Color Index: Over 1100 Color Combinations, CMYK and RGB Formulas, for Print and Web Media (Turtleback)

by Jim Krause (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
The best-selling author of Idea Index and Layout Index returns with an all-new title! Color Index provides more than one thousand color combinations and formulas--guaranteed to help graphic artists solve design dilemmas and create effective images for both print and the Web.

From progressive colors to natural tones, Color Index makes choosing hues for any job easier! Designers will start working with color in exciting new ways and create original, eye-catching designs that pop off the page. It's all the inspiration they need to explore and experiment with color as never before!

Just like the other clever little design books in this series, Color Index is portable, packed with inspiration, and neatly packaged in a colorful, sturdy vinyl jacket.

About the Author
Jim Krause has worked as a designer in the Pacific Northwest since the 1980s. He has produced award-winning work for clients large and small, including Microsoft, McDonald's, Washington Apples, Bell Helicopter, Paccar/Kenworth, Northern Trust and Seattle Public Schools. He lives in Bellingham, Washington.

Product Details

• Turtleback: 360 pages
• Publisher: How (April 12, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1581802366
• ISBN-13: 978-1581802368
• Product Dimensions: 6.1 x 4.7 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (54 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #23,283 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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  #2 in	Books > Computers & Internet > Graphic Design > Printing
  #3 in	Books > Arts & Photography > Design & Decorative Arts > Graphic Design > Graphic Arts > Use of Color

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

103 of 112 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Look at the pictures, but don't read the copy, February 21, 2004

By	Stephen Laskevitch "Adobe Certified Instructor" (Luminous Works, Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book provides a designer with a fabulous resource for generating color schemes/combinations quickly and easily. In that respect, it inspires.

However, the author provides recipes (CMYK and RGB values) "checked for accuracy", never stating on what media those values may be valid. He then excuses himself by saying that "the potential for error exists". The implication that a set of CMYK values is in any way "accurate" beyond the inks and papers used for this particular publication is so, eh, mid-1990s. A true, but technically more challenging statement of the color values should have been made with device independent Lab values. Then anyone with Adobe Photoshop, for example, could reproduce the samples on his or her own media. This is, in fact, what Pantone does.

And aspiring web designers beware! The author clearly has little but old and second-hand knowledge of the facts of color on the web. He describes the anachronistic "browser safe" colors as if most computer users still had old 8-bit (256 color) monitors, and as if there was ever color consistency across them. In those bad old days we fought dithering (the "speckles") in solid fills by choosing from amongst the 216 colors Macs and PC monitors had in common.

Those days, except for some dusty intranets here and there, are gone. deceased. expired. However, neither then nor now could we count on consistency on our viewers' monitors--unless we can strongarm our audience into calibrating and profiling them.

These particular rants aside (the writer sighs benignly), the color examples are truly wonderful, useful, and inspiring.

In short, fabulous for samples, but not for accuracy of data.

38 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Stuck for a color combo? Look here!, March 5, 2005

By	Gwyneth Calvetti (West Salem, WI United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I'd heard about this guide on websites devoted to scrapbooking, and when I finally tracked it down, I almost didn't buy it. I looked at it and thought, "What the heck?" It is pages and pages of color combinations, arranged according to color groupings, with suggested "moods," like "retro." So what? I thought.

However, my respect for the work of those who'd recommended it overcame my initial doubts. As a designer in paper arts, I tend to get into my color ruts, and choose the same basic color combos. "Color Index" has helped me break out of my rut in a couple of different ways.

Sometimes, when I just don't feel inspired, I'll simply sit down with the book and page through it, tabbing color combinations I find interesting or appealing. Later, when I'm working in my studio, I'll take a look at the tabbed combos for ideas I can use.

Other times, I may know of one color I want to use for a design, but am stuck for accents to use. I'll take the paper I've chosen, page through the combinations and take into consideration those "moods" as well. I've discovered many combinations of color I'd never have considered otherwise, like tan with deep burgundy, accented by bright turquoise. Sounds like a bizarre mix, but it worked for that project, which was eventually published by a major scrapbooking magazine.

The book isn't flashy like other design books, but I've found it to be a dependable while inspiring workhorse in my studio.

29 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You won't need another color guide!!, April 3, 2002

By	"trebo12" (Olympia Fields, IL United States) - See all my reviews

This is the color book to end all other color books! Not only does Jim list the CMYK, but RGB and HEX too! Not only does he have the standard rectangle color blocks but an intricate pattern of the colors AND the colors in an illustration! He also gives comments on how to brainstorm for creative ideas as I'm sure he did in the 'Ideas Index' book. He also lists some of the colors that are trendy at this time which was so helpful.

There are Web and Browser safe colors, logo ideas and the lists goes on! I was smiling as I went through it last night - and that has NEVER happened! My creativity was so fueled, couldn't wait to get up this morning to get started on SOMETHING - ANYTHING! I am so impressed! I've bought and returned so many color guides but this 'little' book has made a HUGE impact and makes the 'Color Harmony' series books 'pale' in comparison! You will NOT be sorry!!