DQ Notes

How can you find the complement of any given color? How do complementary colors relate to one another visually? In what design situations would you consider utilizing complementary colors? An interesting approach to describing complements follows:

Suzette Sorensen

For my assignment this week I sent a fictitious letter to my art director "Art" to tell him the color complement I wanted to use for a two page photo shoot. I found the color orange on the color wheel and went directly accross to the color blue to find the two comlementary colors. The split complementary colors are the colors you come with by blending the two colors in even steps. For reference I used our AI Online lectures, our text "Understanding Color", and Wikpedia.com. Week Two – Assignment One
Suzette Sorensen
October 9, 2007

Memo to Art Director – Art Gopher

Art,

Orange is the new going to be the new black this season, and we’re going to have to sell the idea to the masses with this two page photo shoot. The color scheme we are going with on our first page is contrasting. I want the complementary colors of blue and orange to really stand out. First of all, I want a white ground, (background) color. I would like the model to be wearing dark indigo skinny jeans, paired with the darkest navy colored T-shirt you can find. Over this I would like to see the yellow/orange trench coat which I will be sending over with my assistant. Using the opposite sides of the color wheel should really sell the coat and make the color pop out to the viewer.

On the opposite page I would like to tone down the contrast a bit. We will still use the colors of blue and orange, but we will introduce fabrics with the split complementary colors in between the two basics. I would like to use a grey ground color for this shot. The model will be wearing a brown glen plaid skirt with accent colors of tan, navy blue and orange. This will be paired with an orange light knit turtle neck, navy blue tights, a tan colored blazer and a coordinating Navy blue cashmere wrap. By blending the colors in steps the outcome should come out more harmonious, less edgy, hard, and contrasting than the first page, but still just as fabulous as the first page.

Thanks for putting this together, while I’m away in Tahiti.

Suzette

Angela Meiers

Good Afternoon Art,

I just received your email and understand you are requesting some input in regard to our ad campaign for the City of Igloos. I opened the attachment and viewed your color palette. I think we are on the right track by utilizing white, however, it's creating negative space on the pages and the igloos are nonexistent! We should revamp the existing color palette to include complement colors, thus enhancing the visual impact for our Single-Family, Town Homes and Condominium Igloo designs.

We don't have to stop there; we can keep the igloo units white, change our ground to a complementary color and enhance the complexity of each igloo design by using its split complementary color for the siding, doors and trim. Achieving this enhancement will create two outcomes. The first being a clear distinction of product the second, complementary and split complementary colors will enhance the intricate design our architect worked so diligently on to portray the City of Igloos as a live-work community like nothing this city has seen before! With that in mind, please make the following changes to each design as listed below:

Single-Family Igloo page to a blue ground, keep the igloo white but modify the door and window trim to orange and alter the siding to a yellow-orange tint.

Town Home Igloo page should be changed to a green ground, keep the igloo white but alter all the door and window trim to red and accent the shingles with a red-orange tone.

Condominium Igloo page should portray a purple ground, keeping the igloo white modify the door and window trim to yellow and accent the brick siding with a yellow-green shade.

I believe these colors will deliver the look our client is seeking. Have fun!

More DQ notes - a good example of back and forth discussion:

Sarah

Balance is the basic way of comparing two sides of an image to each other. Within the basic definition of balance, is two more specific types of balance. There is formal balance, or symmetrical, and informal balance, or asymmetrical. Formal balance means that both sides of an image are not only equal in visual weight, but most commonly are mirrored images of each other. An example of this would be to take black paint and paint a design on one half of a piece of paper. With the paint still being wet, fold the piece of paper in half to place the painted image on the other side of the paper. This would create an exact duplicate of the original image. This exact duplication of an image is considered formal balance. Both sides of the paper are now symmetrical.

Informal balance, or asymmetrical, is not a mirror image. Informal balance means that both sides of an image have the same visual weight, but not the same elements. For example, if a picture were to have a tree on one side and a person sitting on a bench on the other side, the image would be informally balanced because there is equal visual weight on each side of the image. Informal balance can be created a few different ways. A drawing could be considered informally balanced if there were two large, but different, objects on each side of an image. However, an image can also be informal ling balanced by placing a large object on one side of an image, and supporting it by using several small objects on the other side.

Balance is important. It plays a big role how are objects are viewed by an audience. In graphic design, where clients have different tastes, styles, and preferences, it is important to know when formal balance would be appropriate for a design, and when informal balance would be appropriate. If I had a young client, or a client that had a younger following, I would mostly likely use an informal balance. Because elements do not have to be repeated in an informally balanced design, such balance will give the audience/client a feeling of creativity and often a sense of “organized chaos.” Such designs tend to be attractive to younger audiences because the design is out-of-the-box. It is unconventional, and therefore unique. These qualities draw in younger viewers and can also attract a variety of age-groups interested in the same things.

If I were to create a design for a traditional company or client, I would use formal balance. Viewers will inevitably look for unity and balance in a composition. Due to the fact that elements in a formally balanced design are repeated, it tends to give the viewing audience a sense of stability. Formal designs are often calm, and, in a sense, are predictable because the elements repeat. This gives a traditional audience a sense of stability and allows them to anticipate what would happen next.

References: Online Lectures Saw, James. Design Notes. 2000. 15 May 2008. <http://daphne.palomar.edu/design/contents.html>.

Jeff

Hi Sarah (: Overall good - let me note some points I made while reading -"Informal balance means that both sides of an image have the same visual weight, but not the same elements." Can't informal balance have unequal visually weighted sides? What if I put everything on one side? "However, an image can also be informal ling balanced by placing a large object on one side of an image..." I think "informal ling" is a typo (:"If I had a young client, or a client that had a younger following, I would mostly likely use an informal balance."I hear this a lot - is it in the reading somewhere? I don't agree at all - old people love informal balance - if anything, they appreciate it more have had more life experience and they can appreciate things asymmetrical! "If I were to create a design for a traditional company or client, I would use formal balance." Why not semi-formal? and when you say 'traditional', can you clarify? That's my editing input - let me know what you think (:

Sarah

It was my understanding from the reading that in order for an image to have informal balance it did not need to have the same exact object on either side, but the objects did need to be visually balanced. I understood that if one side of an image had a large circle, for example, on one side, then it could be visually balanced by having a group of smaller circles on the other side. This would be informal balance because the two sides don't both have a large circle or a group of smaller circles, however, the image would be balanced because there is an equal amount of space on either side. So, no, from my understanding, I didn't think an image could be informally balanced without having equal visual weight.

Second, :) I think that typo was supposed to say "..an image can be informally..." not informal ling. :) oops.

The next question, I want to address most of all. I mentioned, as did a few of my classmates, that we would use informal balance for a younger client. However, I mentioned right after that comment, "These qualities draw in younger viewers and can also attract a variety of age-groups interested in the same things." I probably should have left out the word "younger" in this statement. My point overall though, was that commonly younger people prefer things to be different from everything else. Formal balance is symmetrical and, while yes it can certainly still be visually interesting, in my opinion it tends to be more predictable. Informal balance has objects that are equal in visual weight, but not necessarily identical. This is why I expanded my statement of younger viewers liking informal balance. I gave this as an example of one type of group that more often than not, enjoys unconventional and more creative designs. I did not mean to limit informal balance to only younger people as I stated that anyone who likes creative designs, versus simple designs, would prefer informal balance.

The next point you made ties in with the third one. By traditional client, and I should have expanded more, I meant a person(s) who wants a classic-type design. For example, say a man and woman, middle age, quite proper and conventional, are picking out a design for their wedding invitations. They would want to use a formal balance because it is symmetrical, well balanced, and "traditional." This could mean that the invitation has three, vertical lines on each side of the writing, and perhaps a horizontal line across the bottom and top. They would probably prefer this formal balance of lines compared to an invitation that had dozens of circles placed seemingly sporadic, across the invitation.
Does all of that make sense?

Hopefully I answered all of your questions, or at least explained my answers a little bit better.

Jeff

Makes sense - and is exactly what I was looking for -
It is informative to study design history - I am reading (slowly) Graphic Design A New History by Eskilson - and the bottom line is that an understanding of what has gone before and what is current is essential for designers - I browsed through some skateboard mags a few months ago and was interested in how grunge and thrash informality had been replaced by formal and clean...Thanks for the additional writing! (: