Tips on the Effective Use of Color

By Mark Toft
Staples Editor

Before you order those brochures or business cards, take a moment to consider color selection. The right color (or combination of colors) can help you can make a deeper, more lasting impression on current or future customers — whether you're introducing a new product through direct mail, or announcing a sale with flyers.

How can you use color to maximum effect—without becoming an expert yourself? Margaret Walch, Director of the Color Association of the United States (CAUS), offers the following guidelines.

Go chromatic

While black type on white paper can be the right choice for business letters, almost any printout, flyer, or brochure can benefit from color. Though color may cost more, it's often worth the investment. "Don't forget," says Walch, "we live in a multi–colored world." Color is part of human experience and expectations.

Use color complements

Color complements are colors that appear opposite each other on the color wheel (see right), such as blue and orange, and yellow and purple. "Complements have an arresting value," says Walch. Just don't go overboard and load your print project with every available color complement. The result will be loud and dizzying, what color analysts call "the dazzle effect."

Experiment with analogous harmony

Analogous harmony (also known as hombre) is produced by the layering of colors that appear next to each other on the color wheel. Walch points out that many people incorrectly infer from the above tip about color complements that this is taboo. In fact, layering neighboring colors on the color wheel can create a nuanced, sophisticated look.

Select "sweep" rather than "ditzy" color

Sweep colors, says Walch, are large blocks of solid color. Ditzy colors, on the other hand, are splotchy, granular, or busy splashes of color.

Venture into the unknown

Colored paper

While all of the colors discernible to the human eye (one unencumbered by color blindness, that is) can not yet be produced, Walch points out that we can now achieve the reproduction of 256 distinct colors. (Our computer screens, however, are for the time being stuck at 216!)

With so many colors at our disposal, Walch suggests using complex or mixed colors, such as taupe (a hue between violet and red) or celadon (pale to very pale) green. "Show people something they haven't seen before," Walch says. "There are so many more interesting, and less familiar, colors out there than 'stop dead red'."

Trust your intuition

Unless you're color blind or suspicious of your own tastes, you can do this on your own. When asked if people should turn to a professional color consultant (a color forecaster), Walch says that such help is only necessary if you're designing something for a public space (a lobby of a public building, for instance).

Don't become too much of a stickler for rules

It used to be that the use of analogous colors (colors that are next to each other on the color wheel, remember) was considered inappropriate and gauche. Now, of course, it's not only accepted, but embraced. Keeping an open mind can lead to startling and wonderful results.

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The information contained in this article is only an overview of the subject matter made for general guidance to the reader, and is subject in all cases to limitations and disclaimers set forth in Staples' Legal Terms and Conditions.