Tutorials

Color Selection in Graphic Design

Tutorial 3 with Matisse Template – Exercise 1

In these exercises, we’ll use a more complicated template with numerous instances of multi-touching colors. We’ll also try out some other methods for creating palettes.

This process will also involve making three color combinations.

Before -- After

Step 1

Open the Matisse template. You may download the template here.

Step 2

Hide all the layer groups except for “Level 1”.

Step 3

We’ll leave the background white. Create a palette from white and pick a color for the large box on layer “Rectangle (1)”. This time, let’s try a different palette creation mode. Select “Range” this time, instead of Auto-Range. Now type in the “Range” field a number, such as 40. Click “Create Palette”. This creates a palette of colors which are all that contrast from the target color. All colors in the palette will be 40 from white. This mode can be more convenient for narrowing down the selection when you know more precisely what you’re looking for. We chose an orange, 40 from the white.

Step 4

Now we will fill the forms on the “stars” layer. Open the color picker, and again create a palette with the target color set to white. (Or use the previous palette if you saved it.) We have selected some colors from the 20 contrast group. Remember, only fill the shapes which touch the white for now.

Step 5

Using the same palette you just created, select more colors for the forms on layer “Squiggles (1)”.

Step 6

Show layer group “Level 2”.

Step 7

Now choose a color for the other rectangle using the Three Color Combination method. We chose a purple from the same palette we just used, a 20 range from the orange. It was also measured to be a 40 contrast from the light color below, so it fits in nicely with our proportional scheme.

Step 8

To fill “Squiggles (2)”, we created another palette from the orange, this time range 40, and selected a dark green. One of them also touches the white, which means you could do the 3 color combination process again to account for that contrast too. Or you could keep it more loose, and disregard that contrast. Either way is fine, depending on your purposes. And either way, you will still wind up with a strong composition. For the larger shape, we simply reused the color touching the purple, since we know it works with that color.

Step 9

To fill the “Blocks (2)”, we created a palette from the light color underneath with a range of 40. We filled in most with a red, and making a couple blue (from the same palette) for variety.

Step 10

Show layer group “Level 3”.

Step 11

Fill the blocks with the same color. We won’t be too concerned this time that they spill over on to another color, creating a different contrast. The other shapes, “Squiggles (3)”, we will leave black.

Step 12

Show layer group “Level 4”.

Step 13

Again, we fill the blocks with the same color, and fill the squiggle with black.

Step 14

Finally, we fill in the “Lines (4)”. In this case we created a palette from the orange with a range of 20 to pick the lighter brown on the left, and with a range of 40 to pick the darker brown on the right. Again, we’re not too concerned with other colors they might be drifting over this time. The result is a very rich composition that was easy to complete in a very systematic way. Through the whole process, we were in complete control every step of the way.

Next - Exercise 2