- This course talks about coming up
with active color schemes that have
anywhere from, you know,
three to a dozen or more colors in them.
Now here, I want to pull back a little bit,
and remind us that yes, there are also really
powerful, eye-catching and thematically charged ways
of using just one color within a layout
or an illustration or one color plus black.
So let's talk about it, and I'll use a fictional
ice cream company's branding to demonstrate some points.
It just so happens that my imaginary ice creamery
specializes in strawberry sherbet.
So I'll be working with a bright strawberry spot color.
PMS 177 to demonstrate how this one color
or, you know, this color with or without black,
could be used to powerfully promote the company through its
business card, its packaging and a promotional poster.
For starters, let's work on the company's
business card, and since we're going to
limit ourselves to just one color of ink
while aiming for a powerful and passionate presentation,
let's not mess around with how we use our spot color.
Let's get real, and flood this thing
with our vibrant strawberry sherbet Pantone ink.
Front and back.
And we'll reverse the company's logo on text
so they appear on white, and also
a decorative pattern on the back.
There, I'd say that is a lot of visual bang
for the buck, considering that this card
has been printed on ordinary white stock
with just one color of ink.
Let's deal with the ice cream container in similar terms.
We'll use our PMS 177 and black ink.
One PMS color plus black, it's a really
common plan for design projects of all kinds,
especially when quantities are high
and budgets are low.
And again, since I'm aiming for some real
visual pizzazz here, I'm not going to mess around
with a flavorless white background for this thing.
I'm going to go big and bright, and I'll both
reverse to white, and add black to bring
some real punch and variety to this design.
I like this.
I think this is a packaging solution that
would stand out really well, you know,
in even the most crowded convenient store freezer.
Next, let's expand the conversation
to include lighter shades of both
black and our spot color, and why not?
If you were designing a poster, for example,
and it was going to be printed using
a spot color and black ink, you could always
break down your inks into various halftone percentages.
Here are four completely different poster designs.
Each made using just two colors of ink
along with lighter tints of each.
Looking at these, it's pretty easy
to forget that this is a just two-color job.
And here's our full package of promotional items
including the poster that was designed
with two colors of ink plus halftone percentages
of each color, a packaging design
that included only full-strength versions of each color,
and a business card that was printed
with just one color of ink on white paper.
In spite of the simplicity of the color schemes
that were used here, none of these designs
suffer for lack of visual power, and yes,
it does help to have a vibrant color
like our strawberry sherbet Pantone color
at your disposal, when working with
just one color of ink or one color plus black.
But even when you're assigned
to use a less extroverted color,
just know that being restricted to a single color of ink
with or without black, it doesn't have to be
seen as a restriction.
Just sit down, and work with your color,
and see what you can do.
You might not only surprise yourself with
the solutions that you come up with,
you might also impress your client with your
creativity and your resourcefulness.