“Thus every colour, in order to be seen, must have a light within or behind it. Hence the lighter and brighter the grounds are, the more brilliant the colours appear”

- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Mimosa Embodies Hopefulness and Reassurance in a Climate of Change

Pantone today announced PANTONE® 14-0848 Mimosa, a warm, engaging yellow, as the color of the year for 2009. In a time of economic uncertainty and political change, optimism is paramount and no other color expresses hope and reassurance more than yellow. Read More…

Please join Marc Aguilera Monday, December 8th in Phoenix, AZ at the Pointe Hilton Tapatio Cliffs Resort from 10-11:30 a.m. for the 10th annual PIA/GATF Color Management Conference. Read More…

“Color is the experience of light and object” - Marc Aguilera

encompus has recently been certified as a G7 Master Proofer. Read More…

A color gamut is defined by the range of colors a particular device like a digital scanner, display, camera or print device can capture, display, or print. Another way to look at it is a color gamut is a color range - or dynamic range for you photographers. Each device has a specific color gamut. The image is a screen capture from the OS 10.4 ColorSync Utility. It shows the bottom part of the gamut where most of the shadow information is present. Profiles such as sRGB, Adobe RGB, ProPhoto RGB, SWOP CMYK, GRACoL CMYK, all have color gamuts. Your scanner, display, and output profiles all have color gamut.

A color space is a relationship between the digital files values (RGB, CMYK) to actual appearance (CIELAB). Color space is related to vision and is defined with any color model. RGB values have no real meaning unless they are mapped to appearance, in most cases CIELAB. A color space links numerical values in a file to numerical values related to human vision.

Client’s are fussy when it comes to color and it’s important to set the tone with a client in order to foster a good working relationship with them. Ask your client about their ideas of color usage when you start a project. Also make sure you ask why they may or may not have these color preferences. Get whatever known color values the client may have in CMYK, RGB, and PANTONE Spot to avoid guesswork.

Keeping in mind a client’s design objective and input, concentrate on designing to your own taste and select colors based on your particular vision. Creativity, and especially color usage, is very subjective so develop a rational for why you chose a particular palette. Look into psychological symbols of particular colors and be mindful that different colors mean different psychologically concepts to different cultures.

Limit color choices to avoid confusion and overload and always present your favorite choices. Show color on print and screen in your presentation and make sure both the display and your printed output has been calibrated and profile to ensure the best reproduction. Summarize the client’s ideas and objectives and explain how your color choices along with design elements meet these objectives. Initiate a discussion regarding color only relative to the objective and challenge revisions that will not meet the objectives effectively and accept changes that will. Reference Color Design Workbook : A Real World Guide to Using Color in Graphic Design by Adams Morioka and Terry Stone published by Rockport Publishers.

Marc Aguilera, encompus Co-founder and Color Specialist, was recently given the honor of speaking at the HOW Design Conference in Boston on May 20th, 2008. Read More…

Color Management Director Marc Aguilera was interviewed by Thomas Franklin of Digital Output Magazine. The article entitled, Controlling Color from Proofs to Prints to Profits just hit the news stands this month. Check it out and learn more about how a color managed system can benefit the design process.

I guess I am a color geek, although I prefer color freak. What better a place for a color freak to browse and compose than in a forum dedicated to color management. Sure there are lots of forums but because ColorGeek2 is moderated by The Dans, Dan Gillespie and Dan Reid, two true geeks. I had to join and participate.

The ColorGeek2 Forum will no doubt be populated by us consultants who really know their stuff. This is a good thing, because no one consultant can know and or have experience in all areas. In my first glance I learned of an issue in EFI ColorProof XF and it’s connectivity with a HP Z-Series Printer. I myself posed a question about the latest from SWOP.org

If your looking for answers give the forum a try and as it matures I am sure you will find the answers to many color mysteries.