How to Pick Your Colors

As designers our job is to make others look good, whether our final piece is a logo or a packaging design for a breakfast cereal. No matter how small or large the project, the only reason we do what we do is to bring success and notoriety to those who employ us. Companies put aside a great deal of their budget for advertising and promotional material and frankly, count on our work to deliver the projected sales and numbers at the end of the year. The point is that our work is much more important than many people realize, and for our work to bring the kind of success that companies depend on, we need to start with a very sound foundation of correct layout and correct color usage.

I’ll leave the layout for another article, but what I’m mostly concerned about at this point is colors. You can do so much good if you have picked the correct colors, and on the flip side, can drive the project into the ground if your choices where not the right ones. Keep in mind that colors have a great deal of impact in our world. Colors can change a person’s mood either way, it can grab the attention of a passerby in one glance, and it can deter a purchase if it’s not sending the right message. Of course there have been tons of studies done on human reaction to colors and how some colors act to entice our appetites and so forth. Those studies are great in guiding you to selecting your base color, which I will brush upon briefly, but if you know the color rules and no-no’s, you can make better decisions without the help of these elaborate studies.

You probably know this yourself, but just to summarize and refresh your memories, I would like to refer you to an article written by Ian Roberts entitled “Colors Convey Messages.” This is a brief but very useful article that explains what emotions and feelings each color family possesses. It also goes into detail about which companies and products use various colors and why those colors were originally selected. If you do not have the time to read this, I’ll give you a quick hint: Bright colors excite while dark colors bring subtleness and calm. It is more complicated than that, but for our purpose, I think this is a good start.

Before starting each project, get to know the company that you’re working with. Understand their purpose, their direction and their clientele base. Understand what they are selling and to whom they are selling to. Find out the preferences of the decision makers in regard to colors. After all, no matter how well we design a piece and how pretty the colors seem to us, the final decision is always up to the client. It is good to have all this knowledge beforehand so that once you sit down behind the computer you know which Pantone chart to have ready!

Now that you have an Idea of what general color the client has in mind, it is time to come up with a coloring scheme that suits the business and their purpose. For this, I have put together the following four segments, each talking about a certain scheme that is scientifically proven to work very well!

	Monotone: Monotone is of course a single color and black. Often white is a good compliment but can also be a neutral color such as off-white, taupe, beige or light gray that extends its shades into solid black. So what is this scheme good for and how is it used best? Well in many cases where the client is producing a piece that is intended to be simple, elegant and calming these colors work well. They also can save money on printing if used correctly when designed. I would use it on an invitation for a formal gathering or the letterhead of a reputable law firm. I would not use it to design a new energy drink as it lacks the advertising power.
	Monochromatic: As the term mono means single, this term refers to a single color and all its saturation values. Let's take a yellow for example, the colors that are included with this yellow are white (0% saturation), light yellow (10-30% saturation) and so forth. These color produce a very consistent look, but can cleverly be used in various saturations to produce a nice effect. Similar to the Monochrome color scheme, it is not recommended to use a single color for advertising purposes, as it does lack in that department. Of course it is rare for a company to only use one color, so often you can combine this scheme with a solid black to achieve many various effects and looks that can be used in logos, company newsletters and stationary.
	Analogous: Imagine the color wheel if you will, with all the twelve pie segments (pictured below). Analogous is sort of like your house, your neighbor's house and his neighbor's house. You are all on the same side of the street and you share common walls, which makes you have something in common! Analogous refers to neighboring colors on the wheel that have the same undertones. Usually picking 3 side by side pie slices are very harmonious to the eye and can be worked to produce a very vibrant and attractive look. I would recommend using these colors for the majority of a brochure, however, to also add black and maybe a contrasting color at times to break the monotony.
	Complimentary: Imagine the same color wheel again. Complimentary colors are those colors that are opposites of each others. With the help of the color wheel, you can quickly select a color that adds contrast and compliments your original color well. Such colors can be used in advertising, as they always work great with banners, packaging, billboards, advertisement pieces or even corporate logos. Because the purpose of such color combinations is to attract attention and they lend a very well balanced and contrast-rich means of designing, you can allow yourself to explore you're a great deal of opportunity by adding black and white to achieve a very harmonious and attractive piece.

These are just the very basics in selecting a color for your piece that are aimed to bring harmony to your designs. Of course a lot depends on reproduction limitations, budgetary issues and time cost for your services. It is highly recommended to keep your client up-to-date with every decision you make so that you make sure to incorporate their wishes and visions into your project, making for a win-win situation at the end.