An Eye for Color

Book excerpt: Developed by the Design Leader for Global Retail Hair at Procter & Gamble, An Eye for Color teaches readers how to develop their color sense. The book presents a unique, easy-to-follow system that the author developed to create effective color patterns, which differentiates it from the standard index-style books on the market that provide color combinations without placing those combinations in context. An Eye for Color shows how to build your own color index by "dissecting" a gorgeous selection of works used by master painters, graphic designers, fashion and furniture designers and craftsmen—all selected for their exceptional use of color. In addition, the book's compact design and irresistibly chunky format will make it useful and attractive to designers, artists, students, professionals, or anyone trying to find attractive color combinations. An Eye for Color is organized into chapters by color. In every spread, the author first presents the work of a designer or painter. Second, she breaks down the color palette of the work, providing color squares on the page in both RGB and CMYK configurations. Text accompanying each chosen image contains information on the artist's inspiration for his use of color and interprets it. The text also describes the technical, emotional and artistic qualities of the work. The third step is for the reader to replicate the color swatches with Pantone chips or a Photoshop print out and place them onto a rolodex card which would then become the basis for their own inspiration file. Perforated sheets at the beginning of each chapter will enable readers to immediately start building their rolodexes based on the examples shown in the book.