Color Harmony Workbook: A Workbook and Guide to Creative Color Combinations [Hardcover]

Lesa Sawahata (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1999

This workbook is a practical, visual guide that takes the guesswork out of choosing and using color combinations. Colors and color schemes are matched to specific moods, to help you select the best color combination for any design project, whether graphic design, interior design, crafts, or fine art. Large, tear-out swatches of each color combination let you mix, match, and test different hues in your designs. An essential tool for all who design with colors.

Large, tear-out swatches

1400 color combination

Color conversion chart for process colors

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Lesa Sawahata is a Seattle-based journalist who has written frequently on the subjects of design, art, architecture, and fashion. Her work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times Magazine, Self, Allure, The Village Voice.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

How to use this book: Enter Color Harmony Workbook, a tool designed to end this frustration and lend ongoing inspiration and support to anyone who needs a precise command of color in all its delicious variety and moods. Color Harmony Workbook includes:

Basic color information A color wheel Themed color schemes Color swatches for easy reference

Armed with this information, color professionals (including graphic and interior designers, architects, artists, and craftspeople) can approach their particular project - whether brochure, home interior, or painting - infused with new confidence and creativity.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Rockport Pub (February 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1564964353
• ISBN-13: 978-1564964359
• Product Dimensions: 11.2 x 8.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #866,211 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

80 of 80 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best book on color, must-have for designers, July 22, 2001

By 

Angel Lee "Liocorno Amethyst Moonstone" (Cleveland, OH United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Color Harmony Workbook: A Workbook and Guide to Creative Color Combinations (Hardcover)

This is the best book on color I have found. It is a must have for anyone who has ever been confused about matching colors and creating the right mood. Though I was already fairly confident working with color, this book helped me a great deal by letting me see a wide variety of color combinations together. It has been an invaluable reference tool in helping me decorate my home.

The book begins by discussing the color wheel. This includes the facets of color such as hot, cold, light, dark, pale, bright, warm and cool as well as a great explanation of all the different color schemes. It is divided into over 20 different themes including romantic, friendly, earthy, fresh, calm, traditional, professional, magical, classic, tropical and energetic. For each of these themes a set of color schemes including monochromatic, primary, complementary, split-complementary, analogous, spilt, clash and neutral is shown. Tear out swatches, clearly labeled with theme and color scheme on the back, duplicate what is shown in the book. A brief tips section for using the themes in graphic design, interiors and fine art is also given.

In the back of the book is a process color conversion chart that gives the CMYK values for each of the 106 colors used. Swatches are included for this as well. This is very useful for graphic designers.

This book and Color Harmony 2 are pretty much identical in content. However, this one is bigger and contains swatches, while the other contains a great CD with a pallet picker. The one with the CD may be more helpful to web designers and such, but this version is probably better for interior designers and artists using traditional media. If I had to select only one color book, this one or Color Harmony 2 would be my first choice.

22 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Useful AND Fun, December 2, 2000

By 

FKC "FKC" (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Color Harmony Workbook: A Workbook and Guide to Creative Color Combinations (Hardcover)

You will not regret buying this book! The color theory information is brief, to the point, and helpful. And then there are the swatches. Hundreds of tear out swatches of color combinations. I play with them over and over while choosing colors for designing. CMYK values are provided for all colors, making it easy to use them for digital work.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book, September 16, 2003

By 

M. Mierzwa "mmier" (Forestville, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Color Harmony Workbook: A Workbook and Guide to Creative Color Combinations (Paperback)

I'm a web designer with and I use this book frequently to come up with various different color combinations for client websites. It's become a mandatory staple on my desk! If you need to learn about color, this is a excellent starting source.