07 Colour in Context

I chose a versatile phrase - it’s fine - that could be interpreted very differently depending on the tone of the speech. I have had personal experience with tone misinterpretation over text and thus, I thought of representing the tone and emotions behind the phrase with colours. Red is alarming, angry and a symbol of violence. Yellow is happy, lively, and warm. Green is envy, jealousy, and disgust. Blue is sorrowful, calmness, and conservative. Lastly, pink is compassion, love, and romance. I then altered the saturation, value, and tone of the colours to make sure that they would be not mistaken for other emotions.

 

To amplify the emotions, I decided to add objects that are associated with certain emotions into the work. I surveyed a few people about what they think of when certain emotions are mentioned. I think having other people’s opinions was valuable because by only having my knowledge, the perspective on the work could be limited.

 

I decided to make this project into a book so that the change of tone through the change of colours can work the best with its viewers. I imagine the viewer turning the pages of the book and reading the phrase differently from the different colours used on each page.

 

At first, I was inspired by Portia Munson’s style of work where objects were gathered and photographed. I tested out with coloured lights while taking photos. However, I did not like how it worked with the spread as a whole. The different styles of each object did not give me a sense of unity and I felt that it was hard to control the image.

 

Then, I decided to pursue a more illustrative style which I ended up with the flat-coloured style in the end. I felt that it allowed me to have more control over the page and I wanted it more as an illustrative work than a photography one. I also had some trouble choosing the typography for the phrase. At first, I chose Helvetica because I thought it would be the most neutral typography so it would not influence the work and let the colour come through. However, it did not work very well with the illustrations because of its lack of personality, though I do think I should select the typography out of the san serif ones. I chose DIN condensed in the end because I felt it worked the best with the flat-coloured page. I also had a white background at the start to increase the neutrality but it was too bright. I then tested out using black and thought it amplified the colours more than white.