Pantone's Guide to Communicating with Color

I have this book at work. It is indespensible. I am buying it for my home. I think I need a copy for every desk I am ever at. This book is amazing with its themes. Turn to a theme like "calm", and the left side of the page will have ads and pictures showing how these evoke a calming effect. Then on the right, there's pantone groups with a main color, secondary, and accent. This book is a must-have for graphic designers and even people who do web design. It is the first book I refer to at work when I need inspiration.

I really love this book. What it IS: This is a lovely little book filled with colors, color combinations, moods, visuals, designs, ideas, and more color, color, color! I find it sparks reactions, starts dialogue, and fuels creativity for myself and for my clients. As a professional designer, I find this is great to use with clients to help them get VISUALLY into the their project so I can get out of them the things I need to create and produce an effective product that pleases the client AND fulfills its function. I also leave it out on the coffee table in my lounge (with my portfolio) so clients can look at it and they do. What it is NOT: This is not a book about color theory or color management. Although it includes some basic text about how different colors are supposed to convery different things in the marketing and communications world, which may be somewhat useful on some ocassions, color can be so subjective to the individual, the culture, the times, that I wouldn't follow the text as absolute.Recommended? Yes, if you want a fun, inspiring and useful little book that is also lovely to look at and helpful to share with your clients.

I probably use Pantone's Guide to Communicating with Color more often than any other design resource book. It's the first book I refer to when starting a new project if I'm the one to determine the color palette. Not only does the book give a good overview of what different colors mean to a viewer, it includes more than 600 color palettes in 28 categories. Each category lists the feeling that is evoked and provides Pantone numbers for each palette - a "grab and go" feature I've used on low-budget and/or rush jobs.Finally, the book is full of outstanding real-world examples of projects using the palettes discussed. Even if I'm working on a project with an already established color palette, I turn to this book for design inspiration. In my opinion, this is a must-have book for any designer.

I love this new book. As a graphic artist, color selection has been a weak area for me - I know when I finally get the right picks, but often the process takes me too long. This guide is a great time saver, with lots of color combinations to choose from, nicely catogorized by moods or feelings that they can provoke. It is also a very good educational tool on the basics of color for new students or for a refresher for anyone. The book is beautifuly laid out with wonderful color pictures. An added benifit for graphic production is the handy table in the back of the book that converts Pantone colors into 4 and 6 color process percentages. A Great Buy!