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Color Theory

Writing Assignment:

  • What are the 3 primary colors? 

Red

Yellow

 Blue

  • How are secondary colors created? Cite an example 

The secondary colors are resulting from the mixing of two primary colors.

Green

Orange

Purple

  • How are tertiary colors created? Cite an example 

Tertiary colors are the resulting color formed when an equal amount of a primary and a secondary color are mixed. 

Amber

Vermilion

Magenta

Violet

Chartreuse

Teal

  • What is the difference between subtractive and additive color models? 

Subtractive colors start as white and as you add color they get darker and turn black.

  • How does one color affect another? 

Because our brain thinks of certain colors as good and bad.The back of your eye is lined with light-sensitive cells, including color-sensitive cone cells. Your cones affect each other in complex ways. These connections give you good color vision, but they can also fool your eye.

  • How can color affect our perception? 

Our personal and cultural associations affect our experience of color. Colors are seen as warm or cool mainly because of long-held (and often universal) associations. Yellow, orange and red are associated with the heat of sun and fire; blue, green and violet with the coolness of leaves, sea and the sky.

  • Find an example or show an example of a greyscale image.

  • Find an example or show an example of a monochrome image. 

  • Find an example or show an example of an image that uses complimentary color.

Helvetica

Where does Helvetica originate from? What country?

Germany

  It originated from post WWII Switzerland.

What does the name Helvetica mean in English

 The original name is Neue Haas Grotesk. Helvetica means “The Swiss Typeface”.

What year was Helvetica created, who created it?

Helvetica was created in 1957 by the famous fonts designer Eduard Hoffman.

What is the design style that Helvetica brought to popularity worldwide?

Helvetica is a font of such practicality–and, its adherents would suggest, such beauty–that it is both ubiquitous and something of a cult. Lars Müller has called Helvetica “the perfume of the city.”

The font also manages to convey honesty and invite trust.

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Name 3 qualities of Helvetica.

- Harmonic

- Clean

- Evident

List the names of 3 different design styles or design movements that are discussed in the film.

 Grunge Typography,

 

Modernism             

 

Post-Modernism

Which screen fonts did Matthew Carter design?

Georgia

Verdana

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What is the cloned version of Helvetica called?

Nimbus sans

Is David Carson a trained designer? How does it affect his approach?

David Carson (born September 8, 1955) is an American graphic designer, art director and surfer. He is best known for his innovative magazine design, and use of experimental typography. He was the art director for the magazine Ray Gun, in which he employed much of the typographic and layout style for which he is known.

What magazine did David Carson Design?

Surfer Magazine

Name 5 brands that use Helvetica.

ACTIVITIES:

  • Where can examples of Helvetica be seen? Can you spot some examples on our own campus? Use your camera and take a picture of a few examples and include in your blog post. 

  • Name 4 Designers that appear in the film. Look them up and show examples of their work, research and provide links to websites and any biographical information about them.

Massimo Vignelli
Wim Crouwel
Erik Spiekermann
Michael Bierut

Thinking More Deeply:

Think of the font you most commonly use when working on your computer.

Which one is it and why do you use that one?

Open Sans is used in some of Google's web pages as well as its print and web advertisements. Use sans serif fonts (Helvetica, Arial) because the near-uniform width of the strokes keeps the font readable when reduced in resolution or reduced in font size. Sans serif fonts are more legible from farther away, which is why they are good for posters and slides, particularly the titles and headers.

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