Customer Reviews

Color Index

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I'll admit it. I'm not the best person to set up a colour pallette, so I've found this book to be very useful. It is well organized, espeically with all the swatches printed to the edge of the page for easy reference. As it boasts, it works well for both print and web, and for helping to color manage your monitor. I can't say I'm a fan of the graphics Krause uses as his examples, but that isn't the focal point of the book.

The back cover reads: 'An abundance of creativity--at a glance' and I think it is safe to agree with that statement. It sure is one quick reference book; no frills to divert the task at hand...picking the right #@!* colour!

This is a wonderful book to keep as a reference for any type of graphic design project. The small, but extremely useful, book size allows you to keep the book handy on your desk at all times. Whether you use the book for color inspiration or to pull color combinations (up to 4 colors) from, it's a great tool. The color listings are in CMYK and RGB including a small section of Browser Safe colors in the back of the book.

Although not a professional, this guide helped me with understanding color how to deal with printers in that medium. Thanks!

This book provides a designer with a fabulous resource for generating color schemes/combinations quickly and easily. In that respect, it inspires.

However, the author provides recipes (CMYK and RGB values) "checked for accuracy", never stating on what media those values may be valid. He then excuses himself by saying that "the potential for error exists". The implication that a set of CMYK values is in any way "accurate" beyond the inks and papers used for this particular publication is so, eh, mid-1990s. A true, but technically more challenging statement of the color values should have been made with device independent Lab values. Then anyone with Adobe Photoshop, for example, could reproduce the samples on his or her own media. This is, in fact, what Pantone does.

And aspiring web designers beware! The author clearly has little but old and second-hand knowledge of the facts of color on the web. He describes the anachronistic "browser safe" colors as if most computer users still had old 8-bit (256 color) monitors, and as if there was ever color consistency across them. In those bad old days we fought dithering (the "speckles") in solid fills by choosing from amongst the 216 colors Macs and PC monitors had in common.

Those days, except for some dusty intranets here and there, are gone. deceased. expired. However, neither then nor now could we count on consistency on our viewers' monitors--unless we can strongarm our audience into calibrating and profiling them.

These particular rants aside (the writer sighs benignly), the color examples are truly wonderful, useful, and inspiring.

In short, fabulous for samples, but not for accuracy of data.

Tasteful use of color can make or break a web or print design, and this book is an invaluable tool in that endeavor. At first glance it might seem overpriced for nothing but a collection of color combinations, but you'll find yourself turning to it again and again for inspiration.

The color schemes are organized by category ("Quiet", "Natural", "Restrained Chic", etc.), and each is presented in three different ways - as a set of plain vertical bars, as a homogenous pattern, and used in a simple iconic design. Throughout the book are brief passages on different color techniques ("Unexpected Color", "Muting", etc.), which help stimulate brainstorming and experimentation.

The book is well-made, too - it's printed on sturdy paper, conveniently sized, and thoughtfully bound in a waterproof vinyl cover. Stick it in your pocket or backpack and take it anywhere.

A great practical purchase (or gift!) for any graphic designer.

This is a terrific book for the novice or the veteran user, whether you are into web design or vector / raster graphics. These ready-made combinations are categorized and provide the settings for CYMK, RGB and Hex.

Being "color challenged" I appreciated the combinations. Having a short attention span, I appreciated the brevity of the book. The vinyl cover is a nice touch making it a durable resource.

This book is awesome! Finished the whole volume in just one day and had a beautiful splash screen done within minutes! I recommend this to any one involved in graphic design. My only gripe is that the colors on palettes for each chapters were not labeled with the corresponding CMYK and RGB values to allow the reader to pick colors while of course applying the color theories discussed, e.g., analogous, split complementary, triad, etc. I had to compare the colors of the palettes from the color swatches to get the color values. I could have rated this book five (5) stars if only the colors from the palettes were labeled.

Just received this book yesterday and already have used it!
This book is a wonderful tool for the graphic designer and it would be a compliment to any Colour Theory class.

This book is a beautiful, compact treasure!
Never before have I seen so many quality combinations of color intelligently organized into one volume. I get a better sense of appropriate color schemes just flipping this book in a single sitting then I have in all my training in "color theory." This is a godsend for those of us to *visualize* things rather than theorize them. It's well worth the price of admission.

I recently purchased this book and was somewhat dissapointed because I was not expecting a pocket size design book. Of course I should have read the dimensions of only 1.07 x 5.86 x 4.90. The color combinations are OK but they are too small, very difficult to use. I recommend looking for a bigger book were you can visually see the color combinations. After all, color design is not done on the road so there is no need for a pocket size book. I think the publisher was trying to save on printing costs.