Squares & Diamonds

WORKING WITH COLOURS:
Documenting a Colour Story

Choose a set of colours from an image and create an abstract visual equivalent.

Details:

• Middle-high school and up (Younger students may be able to do this exercise if they have access to digital products.)

• Time: 20 minutes

• Learning Outcome: Recognize the key colours that represent the image and be able to choose and arrange them while keeping the legibility of each shape in the design.

• Colour Concepts: The choice and placement of colours from the inspiration image affect the overall effectiveness and legibility of the design as a ‘visual equivalent’.

Materials:

• Diamonds and Squares Slide Deck

• Digital images - Copy and paste from your own images or download images from the CLP Google Drive folder with copyright free images. LINK to images folder.

Instructions:

• The task is to sum up the colour impression of a scene in a standard format with just five colours.

• Open the Squares and Diamonds Slide Deck

• Download 1 to 3 inspiration image(s) from your files or from the CLP Images Folder. LINK

• Add an image to the left side of the first blank slide in the slide deck. Slide 13

  Part One - Colour Story

• Study the scene to identify five colours that sum up the overall colour impression of the scene. This is the colour story.

• To add a colour to the design on the right, select one of the grey shapes by clicking on it and then go the the ‘shape fill’ paint bucket. To choose a color in the image, go to ‘more fill colors’, then use the eyedropper to select the colour you want to try from the image. The shape will then change colour accordingly.

• Fill each of the shapes.

• The colours you choose will be shown in the ‘recent colors’ of the colour picker.

• Try a few different designs and pick the one you think best represents the colour story of the image.

  Part Two - Legibility

• You will find that the order in which you place the colours can be critical both for capturing the ‘colour story’ of the inspiration image and for the legibility of each shape in the design.

• Step back from your design and check to see if each of the shapes can still be seen clearly. Make adjustments to the lightness/value of the colours if necessary.

Vocabulary:

• Lightness/Value

Questions & observations:

• What combination of hues did you use?

• What characters did you use?

• Which played the larger role in creating the colour story - the hues or the characters?

More to explore:

• Take photos to use for your inspiration images.

• Create a series of designs using a collection of images as inspiration.

What’s going on?

• Part One: The size of each shape and placement of the colours you select will impact how well you capture the impression of the image.

• Part Two: The lightness contrasts will determine how clearly each shape in the design is seen against the other shapes.

Find out more:

Related exercise:

• Simultaneous Contrast