OUGD404 - Studio Brief 01 - Colour & Pattern

Colour 

Through looking at some of my favourite publication examples the best ones all make use of a strict colour scheme, either a two to three colour scheme which compliments/contrasts with eachother (involving coloured stock); or a scheme which makes use of various shades/intensities of the same colour. 
(with coloured stock, I have to consider the change of colour when the ink dries darker)

Colour can change how something is communicated drastically through a persons perception so it is an essential tool to be used when designing. 

I used the Adobe colour wheel, set to Monochromatic, to experiment with how I could use various shades/intensities of the same colour to still produce a strong enough contrast to communicate the figure/ground principle. I had to ensure I was considering the functionality of using this style of colour scheme as well as considering the aesthetics of the publication. From this initial experimentation I could already see how I could infuse this style into many different versions of the publication, which I could possibly further produce inducting 1st year Graphic Design students and other creatives into the other design principles discussed previously. 

After trialling shades of pink, red, yellow and blue, I decided these colours held too many meanings and suggestions which were not necessary for this publication (figure/ground). I decided on a spectrum of cream to orange to brown, to really provide those diverse constrasts needed for ease of viewing once printed, but so it will still all fit together visually and provide that option of producing a set of guide books to the principles. 

Pattern Design

Now I've got my colour scheme decided on it is time to experiment with these colours to see if they would work within the publication. As the publication will be focusing on figure and ground, a very visual principle, I wanted to produce some simple but effective patterns and designs which would best communicate the ideas that the text within the publication will be inducting you in. I didn't want them to be too complex as it would visually draw you away from the information, but I just wanted it to act as a visual aid and a background for each page...

The first three help communicate the different types of figure-ground relationships: Stable, Reversible & Ambiguous

The next ones are just various patterns I produced in Illustrator using vectors to really stress the figure and the ground which can be identified within every piece of design.

Using the two middle shades from my colour scheme it should perfectly balance each page, complimenting the lighter cream shade which will be used as the stock colour; which will be alongside the darker shade of brown being used for text. It wasn't until now that I realised it does almost reflect a 60s/70s style of design! This wasn't intentional however in my opinion, it isn't a bad thing, I think it is very colour dependant.