Offset

To get  these colours onto products a popular method is know as Offset lithographic printing. This is also called lithography. It is a commonly used mass production technique where the ink image is transferred (offset) from an aluminum plate to a rubber blanket, then onto the printing surface. This is a high quality method of printing used to print on paper, cardboard, plastic and many other flat surfaced materials. 

In a 4 colour printing machine like the image bellow the intake is at the far end where paper is automatically fed into the press. There are 4 printing towers which each print one colour, black (usually printed first), cyan, magenta and yellow. At the front you can see where the end result comes out and also the control monitor console.

Offset is currently the most commonly used printing technique for a variety of products such as magazines, books, newspapers, stationery, posters and so on. Nowadays printing promotional material is gradually moving to digital printing while some packaging printing is moving to Flexo.

Flexo

In flexography the content that needs to be printed is on a relief of a printing plate, which is made from rubber. Water based Ink surrounds the plate and the inked image is transferred onto the surface. These inks dry quicker and allow for quicker production and more effective results. This process is used to print on paper as well as plastics, metals, cellophane and other materials. Although it is mainly used for packaging and labels, few times even newspapers.

Swatches

Swatches 

Swatches are a convenient and useful tool found in all editing software. They contain samples of pre saved images. Standards if you will. It is much like a digital palette. You can download various different colours and create custom ones also. It is all very intuitive and useful.

Different swatches are saved to your swatch library. Very useful as you can save multiple colours, shades, patterns even and name them for different projects.They are very much the same concept as Pantones just digital and more personalized. When used properly they can be very effective time savers and sources to experiment and test different colour compositions.

Raster VS Vector

Raster graphics refer to how an image is made up, when broken down it is a bitmap of sorts. Made up of hundreds/thousands/millions of micro squares of colour information known as dots or even pixels. Such graphics are found in digital art and photography.

This is high resolution and very detailed when containing high dpi (dots per square inch). The higher the dpi the smoother and more sharp the smallest of details are. The lighting and shadows pop more and look truer to real life. As all those pixels contain colour information they can each be modified. The editing possibilities are endless. Since there is a lot of information contained in these images, file size is also larger. The biggest con is that when Raster images are enlarged they become pixelated or grainy. This happens as there is a certain number of pixels so when you zoom in far enough the computer must fill up the the colour gaps. This gives a blurry image as the computer assumes a shade of the surrounding colours.
Raster image file format extensions; BMP, TIFF, GIF, JPEG.

Vector Graphics are mathematical point, line and curve equations used to draw shapes. Instead of encrypting 300 individual pieces of information per 1"x 1" square (300dpi) like a Raster image, a Vector image only contains 4 points, one for every corner. The computer will mathematically connect the dots and fill the missing information.
Because of this Vector graphics can be scaled vastly without losing any image quality. Vector graphics also are s much smaller file size. what is the problem with vector graphics then? complex images are not practical to create in Illustrator (the number 1 Vector editing software) due to the exact coloring. It can not match the colour detail in Raster images.
That is why Vector graphics are used for fonts and logos, simple illustrations.
Vector image file format extensions; EPS, AI and PDF.

Colour Depth

Colour depth, also known as bit depth or pixel depth, refers to the number of bits used to indicate the colour of a single pixel on a monitor.

When referring to a colour component, the colour depth concept is also referred to as bits per colour (bcp), bits per channel (bpc) and bits per sample (bps). 

It’s worth noting that for example 16 bit can mean 16 bits per pixel or 16 bits per channel. 16 bits per pixel come up to 65,536 colours while 16 bits per channel mean 281,474,976,710,656 colours.

This is different to the Gamut as that refers to a range of colours. While colour depth is precise, expressing the level quality of colour.

The greater the amount of bits per pixel, the greater the variety and quality of the images displayed. In turn the less bits per pixel the lower the quality and variety.

The very first monitors and graphics cards found in the Apple Macintosh for example only supported 1-bit colour. This was monochrome, but Black and white was most common.

That was back then, now thanks to advancements in technology computers support at the very least 32-bit colour. Meaning 32 bit colour is capable of displaying 16,777,216 colours (2 to the 34th power) plus alpha channel used for transparency (4,294,967,296 colour combinations). Transparency needs to be sent to the display, as displays are opaque.

Windows 7 can now support 48-bit, allowing 281,474,976,710,656 colours to be displayed. 48 bit will only work if the video card supports it.

Bellow are all the colour depths in use from the first to the most recent.

• 1-bit (2¹ or 2 colors) - Monochrome displays.
• 2-bit (2² or 4 colors) - CGA displays.
• 4-bit (2⁴ or 16 colors) - EGA displays.
• 8-bit (2⁸ or 256 colors) - VGA displays.
• 16-bit (2¹⁶ or 65,536 colors) - XGA displays.
• 24-bit (2²⁴ or 16,777,216 colors) - SVGA displays.
• 32-bit (16,777,216 colors + Alpha channel (2³² or 4,294,967,296 color combinations))
• 48-bit (2⁴⁸ or 281,474,976,710,656 colors)digital 

1-bit

2-bit

 4-bit

 8-bit

24-bit (true colour)

For the high quality image to be viewed at its full potential the source, connection, display and media also must be of the highest quality. As files with high colour depth are very large and require a lot of processing power. They are mostly compressed highly, which negatively effects colour fidelity.

Websites such as Youtube and Netflix serve highly compressed video also, even television. This is done to save on bandwidth and infrastructure costs resulting in much of the detail being lost.

This is not much of a problem when there are many vibrant and varied colours but creates a non-detailed, block-like image when dark scenes occur with similar colours near each other. Shadows are the best way to recognize noticeable differences in quality.

Bellow are 3 scenes from the same animation. The first image is a varied and vibrantly coloured scene and the second and third are scenes in the shadows with dark colours.

To make the most out of 48-bit and even 32 bit you must not only have the right set up but also get content from the right places with higher quality codecs and encoded at a high bit-rate.

Emotion & Colour

This is 'light painter' by Tang Yau Hoong created using Photoshop and Illustrator. The piece is another example of how colour is enough to make a person feel something. The colour blue is dominant in the poster. This is because the artist is trying to convey a tranquil and calm atmosphere. It is very honest and open. The black silhouette of the man figure feels very lonely drowning in the blue colour. The mix of blue and black gives a feeling of sadness or depression. I feel that is what the intention was, as the little yellow being painted by the man signifies optimism. In fact the colour yellow, as pale as this one may be, still symbolizes imagination and hope.

This is a film poster entitled 'Red Army' by Boca. The strong colours caught my eye and gave off very strong feelings. The strong red colours are synonymous with Soviet Russia and give off a powerful and aggressive tone. Red is perceived as Power, aggression, strength, danger, war, violence. All these emotions and concepts spring to mind RED, for most. That description fits the posters team perfectly as it engulfs the viewer in the subject. The formidable, audacious adversary that is the Soviet Russian hokey team. The half black background acts as an emphasis on the fear the soviet russian team instilled in their opponents. Black is a colour that is perceived as fearful, evil, unknowing, remorse and others. So as we can see Colour play a crucial part in the overall team of the poster.
That is why as artists we should be aware of Colour and use it to help further our message to the viewer.

Here are some other Colours are perceived;

Pink; love, romance, caring, tenderness, acceptance.
Orange; energy, balance, enthusiasm, demanding, vibrant.
white; purity, simplicity, cleanness, peace.
Gray; secure, reliable, science, solid, secure, 
Lavender, femininity, elegance and grace.
yellow; optimism, joy, happiness, hazard, imagination.

Perception 2

As we have seen colour can be perceived differently depending on the composition of colours. Color also carries a meaning. This is a product of different cultures and societies for example; Americans find red white and blue (in unisons) to symbolize patriotism, as their flag is made up of those 3 colour.

Various colours carry different emotions and messages effectively and discreetly. Studies suggest that colour triggers our natural senses better than any other elements, some being shapes and symbols. Artists are aware of this and use colour to attract certain demographics and create a connection.

This is not a new discovery but has been know for a while now. Impressionism consisted of this technique, as the style was about conveying emotions. Bellow is a painting by Monet called 'Grainstack'. In said painting you can clearly see the importance of colour. The light, luminous effect created by the multiple shades of yellow gives of a very strong sense of a sunrise or sunset. It gives me a feeling of relief and optimism of what is to come. The yellow and reddish tones give a sense of warmth, as if it was real sunlight, over the pale blue tones.

In graphic design colour carries the same emotions and messages. That is why brands have moved closer to the use of colour, to grab the viewers attention and subside in their memory. Persuasion is the word.

The goal is to carry a personality with the brand through colour. That personality is what connects with corresponding individuals. For example the infamous Apple logo.

This particular Apple logos colour fits the brands personality perfectly. The colour Grey evokes balance, innovation, science and of course simplicity. That in my opinion is a fitting description for Apples future goals and history. This mature looking logo reflects a different personality when the colour is changed...

Above is another one of apples previous logos. This time it is abundant in colour. It gives off a different message than the previous logo. The multiple rainbow colours give off a playful and joyful personality. Yet innovative just the same as it still gives a message of forward thinking and unity.

It must always be kept in mind that it's not necessarily the colour itself that conveys these feelings and messages but rather the cultural perception individuals have of these colours.

Bellow is an infographic i found that sums up most of the well known brand logos and their corresponding colour emotions.

Perception 1

Colour is an interesting subject as we can't be certain about it. When you look at it scientifically colour is what our brains depict when we look around and light enters the colour receptors (cones) in our eyes.

Light can be reflected. For example; we see an apple red because it absorbs most of the incoming additive light (RGB) that hits it and reflects only the red light. Which is what our eyes pick up.
Or Emitted from a source and entering the eye.

Although, we must take into consideration that colour is not solely dependent on pigmentation but also dependent on the brightness of ambient light. Surrounding colours can also alter our perception of a colour.

Bellow are 2 squares of the same colour, both with different backgrounds. They may be the same colour but at first glance they seam to be of different shades. The square on the right looks to be lighter than the square on the left, yet they are the same. This is because a light tone looks lighter against a dark background than against a pale one.

This is another example i created. This time the two small squares are not of the same tone. Yet they seem to be, as the darker right square seems to be lighter due to the darker background.

It is interesting how colour can be easily confused, or more fittingly, confuse the brain. Bellow is a more complex illusion. what it seams to be, to the naked eye, are two different colour chest pieces surronded by fog.

Yet the two 'different coloured' chest pieces are one in the same. The confusion of black, white and grey surrounding and running through the chest pieces silhouette confuses the brain. It is a more complex example of the same above example i had created. 

As we know there are an incomprehensible number of colours. We may be able to name and standardize multiple colours but we can't standardize colour fully as it is something we still don't understand. We can define colour though.

What do you think of when you read the colour RED...

                                                                         this right?


                                                                but aren't these all red?

These are all considered red, as they are all a variation of different mixes of Hue, Saturation and Brightness(shades and tints) while still being in the red part of the colour wheel. these 3 aspects are what we use to define colour. 

Hue refers to the position or degree around the colour wheel(360 degrees). The perfect colour of red maybe at 20 degrees between the area of red 10-20 degrees (the base red). While another colour such as blue would be 180 degrees.

Saturation refers to how saturated a colour is. Meaning how vivid or rich a colour is. The higher the saturation the richer and stronger the colour gets. While the lower the saturation results in weaker overall colour, becoming a shade of grey when fully saturated. If we express hues in degrees then with saturation we use percentages (0%-100%).

Brightness refers to how much light is being or seeming to be distributed. In brightness we also use percentages to gage.  A red for example at 100% brightness would be the full red colour as as much red light as possible is being emitted and reflected. while at 0% any colour would be black as no light is being emitted.

ICC Profile

ICC Profiles are a tool to make the most out of our work by using colour efficiently and knowledgeably. The International Color Consortium (ICC) have standardized sets of data that characterizes a colour from input or output device, or a colour space.

These profiles are necessary as they can show us the final image outcome on our screen and compare between different profiles. With out knowing we can easily and instantaneously lose colour quality from photographs we import, and the quality lost can be drastic. Not to mention time and money wasted.

To further explain what ICC profiles are, they can give information of the pixels within digital photographic files. Information such as; the very darkest to the very lightest tones the file can hold.
The Gamut (range of colours) that the file is capable of showing. The relationship between these colours and tones as well as the distribution. All by 3 dimensionalizing colour information. The bellow images shows two 3D Gamuts (the range of potential colour a system can produce). The smaller one represents the standard sRGB profile and the larger transparent one represents the adobe RGB profile. (note- transparent as it is not selected).

Before comparing first notice the shape of these spectrums of colour. At each corner we see the point of red, green and blue. We can clearly see the colours fade into each other by becoming different tones. The 3D area is representative of the information of colour the profile has. So what if there is more information? Then of course the 3D area becomes larger and therefor represents even more colour. The Adobe RGB is a much richer profile as can be seen when compared (top photo). When the Adobe RGB is selected you can see the full colour of information is has, as we can see bellow. Profiles can also describe the capabilities of monitors, scanners, cammeras and also printers. aswell as any device that captures, displays or outputs colour can be described by a profile.

The bellow image shows a 2D Gamut representing and comparing other ICC profiles. The largest shape of colour represents the colour the human eye can see. The various coloured triangles represent the corresponding (by colour) profiles.

Pantone

Pantone is a standardized colour matching system (PMS for short) or 'Spot colours' as they are also called. Pantone developed their first ever colour matching system in 1963. Standardized as they have created a numbering system that gives individual colours and identity. This is a huge benefit as different manufactures and artists all over the world can insure colours match without contacting one another.
The pantone solid palette is the most common used palette and was originally designed for the graphics industry. Yet so popular that it is used by all industries. It consists of 1,114 colours and are identified by 3 or 4 digit numbers, followed by C, U, or M suffix.
For example; 456C or 1234M

C - Coated paper
U - Uncoated paper
M - Matte paper

                                                                           1234M                                                                     

456C

Pantone also have a process palette consisting of 3,000 digitally created colour variations, using CMYK process printing. These are identified by DS followed by hyphenated numbers from DS-1-1 through DS-334-9 and may be followed by C or U. These are only suitable for 4 colour printing and are used to design colour build using CMYK, in various combinations.

The Pantone Colour Bridge is a usefull tool used to convert Solid Colours into CMYK percentages.

Global fashion, textile, and apparel designers/manufactures use another palette created by Pantone which simply called Fashion and Home colours of which it boasts 1,925 Pantone. This textile palette consists of various colours and is identified by 2 digits, followed by a hyphen, 4 digits, and a suffix. the suffix is changed dependent on the material.
For example; Pantone 19-2430 could be identified as Pantone 19-2430 TPX Purple Potion(printed on paper) or 19-2430 TC Purple potion (dyed on cotton). 

There is also a Plastic palette used mostly for specific colours for molded and fabricated plastics. Consisting of 735 transparent and 1,005 opaque plastic colour chips, each chip comes in 3 different layers of thickness with the purpose of displaying different levels of transparency.
Examples; Opaque (Q) Q200-2-4 and Transparent (T) T200-2-4.

The final and newer palette that Pantone offers is the Goe Palette containing 2,058 chromatically-arranged solid colours.

Colour Systems

Colour systems are methods in which colour is produced.
Additive  & Subtractive (also known as Reflective) are the 2 colour systems.

The Additive colour system is based on 3 colours. RED, GREEN & BLUE also referred to as RGB. these are the prime colours of this system instead of the primary colours we are used to (red, yellow, blue).

The concept here is simple. Anything that emits light such as the sun or a bulb is an additive colour. Red, green and blue are not the only colours that this system is capable of. Here different colours are created by a mixture of different wavelengths of light. Hues can be created by adding or decreasing light. The more light you add the brighter the colour, whereas the less light you add, the darker the colour. The negative space is apparent as the colour black as there is an absence of colour. The colour white on the other hand is a combination of colours.

Subtractive or Reflective colour is the complete opposite of additive. This system works on the basis of reflecting light rather than emitting it. Here the prime colours are Cyan, Magenta, Yellow referred to as CMY.

Colour is Determined by the way a certain pigment reflects different wavelengths of light as it makes contact and reflects into the human eye. In this system the negative or absence of colour is represented by the colour white, while black is the mixture of colour. Although it must be kept in mind that this is an imperfect system as light is not emitted it is reflected off the pigment which does not fully absorb light. Taking this into consideration a fourth pigment is used to compensate. This is called Key, and the famous CMYK was born. Key is a black pigment which is required as without it we would not be able to render the colour black properly and accurately.

The Colour Wheel

To begin exploring Colour which is one of the formal elements in design. We must look at the very foundations of colour theory, which date back to as far as the 15th century.

                                                                   The Colour wheel

Here we can see that there is a logical formation or order of hues of colour. As your eyes follow the different colours, from any direction, it is noticeable that the next colour is relative to the previous one. What i mean by this is that every colour is derived from another by using different formulations of primary colours, being Yellow, Red & Blue.

Though these primary colours create other colours, they can not be created by any other colour.

From the primary colours we get the secondary - Green, Orange & Purple.

When primary and secondary colours are mixed then tertiary colours are created such as Red-Violet or Yellow-Orange.

The amount of colours are honestly endless as you can constantly change the hue of any colour in the tiniest and still the change will be recognizable to the human eye.