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June/July 2014

This Issue

F | I | L | E

The Art and Science of Color

AIGA, the professional association for design, deﬁnes graphic design as:

A creative process that combines art and technology to communicate ideas. The designer

works with a variety of communication tools in order to convey a message from a client to a

particular audience.

According to AIGA, design is an investment that gives a business a competitive advantage

by building customer trust and loyalty. An important element of design is innovative and

eective use of color.

Understanding color

When starting a design project, one of the graphic designer’s ﬁrst tasks is to select a color

palette with attributes that represent the client and appeal to the audience. This requires an

understanding of the meaning of colors and how the color spectrum is structured.

A color circle or wheel shows the relationship of one color to another by arranging them

in a logical sequence that mimics what happens when colors are mixed. The most familiar

color wheels consist of primary, secondary and tertiary colors. Primary colors cannot be

made by mixing other colors. Secondary colors are made by mixing two primary colors, and

tertiary colors are made by mixing one primary and one secondary color.

The primary, secondary and tertiary colors are arranged sequentially around the color

wheel so that primary colors are equidistant and the secondary and tertiary colors fall

in between. Colors that are directly opposite one another on the color wheel are called

complementary colors while those that are side-by-side are called analogous colors.

The oldest of all color circles is based on subtractive color and uses cyan (light blue), magenta

and yellow colorants as the primary colors (though blue, red and yellow can also be used).

Combining all three primary subtractive colors produces black. Combining two primary colors

produces violet (purple), orange and green. These are formed by mixing equal amounts of red

and blue, red and yellow and blue and yellow respectively. Color painting, photography and

printing use the subtractive color circle.

An additive color circle is based on red, green and blue light as primary colors. Combining

the three primary additive colors produces white light. Combining two primary colors

produces the secondary colors of cyan, yellow and magenta (blue + green = cyan; red + blue

= magenta; green + red = yellow). Sir Isaac Newton developed the additive color wheel in

1706 after observing that when white light passes through a spectrum, it separates into wave

lengths of six dierent colors — violet, blue, green, yellow, orange and red. He called this a

spectrum. Computer screens, television sets and theater lights use the additive color circle.

The Art and Science of Color 1-2

Tips & Tricks 3

Q & A 3

The Idea Corner 4

A Vocabulary of the Graphic Arts 4

2014 Star of Excellence Awards 5

Partnering with the USPS 6-7

Direct Mail Services 8

facebook.com/VisionsInc

Kelly

According to the Direct Marketing Association, direct mail delivers

a higher response rate than digital channels, and is still a popular

tactic for successful companies across the United States. Visions

provides full-service, in-house mailing capabilities. From start

to ﬁ nish, we will make sure your campaign is delivered on

schedule and according to plan. Our mailing services include

NCOA, CASS certiﬁ cation, ink jetting, bar coding, inserting,

tabbing, list hygiene, bagging and poly wrapping, kitting

and warehousing, list purchasing, personalized printing,

data management and more! Contact Stuart Weeldreyer at

763-496-2826 or stuart.weeldreyer@visionsﬁ rst.com

for more details.

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***********************AUTO**3-DIGIT 553

Kelly Wold-Smith

S109 B3 C1

Futura Marketing

9531 W 78th St Ste 250

Eden Prairie MN 55344-3896

Summary of content (8 pages)

PAGE 1
F|I|L|E June/July 2014 This Issue The Art and Science of Color 1-2 Tips & Tricks 3 Q&A 3 The Idea Corner 4 Kelly A Vocabulary of the Graphic Arts 4 2014 Star of Excellence Awards Partnering with the USPS Direct Mail Services 5 6-7 8 y Kell Kelly Kelly The Art and Science of Color AIGA, the professional association for design, defines graphic design as: A creative process that combines art and technology to communicate ideas.
PAGE 2
Full-color printing uses the subtractive color wheel with primary colors of cyan, magenta and yellow. Cyan is the complement of red which means that it absorbs (subtracts) red. Magenta absorbs green; and yellow absorbs blue. When paper that reflects light is covered with a colorant like ink, the ink subtracts parts of the white light shining on the paper. Because printing inks are transparent, any light that has not been absorbed by the ink is reflected back to the viewer from the paper.
PAGE 3
A handy tool to test a color palette for RGB and web color spaces can be found at Color Scheme Designer (http:// colorschemedesigner.com/#). The site allows for developing and testing six separate color schemes: monochromatic, complementary, triad, tetrad, analogic and accented analogic. Adjustments to the scheme can be made on-the-fly, and both a light and dark version preview of a dummy website can be called up.
PAGE 4
A color matching system gives graphic designers, document creators and printers a common language and set of standards to specify color. Within the graphic arts and printing industry, the most widely used system is the Pantone Matching System, abbreviated PMS. The system includes both solid (spot) colors created by premixed inks, and four-color process colors created by using cyan (light blue), magenta, yellow and black inks.
PAGE 5
Visions Receives 9 PIM Star of Excellence Awards Visions, Inc. is proud to announce earning nine 2013 Star of Excellence Awards. The awards, presented by the Printing Industry Midwest (PIM), were given on April 24, 2014. PIM is the leading trade association for printing, communication and graphic arts industry in the Upper Midwest. Visions competed against hundreds of entries from printing and graphic arts firms from five Midwest states.
PAGE 6
Partnering with the USPS for Direct Mail Success An active direct mail program is more than the offer, the printed piece and the mailing list. It is also the United States Postal Service (USPS) delivering the mail piece to the intended target. We admit that it can sometimes be hard to understand and follow the rules set down by the USPS to qualify for postage discounts; but we also recognize that without the USPS, direct mail campaigns would be more expensive and possibly less effective.
PAGE 7
Working with the USPS 2014 USPS mail holidays Businesses and organizations that use a direct mail campaign as part of their sales and marketing strategy know well that a significant amount of money can be saved on postage by presenting pre-processed mail.
PAGE 8
PRESORTED STANDARD U.S. POSTAGE PAID TWIN CITIES, MN PERMIT NO. 2805 8801 Wyoming Avenue North Brooklyn Park, MN 55445 www.visionsfirst.com Address Service Requested This Issue The Art and Science of Color 1-2 Tips & Tricks 3 Q&A 3 The Idea Corner 4 A Vocabulary of the Graphic Arts 4 2014 Star of Excellence Awards Partnering with the USPS Direct Mail Services This newsletter is printed on 80# Winner gloss text.