Original Scandinavian

Seen that boring yet elaborate graph trying to explain some management tool or a process? Or the pie chart in that PowerPoint presentation where the color combination looked like something a blind person could have put together better? (No offense here).

Well, here’s some extraordinary examples from Designer Daily of what great graphic designers can do with a whole lot of information: Information is beautiful

So, can I help you explain something great in a fun and intriguing way?

Yes, so here it is – part two of color theory for designers from Smashing Magazine. I’m not going to write my own thoughts on this article as it is much more concrete than the first one. Read for yourself: Color Theory For Designers, Part 2: Understanding Concepts And Terminology

You can find my introduction to part 1 here.

Colors have a big impact on people. Look around you. Countless of color theory experiments have been made through time. For example this simple test done with school kids: The scientists had two groups of children wearing outdoor jackets. One group of kids were lead into a room painted a cool blue and the other group in a red room. Every single time this test was done, the “red group” would start taking off their jackets and then play, while the “blue group” would start playing, but keep their jackets on. Of course, both of these rooms had the same temperature.

Heritage and culture also plays an enormous role in the way we perceive different colors. A personal example would be that in Denmark the color yellow is without a doubt a “discount” color when it comes to retail and shopping. Pretty much every single store having a sale will display a yellow sale sign, so it would be completely unheard of to for example create a high-end food chain identity using yellow as the primary color.

It’s out of the questions to design a product line without producing three to five different color versions. This is simply because people are attracted to different colors and to reach a broader audience …yes, you create a shampoo and make three different packaging choices based on the fragrance.

I always pick the green one. If it’s green, I’ll buy it.

Smashing Magazine has a great article on color and the meaning of color. Go ahead, read it. Color Theory for Designers, Part 1: The Meaning of Color

My laptop is stolen or ends up with a 12oz latte spilled on it – and I loose everything? Not going to happen!

Today I received a new addition to my digital fleet, a 500GB Lacie Rugged All-Terrain Hard Disk (pictured above in orange). It will be replacing an old Rocstor Hard Disk, which is 5+ years old and really close to being full.

I really like the size of this new Lacie. It’s twice as thick as an iPhone, but just about the same width and height.

One of the first things I invested in when I went freelance was an online backup subscription with MozyPro. I basically have the backup running automatically during the night and if worst case scenario happens and I for some reason loose my computer and hard disk, I can download everything from MozyPro. There is no way I’m going to risk loosing either my work, family photos or music.

No need to knock on wood, throw salt over my shoulder or cross my fingers.