ENGL 4182/5182: Information Design & Digital Publishing » November 6th: In Living Color

November 6th: In Living Color

Color, Color, Color
It Turns Me Upside Down
Color, Color, Color
It’s Like a Merry-Go-Round

…Color is Magic!

Plan for the Day

We’ve got a few things to do today, so below is a list:

Also, many students start to get sick this time of year. If you’re coughing, sniffling, or blowing your nose constantly, please reconsider if you’re able to participate in class tonight. Not only is coughing distracting, but it spreads germs!

Color and Perception (Short reading on Canvas)

Go to Canvas and find the Alter article “The Color that Prevents Mistakes” by clicking on the link on this class’s Canvas page. It might be best to save it to your computer and then open it with Adobe Acrobat Reader. It should be clear when you do that.

You just need to read the first sub-story “Color affects creativity”–it’s very short. Then, in groups of 2-3, consider Alter’s statement about red being associated with less creativity: “The explanation may be a combination of culture and biology” (para. 6). Does biology really have anything to do with how we interpret color? He mentions fire and blood, but we also interpret red with love. Obviously, anything associated with love is calming, so I’m not sure what to think. Can you reconcile this? Remember, you’re supposed to just show you’re thinking–there’s no right or wrong answer here.

Alternatively, consider whether or not the author’s arguments can help you in professional contexts.

For class: The article mentions red. In education, red is a common marking color for papers and tests. What have you heard about the color red?

Chapter 7 in the The Non-Designer’s Design Book

As usual, Robin Williams gives us the artist’s perspective on designing with color. She even gets technical in this chapter with CMYK vs RGB. Notice how she describes the primary, secondary, and tertiary colors on the color wheel (pp. 92-93, 3rd ed; pp. 96-97, 4th ed). What do you do to make these different colors?

  • For printed color (CMYK), “black is actually the combination of all colors, and…white is an absence of all colors” (p. 93, 3rd ed; p. 97, 4th ed).
    • What happens when we talk about black and white on screen?
  • Notice she suggests that complementary colors “often work best when one is the main color and the other is an accent” (p. 94, 3rd ed; p. 98, 4th ed).
    • That makes sense for our practices this semester with other design techniques. Why?
  • Analogous “colors all share an undertone of the same color, creating a harmonious combination” (p. 97, 3rd ed; p. 101, 4th ed).
    • Could one say that “analogous colors evoke a pathos of…”
  • A hue is a “pure color”;
    “Add black to a hue to create a shade“;
    “Add white to a hue to create a tint” (p. 98, 3rd ed; p. 102, 4th ed).
  • Shading and tinting change the ______________ of a hue. Check out this hue-saturation color circle.
  • Wildflower Theory of Color: it’s not different colors; it’s finding the most effective tones (p. 102, 3rd ed; p. 106, 4th ed).
  • “[C]ool colors recede into the background, and warm colors come to the front” (p. 103, 3rd ed; p. 107, 4th ed).
    • Hot colors have more of an impact; therefore, they can be overwhelming if used excessively.
  • Let audience and purpose guide your color choices (and other design choices).
    • Use “analogous colors to keep the project sedate and calm”;
    • Use “complementary colors to add some visual excitement” ” (p. 104, 3rd ed; p. 108, 4th ed).

This isn’t in Robin Williams, but we should discuss how color may convey the ethos of luxury or wastefulness with regard to color: schemes, printing, and clothing.

More Groupwork on Color

So you’ve perceived the colors. Now what? Well, what can be said about color from cultural and rhetorical perspectives? In groups of 2 or 3, search or recall from your perspective the cultural and rhetorical significance of the following colors:

  • red
  • orange
  • yellow
  • green
  • blue
  • violet

Look at that. The above 6 colors in 6 categories match the number of rows in class…

Color combinations (and colors by themselves) need context for meaning. Consider these versions of Red & Black:

Time permitting, in your groups of 2 or 3, based on your rows, look at the following web pages and think about these questions:

  1. How would you describe the color scheme?
  2. How does the webpage use color for emphasis?
  3. What rhetorical tone (ethos, pathos, logos) do you think this color scheme mainly conveys or invokes? Is the message successful?

Row 0–Key West Restaurant
Hotshots Sports Bar

One of you should type this up and post it to your website under “Website Color Scheme Discussion–11/06/2017” or something that identifies the work. List your group members and have them link to this page from their pages.

Now, let’s go over some more of the designing with color issues that might come up in InDesign.

Ethics and Visuals

Let’s jump back to last week’s “stuff” if needed.

Photoshop And Mischievous Behavior

Don’t forget to do a little digital graffiti if you didn’t finish last week. Use the “Clone Stamp Tool” or, if that’s beneath you, try out the lasso tool.

Please put this up on your webpage.

Next Week

Make sure you read Ch. 6 in Design for Information for Nov. 13th. In your information design critique, I want you to explain your reasons for choosing colors. Don’t just state what a color means based off some out-of-context web page or your own “tastes.” Instead, you should let me know why a color means what it does. There are several interpretations possible.

  • Why is Blue calming?
  • Why is Yellow for sickness? {What’s wrong with my using this color? What design principle or theory am I violating?}
  • Exceptions: Green for environmental stuff and Red for danger or love…those are pretty common, but state that is your purpose for choosing them and defend more thoroughly another reason for choosing those colors.

Those of you who haven’t turned in these portfolio assignments will definitely want to get them to me ASAP.