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Working with color, Working with color 4-2 – Tektronix Phaser 350 User Manual

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4

Printing: Beyond the Basics

4-2

Phaser 350 Color Printer

Working with color

Whether you are producing color reports, memos, graphs, charts, overhead
transparencies for presentations, color handouts, or design comps, there are
a few things to keep in mind when using color.

A large area of color looks more saturated (brighter) than a small
area of the same color.

A color looks brighter against a dark background than it does
against a white background.

Colors look different due to the background color or to the
surrounding colors.

The appearance of a color varies with the type and amount of
light, for example fluorescent lighting versus sunlight.

General guidelines

Keep a document or design simple and consistent.

Select colors that look good together and that reinforce your
message.

Check your application for standard palettes to get you started.

Use a color scheme of five or six shades, and in a series of images,
use the colors in a consistent manner throughout the series.

Use color to highlight the most important information, such as a
bar or pie segment in a chart or graph.

Use color to show relationships between objects, such as a range of
values. Objects with a similar meaning or value should be in
similar colors.

Use color as graphic elements in the design of newsletters, logos,
and brochures.

Avoid red and green combinations; these colors are hard for
people with red/green color blindness to distinguish.