THE DESIGNERS GUIDE TO COLOR COMBINATIONS

Leslie Cabarga

North Light Books, Cincinnati, USA

Year 1999

Pages 146

If you are from the “I don’t know zip about color – but I know what I like” school of color theory, this book’s for you. You won’t find color wheels or lectures on color harmony here . . . just 500+ tried-and-true color combinations derived from actual design work – posters, packages, even giftware – created over the past century by designers, artists and color experts. You will find historical color combinations from the Victorian period, Art Deco era, Far-out Sixties, Rave craze – plus current color combinations, such as limited color, “bad color” and much more. Even if you don’t know what you are looking for, you will know it when you see it here. It is not just what colors you use, but how you use them. That is why the color combinations in this book are arranged in simple, sample layouts rather than pages of out-of-context swatches. Complete with color formulas in CMYK, these layouts show you which colors work for backgrounds, borders, type, outlines, panels and small text, so you can easily adapt them to your designs.