Part 6

Reduction of 12 Sheet Poster]

Reduction of 16 Sheet Poster]

Reduction of 16 Sheet Poster]

Reduction of 8 Sheet Poster]

Value and Harmony of Colors

The proper use of colors will make your posters stand out like a sore thumb on a one-armed man.

Colors catch the eye. A small child is attracted to a colored Easter egg where it wouldn’t waste any time on an ordinary piece of hen fruit. We are all susceptible to the beauty and attraction of colors, and nowhere in advertising does color cut quite so much of a figure as in posting.

Strong contrasts and striking effects, rather than daintiness and real artistic combinations, are to be sought for poster work. A poster can either be made or marred by the proper or improper use of colors.

It is not the intention here to go into an exhaustive treatise on the harmony of colors, but rather to give a few general hints and suggest simple color combinations which will be practical when applied to posters.

The primary colors are yellow, blue and red. From these, in combination, all other colors are made.

Black is universally employed in combination with the primaries to give strength to the majority of poster printing.

Yellow, orange and red are warm colors, while violet, blue and green are known as cold colors. The cold colors have a soothing action on the brain; the warm colors tend to stimulate it. The cold colors are the more artistic for poster work; the warm colors have the greatest attention-attracting value.

GOOD TWO-COLOR COMBINATIONS

Black and yellow (strongest primary combination). Black and red. Black and light blue. Black and green. Black and orange. Red and dark blue. Red and green. Red and yellow. Light yellow and dark blue. Blue and orange.

(A white letter used with any of the above will give a three color effect with two printings.)

In combination with black the density and richness of the other colors will be intensified in the effectiveness of the display. Where black is laid over the supplementary colors it often gives the effect of an added color.

GOOD THREE-COLOR COMBINATIONS

Black, red and blue. Black, red and yellow. Black, yellow and blue. Black, red and green. Black, green and orange. Black, orange and blue.

Beyond the use of the three primary colors in combination with black, according to the density and richness of the colors employed, nearly all gradations of color effect are possible.

HARMONIZING HINTS

Red will harmonize with the other two primaries, yellow and blue; also with yellow and green-blue, yellow and violet-blue, green-yellow and blue, green-yellow and violet-blue, and yellow-green and violet-blue. Any of the pairs of colors named will form a good combination with red, in their normal state, or when reduced with white, or modified with gray, or darkened with black.

Yellow will harmonize with the primaries, red and blue; also with purple-red and blue, orange-red and blue, orange-red and violet-blue, purple-red and green-blue, and red-purple and sea-green. Any of the pairs of colors named will form a good combination with yellow, in their normal state, or when reduced with white, or modified with gray, or darkened with black.

Blue will harmonize with the primaries, yellow and red; also with yellow and purple-red, yellow and orange-red, green-yellow and red, green-yellow and purple-red, and green-yellow and orange-red. Any of the pairs of colors named will form a good combination with blue, in their normal state, or when reduced with white, or modified with gray, or darkened with black.

Orange will harmonize with green and violet, green and purple-violet, blue-green and violet, blue-green and purple-violet, sea-green and purple-violet, and sea-green and purple, in their normal state, or when reduced with white, or modified with gray, or darkened with black.

Green will harmonize with violet and orange, violet and orange-red, blue-violet and orange-red, and purple-violet and orange, in their normal state, or when reduced with white, or modified with gray, or darkened with black.

Purple will harmonize with orange and blue-green, orange and sea-green, yellow-orange and blue-green, yellow-orange and sea-green, and orange-yellow and sea-green, in their normal state, or when reduced with white, or modified with gray, or darkened with black.

Bill-Posting For The Local Advertiser

Advertising is appealing to people through their common sense and their artistic sense in order to win their dollars and cents.