Sean Adams - The Designer’s Dictionary of Color

The Designer’s Dictionary of Color — read online for free the complete book (whole text) full work

Below is the text of the book, divided by pages. System saving the place of the last page read, allows you to conveniently read the book "The Designer’s Dictionary of Color" online for free, without having to search again every time where you left off. Put a bookmark, and you can go to the page where you finished reading at any time.

Light

Font size:

↓

↑

Georgia Tahoma Arial Verdana

Reset

Interval:

↓

↑

Bookmark:

Make

1234567...25

Table of Contents

Guide

The Designers

Dictionary of Color

The Designers

Dictionary of Color

A B R A M S

,

N E W

Y O R K

by Sean Adams

Foreword by Jessica Helfand

2017 Quid Publishing Ltd.

For Quid

Text and design:

Sean Adams

Editor:

Lucy York

Picture Researchers:

Katriona Feinstein, Simona Stabados

For Abrams

Editors:

John Gall and Ashley Albert

Design Manager:

Devin Grosz

Production Manager:

Alex Cameron

Library of Congress Control Number: 2016949082

ISBN: 978-1-4197-2391-9

eISBN: 978-1-6833-5002-6

The principal typeface used is Sentinel, designed by Jonathan

Hoefler and Tobias Frere-Jones in 2009. Sentinel is based on earlier

Egyptian or Slab Serif typefaces such as Clarendon designed by

Robert Besley in 1845.

The color swatches contained in this book are as accurate as

possible. However, due to the nature of the four-color printing

process, slight variations can occur due to ink balancing on press.

Every effort has been made to minimize these variations.

PANTONE Colors displayed here may not match the PANTONE -

identified standards. Consult current PANTONE Color Publications

for accurate color. PANTONE and the PANTONE Chip Logo are the

property of Pantone, Inc.

Published in 2017 by Abrams, an imprint of ABRAMS. All rights

reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in

a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means,

mechanical, electronic, photocopying, recording, or otherwise,

without written permission from the publisher.

Abrams books are available at special discounts when purchased

in quantity for premiums and promotions as well as fundraising

or educational use. Special editions can also be created to

specification. For details, contact specialsales@abramsbooks.com

or the address below.

115 West 18th Street

New York, NY 10011

abramsbooks.com

I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in

a field somewhere and dont notice it.

ALICE WALKER , THE COLOR PURPLE

Contents

THE DESIGNERS DICTIONARY OF COLOR

OPPOSITE

Berlin

Sean Adams ~ 2014

Poster

Red is used with the extreme layout

to viscerally communicate the idea

of squeezing.

Foreword

Seeing Red

F OR YEARS , J OSEF A LBERS TAUGHT A COLOR CLASS

at Yale that began with

an identical assignment. Participants were each asked to bring in examples of

something redfound objects, loose remnants, the detritus of the everyday

their purpose or provenance of little concern. Thus challenged, students would

enthusiastically disperse, each seeking the perfect specimen: from rescued

textiles to tarnished metals, paper samples to paint chips, old discarded pizza

boxes to treasured bits of propaganda, each hoped to impress the great master

with dazzling brilliance and impeccable taste.

Returning to the studio to pin up their findings, the students soon saw that the

intended lesson was little more than a demonstration of the impossible. Beauty

is indeed in the eye of the beholder. Color is an exercise in visual slippage:

its intrinsically and deeply personal. No two reds could everindeed, would

evermatch.

And that, observed Albers, was precisely the point.

Sean Adams is spot-on when he says that color is subjective. Its also tricky,

idiosyncratic, and prone to mercurial shifts of temperament. Flowers bloom

bright before fading. Pigments can be engineered to dye or to dissipate.

Staring at a spot of blue for too long will result in a subsequent burst of

perceived orangea useful operation when explaining optics to students, but

an exasperating exercise for anyone hoping to be rewarded for their scrutiny,

or, for that matter, their stamina. Its all fascinatingif bewilderingmaking

decisions at once perplexing and onerous.

This book provides an invaluable resource for visual practitioners, offering

both conceptual guidelines and concrete examples for the color-challenged.

Color perception is not only personal, its contextual, gesturing to all sorts

of invisible phenomena that orbit, for most of us, in a seemingly endless

and unbidden referential haze. Colors spark memories, cue emotions, and

trigger willful associations. When too close in value, adjacent colors can shift

from harmonious to hilarious (certain bridal parties come to mind), while

improperly contrasting hues will sooner compete than cooperate.

In the end, all color embraces a spectrum of light that may never be possible to

fully comprehend. Aristotle tried, and so did Goethe and Wittgenstein. (Isaac

Newton tried, too.) Perhaps this is why Josef Albers always returned to that

deliciously simple exercise. My red is not now, nor will it ever be, the same as

yours. And that, as this book so eloquently demonstrates, is precisely the point.

J ESSICA H ELFAND

FOREWORD

C OLOR IS SUBJECTIVE AND EMOTIONAL .

It is often the most volatile element

of a project. To declare that the choice of a favorite color is inferior is to

personally attack a persons core. A client may arbitrarily demand a specific

color or reject another based on outwardly irrelevant reasons. Our response to

Next page

1234567...25

Light

Font size:

↓

↑

Georgia Tahoma Arial Verdana

Reset

Interval:

↓

↑

Bookmark:

Make

Similar books «The Designer’s Dictionary of Color»

Look at similar books to The Designer’s Dictionary of Color. We have selected literature similar in name and meaning in the hope of providing readers with more options to find new, interesting, not yet read works.

Andrew Wilson

Contemporary Color in the Landscape: Top Designers, Inspiring Ideas New Combinations

Eric Hibit

Color Theory For Dummies

Arielle Eckstut

What Is Color?: 50 Questions and Answers on the Science of Color

K. Murugesh Babu

Abstract Pattern Illustrations for Textile Printing

David Hornung

Color: A Workshop for Artists and Designers

Drew John T.

Color management: a comprehensive guide for graphic designers

Linda Holtzschue

Understanding Color: An Introduction for Designers

Holtzschue

Understanding Color

Eiseman

The complete color harmony: new and revised, expert color information for professional color results

Cabarga

The designers guide to color combinations

David Zyla

Color Your Style: How to Wear Your True Colors

Keeyla Meadows

Fearless Color Gardens: The Creative Gardeners Guide to Jumping Off the Color Wheel

Discussion, reviews of the book The Designer’s Dictionary of Color and just readers' own opinions. Leave your comments, write what you think about the work, its meaning or the main characters. Specify what exactly you liked and what you didn't like, and why you think so.