Pantone My Street

Pantone My Street

Using a photograph of a street in Leeds, which we see on a daily basis, extract a single area of said photograph and use the element to create a colour swatch. Take into consideration the time of day, possibly the weather and how that can affect the colours shown in an area.

The book must include:

• Photograph of street of Leeds
• Colour Swatch
• Booklet in a design of your choice
• 250 words on Joesph Albers
• 250 words on Klein Blue
• 6 examples of Klein Blue in graphic design
• 100 words on pantone
• 500 words on the use of colour in graphic design

1. Consider ways of folding/binding
2. Stock of the card/paper used best for your design
3. The layout that would be best for the particular design

Booklet Content:

In Graphic Design colour is a key element, which must always be considered. This book is research into the use of colour in graphic design, questioning and reviewing its use. ‘Pantone my street’ has shown me how to grasp inspiration from my surroundings, inspiration can be found everywhere music, art, colour e.t.c. this is something often overlooked; and something I will now be able to explore in my practice.

Pantone is a trademarked company, the dictionary definition of Pantone is a system for matching colours, used in specifying printing inks for industry. They are self-described as ‘a world-renowned authority on colour.’ Pantone’s colour matching system allows different manufacturers in different industries to standardise colours to create an exact match, mainly for print, but the system is also used in any colour dependant industry such as fashion. There are different ways of printing a pantone colour matched hue, the main way through the use of CYMK. There are subsets within Pantone, that tell the designer the way in which they can be printed. 

Pantone Swatch Image

Colour Swatch

Josef Albers is an artist who dedicated his works to the exploration of colour. This is severally evident within his series, the Homage to the Square. Using a simple compositional schemes, he created works consisting of 3-4 squares. Albers himself describes colour in an oxymoronic manner ‘Colour, in my opinion, behaves like man – in two distinct ways: first in self-realisation and then in the realisation of relationships with others. In my paintings, I have tried to make two polarities meet – independence and interdependence.’ (Garland: 1983) This idea of inter/independence is evident in his “climate” colour schemes through his work. Albers created warm climates through colours such as yellow, orange and red; these worked well coinciding against each other in these square paintings, in these paintings blues and grey tones are also used to create a cool “climate.” This reaffirms his desire to portray both independence and interdependence. Interdependence is shown through the similar hues, relaying how the colours depend on each other to give a warm visual aesthetic, yet the idea of independence comes through in the structured use of the square; none of the colour mix or bleed into each other, the square also give each of the colours a strong sense of independence as they could be removed from the piece of work and still make sense. His use of colour in the series of work was described as a ‘unremitting and dispassionate colour concision that is simply breath-taking’ (Gomringer, Art Journal: 1970) during Autumn 1970, a time when his works was of peak importance to the creative world. This confirms that his use of colour is strongly representative of independence through being a strong form that is a relentless physical object (the square), that cannot be altered; the contrast created through the cool and warm colours depicts independence in its most solid of arrangements, through the use of cool and warm hues overlaid.

Klein Blue is a deep blue hue first mixed by the French artist Yves Klein. The ultramarine blue wasn’t trademarked until 1957, although he painted monochromes from 1947 to depict creative freedom in rejecting representation in traditional painting. This can be seen in his later works where Klein Blue (IKB) features multiple times through a series of 194 paintings, IKB 1 – 194. The colour has been associated with the idea of pure space, this is due to the deep nature of the colour allows an audience to detatch themselves from material values, as quoted by Sandra Sitch ‘a Blue in itself, disengaged from all functional justification’ (Sitch, Exhibition Catalogue, 1995). The original colour was created through the process of suspending a pigment in synthetic resin. Centuries later the colour is still used thoroughly in modern graphic design, the colour has slowly been shown in design trends since being posted on ‘Trendlist’ in 2008, since over 280 examples have appeared on the influential design blog. I believe that the colour has become a trend through its simplistic influences, the creator himself based the hue over the detachment from representation in art, which graphic design across the past century has strove towards; to create a modernist simplistic design evident in most modern graphics. Yves Klein’s work was touched upon in an MOMA article as ‘breaking pictorial language down to its essentials’ (Storr, How Simple Can You Get?, 2000) designers have been taking design back to its essentials to create ‘clean cut’ graphics, thus making the ultramarine blue perfect in modern graphic design.

There are major differences between RGB and CYMK. RGB produces colours using red, green and blue tones, whereas CYMK comprises of cyan, magenta, yellow and black. Originally CYMK is used in print based upon the idea of each colour having separate plates when printing onto paper therefore one colour would be laid on the paper, and once dried another layer added to comprise the colours of an image. Whereas RGB is a type of coloured light which monitors and digital displays output, these colours can be laid in a way to create over a million more colours than what are achievable when creating prints, hence why if the wrong colour type is used in design the printed outcome can differ to what can be seen on screen.

Colour within graphic design is subjective and preference on how it should be used changes individually depending on the designer and their choice of visual language. Some designers disapprove of the use of colour, whereas other practices depend on the exploration of vivid, energetic colour to bring their designs to life.

Colour psychology plays a large part in the use of colour in modern graphic design, colour phycology is a theory in which hues can effect/ be a determinant of a person behavioural decisions. Colour can be used to enhance a piece or visually relate a certain aspect of a piece to a particular emotion. For example, yellow used in print stimulates mental processes, the nervous system, activated memory and encourages communication; thus making yellow the perfect colour to use within advertising design. Due to the fact that colours affect us in this way colour should be considered a staple tool within graphics.

Although, monochrome design is a trend which captures the visual atheistic of modern design, chasing the rules of clean cut ‘Swiss’ design. Traditionally black and white was considered to reflect a lack in personality, but it also creates a strong sense of communication. Monochrome shows that there is no reliance on colour to represent a brand identity, rather than relying on colour to extend the impact of the work they leave the work to speak for itself. Personally I believe that colour should be used subjectively, and only in context to the designs needs, I am not a fan of garish colours to offended the eyes of the audience; yet sometimes that extra visual element helps portray exactly what you need to.

Trends influence the use of colour in graphic design largely, for example in recent past years’ neon showcased as a key feature in ‘good’ design. These trends are consistently changing and developing due to designer’s exploration in the use of colour, breaking the rules against what is deemed acceptable. Although I believe that trends are good in terms of allowing designers to create something which will be largely appreciated, I think these trends must be broken to progress in design; otherwise all work with simply be based on the same palette, not allowing for any differentiation between any work.

Colour is sometimes a basic requirement within a design so that it can depict the meaning of the piece. Companies often consistently use a distinct colour to make them recognisable with their brand, for example Selfridges yellow and Fortnum & Mason’s baby blue. This makes a colour a staple in design which can never be lost, although design is always moving forward, currently trending on Swiss design influences in a vector style, colour still plays a massive part in association for an audience and is therefore needed.

For me, colour is a key element in graphic design and should always be taken into consideration when creating works for a brief, colour plays a large part in my practice and is something I wish to explore more. Research has helped me to develop a broader understanding of the use of colour in graphic design and the reasoning behind it, taking into consideration morals of the colour itself rather than just visual aspects. Through this exploration I aspire to work with trends without abiding by them to develop my own personal practice and attain an individual visual voice.