subject: How Does Color Impact Your Printing Project? [print this page] When you commission a printing project for your business, there are so many facets you will need to consider. What type of product do you want? What size should it be? What type of finishing touches do you want to make it stand out? How do you get your copy to say what you want?
One of the things that you need to consider when printing is how color affects your final product. This goes beyond just deciding whether or not to contract your project in color or leave it in black and white. When you do color printing, you need to make sure that you choose colors that work together. Otherwise, you could end up with a hideous, mismatched, glaring printed project that causes potential buyers to look poorly on your company.
Using the color wheel
Thankfully, the mysteries of color printing can be easily solved with the use of a simple color wheel. By consulting a color wheel, you can find it easier to choose colors that work well together and help you to create printing projects that sell your business.
Analogous colors
Analogous colors are next door to the color you are using on the color wheel. They work well together in color printing schemes when you pick the right shades. For example, if you take the color green, the analogous colors on either side are yellow and blue. By using these together, you can create a workable color scheme for your printing project.
Complementary colors
These colors are the ones that are opposite from each other on the color wheel. One of the most commonly used printing color combination of complementary colors is using red and green together. You see this combination everywhere as businesses get ready for the Christmas season, and the two colors work well together.
Monochrome colors
Using monochrome colors for a printing project means that you keep the background as one color and all of the other elements in a second color, as with black and white printing. This is known as two-color printing. However, do not feel like you are limited to black and white. Complementary colors are commonly used for this printing style, but some analogous color schemes will work well too.
Triadic colors
These are printing colors that you would choose based on looking at your color wheel as a triangle. For instance, you can use the three primary colors, as those would be the points of the triangle red, yellow, and blue. By choosing three colors, you are able to create a more rounded color scheme and have even more options for printing designs.
By using a color wheel, you can make color printing so much easier for your company. The more practiced you are with working with the different color families, the easier it will be to design a printing project that attracts attention for all the right reasons. Just make sure to format your colors according to your printers specifications so that your project turns out exactly as you have imagined.
