Blog 2.

“ Color Design ”

According to me color is the shaper of our lives and also

the shaper of design. It is an easy way of communicating

with people so color concept is the thing which makes

design meaningful. For example as we talked in class black

and yellow colors mean danger. In a danger theme design

these colors make it more effective because it means the

same for all people. Also we can reflect our thoughts,

emotions most easily by colors like red refers to love or

anger. It is important to choose the most suitable colors

in a design in the sense of effectiveness.

We perceive reality by re-constructing it in our minds and

to able to do this we mostly dependent on the job of our

eyes. At the same time eyes are sensitive to light energy

and its levels. These levels of lights is perceived by us

as colors. For example the most energetic light rays

perceived as red and the least ones as blue (as i remember

from high school. Because here (Bilkent) we have studied

mixture of paints, abit the terminogy abit Itten's works

and abit concept of book design for our assignments).

Accordingly we may say we construct our realities with

the help colors and just like the realities of different

people, color perception varies. However they are still

very important in graphic design, inspite of its

subjectivity, because different people may have different

responses to particular color, if it is pure and seperated

from every thing; but if they are used with images and

prases, may be with signs, their message becomes clearer

and almost universal. For example red color is generally

used for danger and also yellow in most of the universally

(internationally) excepted signs. Besides all I think that

we can create same effect which creates same emotion with

any color. Here the important thing is just the level

of energy that creation gives out with light and we can

create different colors which can give nearly the same

energy to eyes but totally different from each other; with

the help of material quality. For example when a tint

of green appears on appropriate material it can be more

effective, energetic and unpleasent for eye then an

ordinary hue red is; and it can give the feeling of danger

more effectively then that red color. Also their

combinations with others in composition is important and

the light quality of the environment is important. The

subject of color perception is one of the most complicated

subject of science and art so even if you fill books it can

be insufficient, but we have eyes, brain and a brave heart

so it does not matter dealing with it.

Note: I personally do not like the word "pigment" because

they don't exist. It is invented to make simpler,

a complex thing; but it is generally used  to make

complicate one simple thing; for me. I think it is a dead

word, but i am not too sensitive about it.

Color is an important element in graphic design. They give

a certain message together with the design. Colors are also

used for classification in certain areas. I had read

something in a magazine some time ago, it was saying that

some colors, for example red is more suitable for food or

catering companies like Mc Donalds or Burger King. Yellow

is the color of the taxi because it shows us that it is

temporary, that we are going to use it for short time, and

for the same reason yellow is used in the traffic lights as

a temporary indication that the lights are going to be red

or green soon. So, we can use the colors in order to 

emphasize the property of the product by applying to the

certain associations of the colors.

First of all i think the usage of color is very important

on effectiveness, maybe with right fonts and right color

you may take attention of a reader at the first galance.

Moreover, in a work colors are important by the means

of emphasis, right color, right emphasis in the right place :)

is very important. Also I read the pdf that you send,

"A bit of Color Psychology, so you a designer should know

how to shape the right message, also relevant to the text,

I don't know, if you are talking about a serial color it

would not be appropriate to use all bright greens and

yellows.

Achieving appropriate color harmony for eateries is very

important in order to make people hungry, to aggreviate

appetize. Warm colors such as orange, red, yellow

stimulates appetite that`s why fast food chains like

Burger Queen, Mc Donald's prefer using those warm colors

to sell more. Instead of bright warm colors fast food

restaurants use in places like Starbucks where you get

your coffee and pastry and have a seat to relax and pass

sometime, calmer colors like green and brownish dark green

are used. Because these colors convey relaxing calmer

feelings within you. So when we observe the color

selection and usage to decorate restaurants we see that

designing according to the right colors is crucial.

Industry uses color and their effects on the mind to

market their products effectively. Color designed is

important to put forward the concept. It must be support

the idea of concept with colors so their relation is

important. For example, if you want to make a coffee place

you have to use relevant colors like warm colors. For

example, in water station it is not enough to write only

station you have to use related colors with water so cool

colors (other types of blue) is acceptable in that concept

when you use blue and white in water stations it is good

to express the idea in color design.

Within the help of color design used for objects, places,

many other things everything is more striking to eyes. The

color design used in object, the things for example we buy

from the supermarket, like a shampoo maybe is much more

easier and attractive to choose which one to buy. Let's

say that the shampoo box is orange and has a yellow label

and those are your favourite colors or looks better to

your eye you walk toward them or you see them first and

they have more chance for you to buy it, from the others.

Color design is done to show the product or the place

better, sometimes they woken up things in you inside. By

playing with colors, in my opinion, they play with us,

by us, unconsiously. All the colors has thei own meanings,

they woken up  inside of us some emotions and feelings.

The industry uses colors to market their products

effectively.

Using the right color in the right place is very

important. If you want to make your product, place

charming you should combine your product with the right

color. For example in restaurant logo's and decorations we

generally see green or red tones. Because these colors are

said to be make you feel more hungry than you are. So

using green or red in a decoration or logo of a restaurant

is the right choice. Also the colour you choose for a

package design or logo should also be attention grabbing,

because this is the most important thing when your product

is on the shelves and ready to be solved. That's because we

unconsciously get drawn to the colorful and attention

grabbing while we are shopping. Color design, carries deep

messages and colours should be carefully chosen,

considering what it is being used for.

There are some colors which are more attractive, more

charming and more intensive than the other colors. For

example: Red. If we are using red it gives us a message

like a passion, love or heat. Because the blood, the fire,

are always hot. On the other hand, those are some trades or

objects which are always same all around the world. Flag,

is a good eample we can not change the color of flag if

it's red. This is a special red we can not change with

pink or something like that. Next, some colors are going

with together black and white matches each other. Because

these are exactly the contrast colors. They woken up

things in our mind. This colors are not getting

eyes-tired. Because the combination is very well. One of

them is very soft, smooth, innocent, the other one is very

dark, very serious so with together it's balanced.

Our life is full fof colors. Everywhere we go, see, have

a color harmony. For example there is cafe which is named

"Turunc" which means orange has a decoration with orange

tones. If you want to buy something you choose more well

designed package. All colors have meaning. For example if

you dressed pastel colors your friend feels relaxed. If 

a display window is well designer and if there is a color

harmony you want to enter that store. it takes your

attention.

When a human being born, he or she started to observe the

colors. Colors become to mean everything in our life. We

need light to observe colors. According to this, we see

colors and we start to use them in everywhere. Colors make

our life beautiful and also affect us psychologically.

Colors represent us many things like hungry, trusty,

anger, happiness, etc. For example most of the food chains

use red in their logo because red represent hungry. The

fast-food restaurants use brown in their interior design

because it makes people to eat quickly and go. Also some

of the banks use green because green represents trust.

There are lots of examples like that. To see them, you

have to look outside carefully and observe what the colors

means to you.

How can we use colors correctly in design ? Using the

correct color is important when you design something. All

colors signifies something generally. For example: if you

want to design a package of "tea". green can be the

perfect color for it, or for apple tea you may use red

or yellow. On the other way, think about a orange juice

packaging. If you use purple for orange juice, it does not

mean anything. These are very simple and basic examples and

these examples show how it can be very important for design.

the colours chosen by the designer should be able to alert

the viewer and give an instant message. It should be able

to make the observers meet the designers' aims. For

example; Starbuck's cafe is formed with the colour of

green & white, which lets the client to feel that once

inside the cafe, they feel relaxed and calm; whilist Mc

Donald's alerts the clients with red bright yellow which

causes hunger. Water bottles have the colour scheme of

blue which gives the refreshing message.

The psychological effects of colors is widely utilized

industrially; the media, market and other pubblically

agenda-pushing companies/industries take advantage of the

fact that colors have a specific effect on the mind, hence

enhancing the message an object is aimed to portray.

Naturally colors all have different meanings - previously

described in the worksheet (and other sources of

information dealing with the color theory). I find it

pointless describing the various vocabulary related to

color values, therefore I will simply mention my opinion

of the industry's abuse of the "psychological effects" of

color on the mind. Clearly, marketing a product which has

been successfully color-designed, would be easier than

marketing a badly-colored project (nb: not badly designed

but badly color-designed). A red design for candy which is

strawberry flavoured would go down faster, easier, and much

more efficently with the market than a blue or green design

of the same product. Reason - strawberry is associated with

the color red; naturally, the mind would be more inclined

to reach for the direct attraction/chemistry of object vs.

message. Moreover, knowing the correct meaning of colors

and utilizing them properly is a very effective way to

design something that will sell well. In a nutshell,

association + color + object right product = good sales

of the product.

Characters : 11600

Authors :

Aslı Deniz Mete

Atahan Atalay

Burcu Baykan

Çagri Biber

Emre Bakır

Irem Hatipoglu

Levent Ince

Maria Goncharova

Meriç Köstem

Neslihan Tepehan

Onur Karakurt

Özlem Incik

Simge Yüceel

Rüyam Yazar

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