good source material. The first and most important book I recommend is Johanne Itten's  THE BOOK OF COLOR, isbn # 0-442-24037-6.  Consider this your color bible. Read the entire book, starting at page one and end at the very last page. It's pricey, but it's a studio must have–skip lunches and movies if you must, you need this book. After this, move onto Leatice Eisemann's series of books on color. There is a plethera of information available on the web for studying color and plenty of color combination samples that are free to accesss if you're feeling unsure, use them.

My husband asked me why I was bothered by what other people, "Designers" know or don't know. It's about integrity in the field of design. In an industry where virtually anyone can call themselves a Designer, with no standards put in place such as ASID for Interior Design, we have to monitor and work harder to keep the integrity high. I equate it to my husband's profession of engineering. What would happen if new Engineers were showing up at his Aerospace company, but without the math knowledge required to do the job? Imagine! Jet's would become totally unsafe. Billions of dollars would be wasted on badly designed products and people would die. In product design, people  won't die from bad color choices  but billions of dollars might be wasted by putting product out there that doesn't sell because of improper use of color. Or in web design, a client hires a "Designer" who really isn't and spends $8k on an ineffective product. Then that customer tells all his friends, I hired a "Designer" who didn't know what he/she was doing. Now his friend is ready to launch his business but decides to design his own because after his friend wasted all that money...well, "I'm smarter than that" he says.

Color is to Design what Math is to Engineering. It's core knowledge that is essential to the professionalism of the industry. Use it and use it wisely.

now I'm really done. Back to my regularly scheduled crafty goodness! whew!

Comments

[kimberlee]

Wow, you make a very good point! I agree with you and I think that the negative aspect only makes the "real" artists and designers constantly strive for improvement.

[Brooke Gerstenecker]

Yes, it was definitely time for vacation.

[Joy Hall]

I totally agree!