Color Palette

[The_Jones]

Can Someone please explain to me what this is?? Im thinkin its a group of colors on a board, but something tells me theres more to it. Any info would help!

thanks in advance

 

[BerlinRocks]

i cannot really explain you. as i don't really understand your question.
but if i get it right, and I guess this was your question.
colour palette = every possible colour combination.
i can tell you there's a great book about color palette.
this book is just amazing! even if i'm not an artist, i want to buy it just for the pleasure of my eyes. but unfortunalety i saw it at one friends' house and was drunk so cannot remember the name.
http://www.amazon.fr/Color-Palette-...3/402-3187734-8216954?ie=UTF8&s=english-books
you've got this one,and i'm pretty sure that's the book I saw. it's a little book with plastic cover.
maybe you should read this, too. edited by the MIT press (!!!)

 

[The_Jones]

thanks a bunch for the info. Sorry about the confusion with the question. I was basically asking what it is, and what are the rules to making one. I have to make one with about 6 colors and I didnt want to just throw them on a board, im sure theres some rule of order.


thanks again, ill check those out.

 

[gius]

Colour palette can just mean what colours have been used to make something. If you see some designers' collections, you can see they are using only a selected few colours. THis would be called the colour palette

Since you said six colours, maybe whomever is asking is asking for the basic hues (pure colours, which have not been unsaturated by black, white or grey). It is based on a long study of colour over many centuries. I think Isaac Newton was one of the scientists. Are you doing this for a class?
Try looking up colour theory and you should come up with tons of ideas
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_theory

 

[fourboltmain]

Colour palette can just mean what colours have been used to make something.

He hit the nail on the head. Look at say... the Coca-Cola logo. The palette is red and white.

Pepsi? Red, white and blue.

< that smiley? Looks like yellow and red, and the blends within.

It's really the base colors, and usually you want it to be harmonic, like 'Earth' tones (oranges, browns, tans, etc) or 'cool' tones (blues, greens, greys maybe.)

Once you get a nice harmonic balance, then you can pull other colors out of it for accents, etc. Don't study color theory too hard though, rules are made to be broken. And if you go by the book, you'll look like everyone else. Think of a palette as swatches of color like in a book of paint chips. Pick the ones you want and go from there.

BTW, the guy that taught me color theory is color blind.

 

[The_Jones]

Thanks, i think ill check that out to see which colors blend best.

It's really the base colors, and usually you want it to be harmonic, like 'Earth' tones (oranges, browns, tans, etc) or 'cool' tones (blues, greens, greys maybe.)

thats almost exactly what my teacher said! Something like pick a theme (military, music, hobby, country,lakes etc.) and draw six colors from it. The best one wins an award. But I was thinking what would be an "award winning color palette", the preittiest colors?

 

[gius]

^probably the one that is the most interesting theme and if the colours really match that theme.

fourboltmain are you studying graphic design now? i remember someone did, someone who knows titania. i'd really like to figure out how some of these designers choose their colours. like Prada and Dries van Noten seem to choose really strange colour combinations (they have somewhat of an ugly side, but that's why i like them)--I wonder how they come up with them. In Prada's recent collection, for example, she's used warm tones at the same time with cooler tones. They look like they might be from Persian carpets.
A lot of them have references to other colour palettes, like Dries can be reminiscent of William Morris textiles since it's sometimes dreary-looking. So, then I wonder how Morris got his colours

And Marni often looks 1950s

 

[The_Jones]

^probably the one that is the most interesting theme and if the colours really match that theme.

yea true, then i really need to rethink my theme.

 

[fourboltmain]

fourboltmain are you studying graphic design now? i remember someone did, someone who knows titania.

That's me. I got my BS in June and now I'm in a couple local colleges studying yet MORE design to further my skills. I intend on becoming quite the skilled graphic mercenary when I'm done.

Anyway, a palette is all what you see in your eyes. I personally couldn't look at a color wheel and know right off the bat what colors to use. So I'll open a new page in photoshop and then brush on a swatch of color. I'll write the RGB number next to it too, so I know what it is. Then it's a matter of just laying down colors next to it until you see something you like.

Color wheels still confuse me, but I have no problems mixing paint, if that makes any sense. Anything too formuliac will look generic. I think the biggest problem with matching colors is matching the levels of saturation. Play with the swatches by sliding them around the grey areas until it looks right. And then remember, colors change when placed next to other colors. So make sure you lay them all next to each other.

 

[fourboltmain]

Example, look at the colors under the sketch. There's a tan (under the shirt), a lighter tan (the boots), some other color I can't describe (the pants) and a swatch of grey by the head/sleeve thing. This was done with those four colors and black and white. Well, brown for the hair, but that doesn't count.

 

[gius]

so basically, what you are saying is play with colour till you get something you like? i sometimes thought there was a kind of basis where you can start applying colour, like i would notice in palettes or compositions, there would be a bunch of colours, then some grey or neutral areas (for 'breathing') and then the accents

src: gettyimages, style.com
and then they would maybe use both warm and cool colours to create 'variety'

is there any special book on design elements, colour or composition that you recommend?

 

[fourboltmain]

I'm SO spamming this thread, but I love color. Here's a good link to the psychology of color and how we percieve it. Don't get lost in the numbers of Kelvins and wavelengths, etc. That will come to you eventually.

http://www.colormatters.com/brain.html

http://www.colormatters.com/designart.html

I have a couple really good color books, one is all swatches and combinations for different applications, but I can't seem to find it now. When I do I'll post it. It's relatively cheap too.

 

[gius]

thanks for the links, fbm! I'd be interested to hear more about what you mean by different applications (is it like what to use for a restaurant, an asylum, etc.?)

Here's an example of the greys/neutrals and accents that illustrates better what I was writing about earlier
style.com

 

[Nyni]

colour palette can be a group of colors on a board, like a catalogue with all the tones that exist in the brand or palette of colors used in a work or collection as gius said it. in case of inks for interior or exterior painting, every brand got is palette of colors, but it still exists one palete of colors that is universal, palete universal is known by RAL and with this reference we can order this color in the entire world, even for grafics.