Blue Colour Study

One Colour Study

Colour used: Primary Blue

Colour used: Twilight Blue

Colour used: Deep Teal

Two Colour Study

Colours used:  Diluted Periwinkle/Caribbean Sand 

Colours used: Somerset Blue/Candy Apple Red

Colours used: Winter Ocean/Chalk Purple

Three Colour Study

Colours used: Midnight Blue/Sunset Orange/Creamsicle Orange

Colours used: Sky Blue/Royal Blue/Cement Wash Blue 

Colours used: Black Teal/Dusty Turquoise/Muted Yellow

My understanding of the colour blue before I started this project was that it was a calm, quiet colour. I also believed that it's temperature was always cool. However, through this project my understanding of blue has changed that opinion. After the study I have realized that there can be both warm and cool blues. 

I've learned that combining colours isn't as easy as I previously thought it was. Before I started this study I thought that a lot of colours would work well with blue. Maybe it was my lack of previous colour exploration however, I found it challenging to find colours that looked right together. Also, when looking at other people's studies, they thought of a lot of colour combinations that I would not have thought of, especially the red studies. 

The colour combinations that caused vibration were the complimentary colours. The blues with the reds or oranges. Similarly with other colour studies, it was the reds vibrating with the greens and the yellows with the purples. Also, the bright colours such as yellow and red created a vibration. 

My design was more compatible for the one and two colour studies. The simpler colour designs made the typographic message stand out. These first six were far more successful, as they really divided the area and type into two, highlighting the "half off" message. When the third colour was introduced the message became a bit diluted. 

Neutral Colours

Whenever I think of neutrals, the first thing that comes to mind is clothing. I'm not sure if it's the gazillion What Not to Wear programs I've seen or just my Mum's advice, but whenever neutrals are mentioned, it's always the tans, greys, cremes and whites of a wardrobe I think about.

When it comes to tans nothing could be cuter than my neutral palleted puppies, Aries and Cleo!

Analogous Colours

Analogous colours was a term that is new to me, but I enjoyed searching for it. I wanted to show both of these images, the first is a photo I took of a portuguese man of war on the beach, and the second is a painting I found online that reminded me of those colours seen in the first photo. When I read about analogous colours I found out that they are very often found in nature, which clearly can then inspire beautiful pieces of artwork. I love the purples, and the purple blues, royal blues, blue greens. As simple as the painting is, it makes me happy!

I took this picture at the St. Patrick's Day Parade this year in Dorchester. I can tell you, when I first took the photo it was not because of the complimentary colours, rather to show the poor adorable dog being somewhat embarrassed in his 'Tinker Bell-esk' neck decoration. However, I think it does demonstrate them nicely, with the green (maybe a little too yellow) and the red leash. Only in Boston!

This isn't one of my photos, but every time I think of yellow and purple being complimentary colours I always think of the Bermudiana. This is Bermuda's national flower that grows as a weed. It just has such a beautiful colours that I couldn't leave it out.

This photo was taken at a street fair in NYC earlier this year. The fair was in honour of the students graduating from Parsons (one of which was my best friend Rhiannon). I loved all the uses of colours, but the two that stood out to me the most were the orange and the blue diagonally across.

Tertiary Colours

This is a close up picture of the front of my house. It's the only one on the street that is green, or blue green. I love this tertiary colour, as it isn't 'in your face', but it's different enough to make us stand out amongst the white and yellow houses.

Secondary Colours

I love the Sesame Street characters, so when I stumbled upon this I thought it was brilliant. Looking into it further they also have a primary colours one with Big Bird, Elmo, and Grover. This one uses Ernie, Oscar, and the Count to teach children, and remind some Masters students, about secondary colours. A-mazing!

Primary Colour Trading Card

I found this image on google, but thought it was absolutely gorgeous. It is a trading card made by an artist named Linda Isreal. What I think is beautiful about it is her collaging techniques. She said she only used scraps of paper that she had to create this piece. I love it!

Primary Colours

This was actually a photo I took for a previous assignment, however, looking at it again I noticed that it was a great example of primary colours. The three colours are shown perfectly at the top of the chair, with the lifeguard's red jacked, the blue swimmers in the water flag, and the yellow number depicting the chair location.

Figure Ground Observation

I found this painting and absolutely loved it's use of figure ground. 

Very classic example of figure ground. Do you see the woman's face or the man with the saxophone? 

Another amazing logo! 

This was the logo for the professional hockey team the Hartford Whalers, while they were still based out of Hartford, Connecticut. The team originated in Boston, as the NE Whalers, but moved on to be the Hartford Whalers. The team is now based out of North Carolina, and known as the Carolina Hurricanes with a completely different logo.

What I like the most about this logo is it's use of figure ground. The positive blue creates the shape of the whales tale, the negative space underneath makes the H for Hartford, and the positive green makes the W for Whalers. Overall, I think it's a gorgeous logo!

I also wanted to include an example of figure ground that was not related to text. This is the logo for a yoga studio in Australia. At first glance, you may think that it's simply a woman doing a standard yoga pose, but when you look again you can see that her body is making the map of Australia in the negative space between her leg, arm and back. Very clever in my opinion!