Giving Color To Life

The day Emmilia was born the colors of my life increased and I understood that I should not be afraid, afraid of colors, mainly scared of putting colors in life. As a Graphic Designer, I have learned the deep meaning of Color and not only inside the academy but also throughout life. Color selection is an essential step in the design process and one of the first effective communication elements.

I have not forgotten a morning of homework when I saw my daughter uncover her box colors and, with any pencil, begin to draw her ideas. That moment seemed to me indiscriminate and disrupted what I knew as Color Theory; in a failed way, I tried to guide her, to teach about the use of Color; at the end, her insistence overcame me but, the most surprising was the charming and result of her drawing. I think that an essential first step in understanding colors is to forget any preconceived notions; thus, you can ask yourself critical questions before selecting any color; otherwise, poor or weak decisions may be made.

Consciously or unconsciously, the color palettes in graphic design are usually dictated by trends and the more we see that a certain color is used, the more we use it, the result is an ephemeral and meaningless use of Color. Many of my own mistakes have taught me that color selection should be guided by the purpose of the piece and enhance its ability to communicate a message to the target audience rather than reflecting what is currently in fashion.

Before developing any design, I think it is essential to determine the objectives of the work and at this point is where graphic designers and artists are different, and it is through these objectives that we ensure that the emphasis remains on the message and not on the medium. Three fundamental questions that cannot be forgotten and, in my opinion, can serve as a guide:

• What is the goal?

• Who is the audience?

• What should the audience learn from this?

The wonderful about seeing the result of good use of colors is what it produces: calm, anxious, alert, a multiple range of emotions and moods. In my opinion, it is not only restricted to beauty; this is only a subjective impulse; this process must be accompanied by strategy. Color can be used to great advantage and as such should be well thought out. Color can attract attention, reflect a place or feeling, or provide accessibility and credibility.

I have learned from seeing in my daughter's creation processes the naturalness of using Color and how I have bent my rigid preconceptions, and I also learned that Color is only one of the elements that make a design work or not. But it is one of the most powerful.

Emmilia's work

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Alice Through the Looking Glass (2016), Director James Bobing

Birdman (2014), Director: Alejandro Gonzáles Iñárritu

Life of Pi (2012), Director: Ang Lee

Digitalsynopsis, D. (2019, April 16). Color palettes from famous movies show how colors set the mood of a film. Retrieved February 22, 2021, from https://digitalsynopsis.com/design/cinema-palettes-famous-movie-colors/

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