Universal Principles of Color

I absolutely loved reading this book. I was completely drawn into the topic and could not stop reading it.

Very very interesting and sometimes even fascinating concepts about color. Including some I have never heard or read about. I love this format where each concept occupies one spread, with the concept discussed on one side and a visual example or use of that color on the other. I have seen a similar book on the universal principles of design and loved that one too.

Color affects every aspect of our lives whether we realise it or not. Artists and designers will find this book very helpful , as I have (as an artist.) But actually anyone who loves color will find this book a page-turner. Some of the concepts are harder to grasp and I found myself thinking I must go read up on that elsewhere as well.

I hope to get a hardcopy edition of this title. It is worth looking through multiple times.

An excellent primer on all things color! One hundred concepts of color are made easily-digestible by the book's pithy explanations and photo examples. This reader appreciated how each color concept was accompanied by a "See Also" box containing additional, related conceptual terms to refer to.

My thanks to Quarto Publishing Group and NetGalley for providing me an advance readers copy.

The pictures in this book are fantastic! I can see myself using this book for reference and inspiring color palettes.

This is an absolutely glorious book perfect for dipping in and out of, or for using as an introductory guide for further understanding. I'm fascinated by ideas such as colour theory in textiles, or why we can't actually see the colour purple (we just interpret it), and this book is great way to start understanding this and more.

I love that each of the concepts is introduced with practical examples and then cross-references to other sections in the book. It allows for a wide understanding of topics which then allow the reader to research ideas in more depth, knowing which keywords and concepts to use. Each concept takes a double page spread and a lot of white space surrounds the images and text, breaking everything down into smaller, digestible chunks of information.

The first concept is #TheDress which amused me -- the outcry over whether it was blue or gold was huge at the time -- and the whole book uses contemporary examples. Another concept 'cinematic colour' gives the colour fingerprints of three films each for three contemporary film directors: Christopher Nolan, Wes Anderson and Hayao Miyazaki. Seeing the information highlighted like this is joyous, giving context to what we see on the screen. Or if not entirely a new concept, helping to deepen understanding.

In 'colour forecasting' we are shown ideas like the Pantone Colour of the Year, and how the fashion and automotive industries are instrumental in pushing forward how colours are used. It's almost a shame this book was written prior to 'Barbenheimer' as I'm sure the authors would have pulled out a lot of information there.

As well as being an alphabetical resource of concepts, this book also has different 'pathways' accessed by a colour-coding system -- a nice meta touch, if you will. It means you can dip in and out of science-based topics to read art-based ones, or ditch those for more historical concepts. The authors do suggest reading each pathway in order but I'm not sure this is essential.

More impressive to me is the breadth of the book -- it covers such a range but at no time does it get bogged down in academic speak. Nor does it patronise, which makes it suitable for a wide range of audiences.

My final thoughts? As a stepping stone for further research or just for perusing, it's a vivid and interesting applied resource. I'll definitely want to buy a copy for my shelf and am sure it'll be something I will dip in and out of for a long time.