Softcover

ISBN 10: 0130358592 ISBN 13: 9780130358592

Publisher: Prentice Hall, 2003

Exceptionally authoritative and applied, this handbook/tutorial/workbook provides a firm foundation in the basics of color harmony and usage and explores the vast and often hidden ways in which color affects our everyday lives—culturally, psychologically, and physiologically. Based on well-controlled, scientific studies, it separates color myth from color fact, and shows readers how color affects, for example, our health, spending habits, perceived image, communication, weight, sex lives, and consumer brand preferences. Self-contained segments on different aspects of color or specific application areas provide convenient handbook use. Detailed experiential exercises cross over into many fields—e.g., interiors, fashion, graphics, healthcare, architecture, environment and landscape, hospitality, etc. The Color Connection. Color: Pigment and Light. Color Myths and Biases. Color and Health. Color and Psychology. Color in Interiors. Color in Architecture and Landscape Design. Color in Advertising and Marketing. Color in Fashion and Textile Design. Color in Culture and Society. Color Order Systems. Color: Pushing the Envelope. For Interior Designers, Interior Decorators, Product Designers, Graphic Designers, Architects, Product Designers, Fashion Designers, Healthcare workers (specifically Physical Therapists, Chiropractors and alternative medicine practitioners such as Aromatherapists, Color Therapists, and Holistic Medicine Practitioners and well as holistic Veterinarians), and Education Administrators.

From the Author:

Color affects your health, your spending habits, your personal and professional image. Color affects every aspect of our lives every day, yet we take color for granted. It surrounds us. It penetrates our bodies as light waves. We eat it in fruits, vegetables, and artificial food colorings. Our lives depend on color. We rely on colored traffic lights to warn us of danger. We rely on color coding to separate beneficial medications from poisons. We buy products because color advertising appeals to us on a subliminal level. Yet, while color is a major part of our lives most of us have only a vague awareness of what color is. Even artists and designers who have spent years working directly with color/light rarely know just how much it affects us physiologically, psychologically and sociologically.

In today's competitive marketplace a designer must have more than just the basic tools to survive. Savvy consumers want to get the most for their money and the designer must be armed with accurate information. Forward thinking health care givers are beginning to realize the important effect that the color/light environment has on health. The field of color is filled with myths and old wives tales that must be dispelled if we are to truly understand the importance of color in our lives. It is with this in mind that Color - The Secret Influence was written. After researching thousands of sources for many years, we have arrived at a body of work that is based on factual, scientific data. We separate myth from fact and present a truly integrated picture of color. There are many books about color on the market but the vast majority of them just repeat the same rhetoric based on faulty assumptions. Color: The Secret Influence is based on years of well controlled scientific researc! h, not the repetition of myths. By the time you finish reading Color - The Secret Influence you will find there's much more to color than meets the eye.

From the Back Cover:

This integrated exploration of color and light incorporates not only the basics of color harmony and usage, but also information on the vast and often hidden ways in which color affects our everyday lives—culturally, psychologically, and physiologically. This book spans a wide range of design areas and focuses on an understanding of the concepts of color and its applications to all aspects of life, including health, aesthetics, interiors, architecture, fashion, graphics, and more. Research based, this book is organized by an aligned learning method that presents core content, provides reinforcement assignments, and then tests only on that information.

This second edition adds 200 new color images selected for their relationship to design. Also, the back of the book now includes a comprehensive set of tutorials and a workbook designed for experiential learning.

Color: The Secret influence is an authoritative textbook for all students who want to experience the world of color.