The Designer’s Dictionary of Color

In The Designer’s Dictionary of Color, award-winning educator Sean Adams provides an in-depth look at 30 colors key to art and graphic design.

Foreword by Jessica Helfand

“The descriptions are astute and succinct and even offer ideas for pitching particular colors to clients. . . . Edges are lined in the color of each chapter, so you can flip to the right chapter for quick reference during a meeting and while doing research.” —Communication Arts

Organized by spectrum, in color-by-color sections for easy navigation, The Designer’s Dictionary of Color documents each hue with charts showing color range and palette variations. Chapters detail each color’s creative history and cultural associations, with examples of color use that extend from the artistic to the utilitarian—whether the turquoise on a Reid Miles album cover or the avocado paint job on a 1970s Dodge station wagon.

Adams writes, “A traditional approach to color is to start with primary colors, then expand into a secondary, and finally tertiary. These are included here. However, rather than following this convention, I have organized the colors into warm, cool, neutral, and specialty colors. This separation is connected more to the designer’s creative process than the academic exercise of painting a color wheel. Each color also includes a list of successful applications. These are listed to guide further research on that color and specific application listed.”

A practical and inspirational resource for designers and students alike, The Designer’s Dictionary of Color opens up the world of color for all those who seek to harness its incredible power—graphic designers, interior designers, artists, crafters, and everyone else who uses color to decorate or express themselves.