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Color in content Presented by Greg Urban Contact: gjurban@pacbell.net
Color and the techwriter ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]
Best way to choose colors?
The short answer ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]
Workflow for choosing colors ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]
Using the color wheel ,[object Object]
Complementary (opposite) Primary Color Complements Secondary Color Complements
Opposite (complementary) ,[object Object],[object Object]
 
Analogous
Automatically harmonious (analogous) ,[object Object],[object Object]
Split complements
Split complements ,[object Object],[object Object]
Split complements
Muted, rich, split complements
Triads ,[object Object]
Triadic colors
 
Triad
Bright triad (well, mostly)
Muted triad
Muting colors ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]
Contrast
Importance of contrast ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]
Color contrast ,[object Object],[object Object]
 
 
Color is relative ,[object Object]
The most important element of color is value  ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]
Value is relative. It depends on contrast with other values
 
 
 
 
We all love color, but… ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]
 
 
 
Original iPad sunflower ,[object Object]
[object Object]
With revised graphic
Enough talk let’s do some stealing
Using Rainbow Firefox plug-in
The Rainbow Color Library Framemaker color definitions
Applying ‘stolen’ colors to a document
Colors applied to doc
Stealing from the Masters
The results
 
 
 
 
How about as grayscale?
Color on the Web
 
 
 
 
Blue is the most commonly used color for content. ,[object Object]
Blue is a good main color as other colors ‘ pop’ against it. It is also cool emotionally, even in large amounts
 
Summary: Rules of Thumb
To make color combinations more lively ,[object Object],[object Object]
Blue is your friend ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]
Value is relative and is the most important aspect of color ,[object Object],[object Object]
Color is relative ,[object Object],[object Object]
Expect to do a LOT of tweaking to find the ‘sweet spot’ ,[object Object],[object Object]
Thank you! ,[object Object],[object Object]

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Rules of thumb for using colour in your content

Editor's Notes

  1. Green, red-orange, and light red-violet. If you wanted to add some more vibrancy, add blue dutch iris, as they are complements of the orange.
  2. North Berkeley Library. The main yellow-orange is contrasted with a dark blue-green and a muted red-violet.
  3. Often thought of as the primary colors triad. Often seen in children’s toys. But this is not a pure triad. Mondrian pushed the red towards red-orange and added a little red to the yellow. So it could be almost a complementary combination.
  4. Light red-violet, teal, and light yellow-orange
  5. Triads are pretty stong as the they have 3 contrasting colors that are as far apart as they can be on the color wheel. I am fudging on the bright here as the yellow is really muted and muddy.
  6. Why value is the most important component of color
  7. I realized after I did this that the color no longer read as ‘Aqua’ so that was probably why Apple decided to go with the lighter blue.
  8. I manually copied the Hue, Sat, Val settings from the color library into Frame. Doesn’t actually work that well. But Frame didn’t offer me the option of using Hex.
  9. Left is straight steal. I tried putting a complementary pumpkin on the note just to see how it worked.
  10. Do you see a problem with these colors? They are pretty close in value. What are they in terms of a color combination. Analagous.
  11. I made some comparison charts showing various hues and how they print in grayscale. Admittedly, I could probably tweak some of these colors, but these are the pure shades.
  12. This page from Wired magazine shows the most common colors used in corporate logos. Mostly blue, with some red and a smattering of green. This was from 2003, nowadays there is probably a bit more green.
  13. If pressed for time, or you lack the inclination to mess with colors. Use blue as your default choice. There is an old saying “No one ever got fired for buying IBM.” No one ever got fired for using blue text headings. Also, remember IBM’s nickname.