Color Your Style!

Color is such a fascinating subject, so I will spend a couple of posts discussing this important element in our Style series.

First I think we should take a look at color theory just a little. At its core, color theory relates to choosing a palette of aesthetically pleasing tonal relationships. In short, it is deciding which colors work well together. When developing an album style you will probably be drawn to a certain background color. I think there are three basic directions you can go – black, white or chromatic. I define chromatic as a color found in the images themselves that will be used for the background.

Understanding color theory will help you choose your palette by knowing what colors go well together. It also allows you to be more creative without making a color mess. There are three color harmonies that, I believe, lend themselves well to album design and creating a style: complimentary, analogous and monochromatic. You’re certainly not limited to these three relationships, but based on our experience, they’re the most effective for developing your style because they are clearly defined.

Even if you switch up your album background colors, your color harmony can really give you a distinct album style. Let’s look at each of the harmonies.

Complimentary – Color pairs that are opposite one another on the color wheel as shown here.

For example, red and green are complimentary colors, as are yellow and violet. Using complimentary colors makes for a bolder design.

Analogous – Colors that are adjacent to one another on the color wheel. These tones have similar light ray wavelengths, so they are easiest on the eye.

Monochromatic – Color schemes made up of shades and tints of the same color. By changing opacities, you can use the same color to layer tones and create depth and complexity.

Your background color choice is important for obvious reasons. I find that summer weddings tend to be complimented by light tones and shades, or white backgrounds that allow the images, strokes and graphics to really dominate the design. Fall and winter weddings tend to look great on darker colors. Black seems to always work and is very popular, but try to stretch your creativity a little if your photography style allows.

Multicolored backgrounds in an album can be tough since this can overwhelm the images. The image collection must be considered first and foremost when choosing your background so, again, your image style will be important in setting the stage. I tend to choose one or two colors to work with, and then add a stroke color for accent.

Always take a close look at your images and determine which of the three color harmonies would best compliment the collection and your style. If you have preferences, be sure to indicate them on the DoodleDo Design Order & Preferences Form so that we create a design using the colors you really love. If you leave it to us, we will certainly choose colors that will compliment and enhance your image collection in a beautiful design.

In our next Style post, we’ll take a look at actually choosing the color for your next design and discover if it works for emphasizing the style you want to portray in your albums.

~ Robin