Tip #4: Color, Colour, Couleur...

Color: Deciding on a color palette is one of my favorite tasks. There are limitless color combinations one can choose from, however, one must be vigilant in the selection process, we don’t want a 4^th of July fireworks  festival pinned on the wall.  As for myself, I fancy the grays and the washed cold colors; they are so settling and relaxing, especially Blue, with all its different iterations :D. Nonetheless, I shall try to cover most of the color groups, not all of us have the same aesthetic.

Courtesy of Amanda at Wit & Whistle

http://witandwhistle.com/2011/10/05/diy-pixel-painting/

1.   Reds: I have my reserves on this category, which involves Extremely alarming colors, the usage of these colors, for me, is restrained to merely site reference, an alarming piece of information, or a significant part of a diagram. Nonetheless, for those of you who favor this palette, a small splash of it doesn’t harm anyone as long as it is not distracting.  I heard reds make their viewer angry, now you don’t want your jury or clientele to be angry :p.

Courtesy of Peter Kulper

http://archimorph.wordpress.com/2011/10/12/spotlight-perry-kulper/

Although i think his works are brilliant but notice here, the different reds are everywhere, one cannot focus on what's important. It might have helped if there was a hierarchy between all the pieces.  i still think it's a fantastic art piece and god i cannot even go near, however, it lacks in its ability to communicate information, in a hierarchical manner. 

As i mentioned, i only view red as a guiding color, this is a photo of a page in my portfolio (disregard the exposure). The red refers to the site and nothing else, it exhibits a striking quality and the information it represents dictates the page, therefore it is confined within restricted parameters.

Courtesy of Craig Ward

http://www.typetoken.net/typeface/good-typography-is-invisible/

The message itself is highlighted, this comes in use for introductory, anchoring information, very important diagrams, etc. the message is clear and bold, especially in advertisements where it delivers immediately. 

2.   Neons, usually, exhibit a fun, young, and contemporary look. Their blinding quality, however, can be glaring to the eye, thus one must not overdo them. Different shades are recommended in the use of this color palette.

Courtesy of EME3, via ArchDaily.  http://www.archdaily.com/tag/eme3/

Can you notice how blinding is the neon blue?

Courtesy of Aakash Nihalani. http://www.aakashnihalani.com/
I like the neons when they are conceived as line drawings/diagrams, this firm has a pretty wide range of neon prints, sculptures, and various media. it's pretty kewl :D

3.   Two Colors: A primary and a secondary, the secondary has a softer hue than the primary, such as gray, this category has a wider function in diagramming. I for myself used this category throughout my thesis, Orange-Yellow and light-ish gray, which is relative to my thesis, boundary architecture (Israel and Palestine). 

I edited this drawing, since it had a 3rd color which contradicts the concept of this category, otherwise, the original carried a more expressive analysis of the precedent (casa malaprte). I just wanted to demonstrate the primary versus the background colors in this example.

One of the boards in my thesis, the color combo doesn't over power the whole board and it gives a chance for other colors pop as well. 

4.  One color to rule them all, in this category, a singular color is used throughout the presentation, they might appear as bars, backgrounds, panels, highlights, titles, banners, etc. Nonetheless, other colors pop out every now and then. For myself, I keep the other colors washed so I won’t overpower the primary color. The general characteristic of the images and illustrations remain, soft, washed or grayed. The singular color gives a unified look to the presentation; however, one must be cautious not to over kill it. A breather every now and then is recommended.

Courtesy of architects Dimos Moysiadis + Ioannis Oikonomou + Xaris Tsitsikas.

http://www.archdaily.com/65512/inhabitable-slot-x-t-architecture-studio/
Observe, the main drive of the project is seawater, therefore it is strongly incorporated in the rendering and furthermore the whole presentation.

Courtesy of CAPow, http://openhousemodernbeachdesign.wordpress.com/tag/capow/

I know i will sound bias in the next sentence, but for the singular color category, i feel that the color itself has to be settle even in a 100% opacity. i found this graphic which combines all the settle colors which i personally recommend using. however, everyone has their own favoritism. 

5.   Keep it simple and clean: a whole lot prefer the simplistic approach, and stay with the black, white, and the in-between. The trick of being creative lies in the illustrations, graphics, text layout, text itself, etc, therefore, one must invest more in Wow-ing the illustrations and diagrams, etc. Usually, the graphic itself super imposes the layout of the board, meaning each board has its own configuration, since color is not leading the conversation, the illustration itself is. 

Courtesy of Joshua Humphries, CUA, Spring 2011. 

He used gray tones as his color palette throughout, and line drawings, thus setting its tone to a minimum, but invested in Wow-ing his renderings, which exhibit a textural quality relative to his thesis. Here, the color palette plays as a background agent complimenting the renderings. 

Courtesy of BUBE, "Bauhaus Museum"

http://www.archdaily.com/220714/new-bauhaus-museum-bube/site-42/

I'm in love with this graphic, i think just plotting it as it is is enough. Adding color to its surroundings will simply undermine it.

Conclusion, i guess for most, all categories work and each has its own strength and weakness, but before determining the color palette, one must review the nature of his illustrations and drawings, do they stand on their own? do they need the aid of colors? if so, are they rich or washed out colors? 

*Hence, as an observation, i recon primary graphic [C] as listed in tip #2, is a type of graphic that stands on its own. Down the ladder, with smaller explanatory graphics, they need a hand for them to be illustrative, therefore, color serves as a tool in communicating whatever needs to be delivered (diagrams).