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ISO50 Blog » Color Management: A Field Guide

Bill — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 21:36:36 +0000

ISO50 lays down the knowledge on color management:

Whether you are designing for print or for the web, making the leap from what you see on your computer screen to the outside world can be a tricky process, fraught with unpredictable changes and unexpected results. The web is full of information regarding color management and sifting through it can be very overwhelming. Contradictory opinions abound and it can be difficult to find reliable sources of information.

Over the last few months, Scott and I have been researching this topic extensively [and] we have implemented a color management system that works for us. Below we have tried to aggregate this knowledge into a simple and useful guide, designed to help you ensure your studio is set up correctly. It is not intended to be the end-all article on color management by any means — but it’s a good place to start if color management isn’t something you have previously implemented or considered.

(Thanks Quipsologies!)

Painting, Film, and Color: An Annotated List

Bill — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 17:05:40 +0000

“Painting’s influence on film has been remarked upon in film scholarship and criticism for at least half a century. Lots of ink has been spilled, for instance, on the impact that German expressionism had on the work of Murnau and Lang, not to mention the aesthetic of American film noir; Dali’s collaboration with Hitchcock on the set design for Spellbound’s lurid dream sequence is now part of the lore of art and popular culture. Filmmakers often arrive at the visual look, compositional style, and color temperature of their moving images by sourcing them in the work of master painters. Rembrandt and Edward Hopper have been important touchstones for any number of cinematographers, past and present. And many world-class directors (Raoul Ruiz, Peter Greenaway, David Lynch, Youssef Chahine, Derek Jarman, Mario Bava, and Walerian Borowczyk) trained as painters before devoting themselves to narrative film.” (Thanks Coudal Partners!)

Magenta Ain’t A Colour

Bill — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 17:04:05 +0000

“A beam of white light is made up of all the colours in the spectrum. The range extends from red through to violet, with orange, yellow, green and blue in between. But there is one colour that is notable by its absence.

Pink (or magenta, to use its official name) simply isn’t there. But if pink isn’t in the light spectrum, how come we can see it?”

Follow the Rainbow: 101 Color Resources for Web Designers

Bill — Wed, 14 May 2008 14:15:49 +0000

“Do you freak out if someone asks you to match print colors to Web colors? Or, maybe you just can’t decide whether the orange would work better with the blue or the green. Either way, many designers may not realize how easy it is to choose a palette for that new Web design. Additionally, many designers might be surprised to learn that they can stay on top of color trends with a few visits to fashion design Web sites. All those tips and more are listed below in this list of 101 color resources for Web designers.”

Getting Accurate Colors When Printing Proofs from InDesign

Bill — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 15:39:52 +0000

“I am in the process of printing a postcard out of InDesign CS3. The background was created in Photoshop CS3, and the information has been added with InDesign. When printing a proof from Photoshop, I get the color I expect to get. Printing out of InDesign, I do not. I even created a box in InDesign with the same color values, and the color is still not correct. I have checked the color profiles, and the object color profile, and they are the same. Any Ideas?”

ColorJack: Color Theory

Bill — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 15:00:10 +0000

“Creative professionals daily delve into the world of Color. Color is powerful, it affects us all in countless ways. ColorJack’s tools help us choose the right colors for websites, print jobs, or any design project.” (Thanks Dave!)

Sim Daltonism

Bill — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 14:19:38 +0000

“Sim Daltonism is a color blindness simulator for Mac OS X. It filters in real-time the area around the mouse pointer and displays the result — as seen by a color blind person — in a floating palette.

Since there are many types of color blindness, Sim Daltonism allow you to choose the one you want to see.”

Pantone’s Missed Chance

Bill — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 15:07:40 +0000

Tim Bray: “Today I see, via John Gruber, that Pantone has been acquired by X-Rite. In 1995, I gave Pantone’s CEO some advice that might have made them a lot of money. He didn’t take it, but it’s an amusing story.”

Dark and Fleshy: The Color of Top Grossing Movies

Bill — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 00:25:59 +0000

“I started to think that NC-17 movies perhaps shared a common visual string in their marketing materials — dark and provocative… I started with R and pulled up the top five movies’ posters. Less provocative but very dark. I moved on to PG-13’s five. Not provocative at all but dark nonetheless. PG’s five? Much friendlier but, yes, dark. It wasn’t until I got to the five Gs that I started seeing some bright colors in the movie posters.” (Thanks HOW Blog!)

13 More Great Color Legends

Bill — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 12:39:08 +0000

“A little while ago we showed you 11 of the Great Color Legends and why they exist… and now we’re back with 13 more great color legends… Green Cards, Blue Balls, Highlighter Yellow, Ferrari Red & more. Be sure to let us know if there is a great color legend you’d like us to cover in a future edition.”