#Problem Applying Color Scheme + Hierarchy of Elements & Text

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severe solar
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Motion designer here, trying to improve my design skills. 😅
I worked on this cut-out passion project and I'm stuck. I think the problems are:

  1. Colors are all over the place so the eye doesn't know what to focus on. I have a hard time understanding how to apply a color scheme on a design that is not simple website UI of menus and text. (I tried "Gradient Map" to color wash some cut outs, but it doesn't feel ok.

  2. I have problems making a distinctive Hierarchy of elements (The relationships between the cut-outs) +And the text size.

Hoping there's a way for you guys to guide me via this chat on how to improve stuff. Really think it needs to be a ZOOM session 🙃

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grizzled karma
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hmm look into art composition studies the 60 30 10 rule etc and also coolors suggested color palettes could help

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Im not a poster designer but I think it could answer your pblem the layout is already pretty good imo

severe solar
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p.s- It's some kind of personal project about a vacation I had. When I think of vacation I think blue + Yellow [sea+sun]. Some Iridescent colors [pastel] somehow I played with - got into the design. It's nice, but might be too much.

Like I said, I don't really know how to apply color scheme to pictures. I'd like to insert some color images [not just black & white like this polaroid], but It may break the color scheme. Then you have to "Tint" the image with some color wash [via Gradient map] - and that's where things get a bit off...

grizzled karma
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found a pretty cool playlist for you

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probably start your poster monochromatic focus on values first and then follow whatever they say in this. if you end with something nicish lemme know!

severe solar
grizzled karma
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I think it's more of a value/contrast challenge then

severe solar
# grizzled karma I think it's more of a value/contrast challenge then

Thanks for the playlist! will watch.
And, yeah, besides color - the brightness/contrast of the color is also a thing, and this is where my head melts. As, these are so many things to consider altogether...so many things to track and know how they work with one another, it's hard.
I'm sure designers who studied design - do know the rules. And when you are aware of how things work mathematically even (60-30-10)- then you can approach designing with a method. And not just playing around till something comes out 😅

eternal marten
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the colors are good, but you can change the text color to make it more stand out

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maybe something like a yellow or orange here since the bg is blue

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that will automatically make it 60 30 10

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60 blue 30 violet and 10 yellow

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plus you can use contrast ratios to check how readable text is on a background

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@severe solar

severe solar
# eternal marten the colors are good, but you can change the text color to make it more stand out

Many thanks, buddy!

  1. Regarding text, I tend to notice that mostly white or black work better, and when i try colored text- it comes out tacky and too childish.
    Also, problem is sometimes to find text color that you can place on top of a certain background or image and that it will pop out. Many times it's hard to find a right color+brightness to make the text pop and it's a mess. Placing a solid plaque/rectangle behind the text is the last resort and it doesn't look good.

  2. I will check the website's you suggest. Again, they seem to work well for UI and clean abstract design, and when it comes to images - it feels more complicated. How can you test that your picture-based design works well and balanced?

  3. I'm working on another direction with this background.
    A. It might be too bright as a background [which will compete with the foreground elements)
    B. I think the 60-30-10 rule works better here
    C. But, this color scheme may a bit be off anything that relates to the blue+yellow of a vacation / exploration.

The exploration on this project is fascinating.
Hope one of you gives me a feedback that will give me an "A-ha!" moment. I wanna learn. 🤓

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eternal marten
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I tried yellow text before

eternal marten
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How can you test that your picture-based design works well and balanced?
see what's the first thing you look at when you see your design, usually you have a focal point that grounds user's eye and leads to the message it's trying to promote

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Focal point ( grabs attention ) -> Message / Art

eternal marten
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and it doesn't flow well from clouds to pic of the person to the mountain and then lastly the message

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or for some it could be the mountains then the photo and clouds

eternal marten
# eternal marten

in this example you see the bright spirals behind her face make the user look at her face the first ( I even added a star as another tiny focal point ) then the eyes go down looking at the text

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this ons is a great example

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the big circle grabs my attention first then the text and the scenery

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that's 10/10 hierarchy

severe solar
severe solar
# eternal marten that's 10/10 hierarchy

Regarding this composition [i pasted a zoomed out preview exactly for that. So we can judge it from afar).
Here are a few thoughts:

  1. I think the Picture of the girl + The little mountain/shoreline on the left + And the Text are competing with each other.
    The girl's pic is the biggest, yet, it's black & white, so it's ironic as it's not getting the full focus it may demand because other things in the scene are colorful and distracting from the girl.

  2. The text...Something's wrong. I mean, on the light blue text - there's some variety in text size so it works better than the peachy text, but something still feels off.
    Same for the frame with the big yellow sun + text "make a left here.." - something feels a bit rigid. I can't tell what it is.
    Colors also are probably not the best. and don't do justice to the text that needs to deliver a message [a normal black didn't feel good as well. White can't be seen).

We can start with talking about these.
I wonder what can I change in the girl's picture + the Text = so we can explore how this frame could be balanced better? What would a "Pro designer" change and alter here to balance out this frame and have a clearer message to the viewer who looks at it?

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eternal marten
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Usually when thats the case you try to make the one element pop which is the main subject
Here are ways to make it pop

  1. Make the background and other elements less attention grabbing ( desaturate the bg and elements around subject )
  2. Make the subject more attention grabbing ( adding outlines, shadows or increasing brightness/saturation )
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In this case you have a mountain on left and photo on right

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Maybe keep the title on top or bottom of the pic and the mountain can be behind the pic

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And the pic is in center ofc

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By doing this you are establishing a clear hierarchy as well as balance so nothing competes

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Text followed by the girl and a mountain is just a a backdrop

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And maybe color the photo and desaturate the mountains a bit

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Or just addd a warm color filter to the girl

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Play with colors and brightness/ intensity of every element once you have a hierarchy, try to obtain a balance and flow

severe solar
# eternal marten Play with colors and brightness/ intensity of every element once you have a hier...

Many thanks for sharing your thought process.
I gotta find out a workflow that will help me build a frame better. Because right now it's as if I have a fully constructed house, and I need to go back to the basics and fix the foundations. Instead of building the foundations better in the first place, knowing where to start from...even a grayscale composition, to work my way from there.

  1. I didn't find an organic/believeable way to add shadows. hard shadows. That will imply these elements were really scanned in a flatbed scanner together. Drop shadow doesn't work well. So I leave it like that. Shadow-less.

  2. About the background. Yeah, desaturating it is a good first step. I also need to be aware of it's brightness to also not "steal the show". Problem begins when you solve these two [less saturation+less highlights)- it feels to become dull and depressing, which isn't synonymous with summer or a vacation [that sample I pasted above when the background is more sephia-like).

So many ingredients to take care of - that I get confused which ones to sort first. When you try to sort one thing- It influences the other, and there's some kind of loop. That's why I'd love to learn the workflow of how to approach this. What is the line of thought here. No course I've seen can communicate that. You have to keep creating and somehow learn from mistakes. I'm trying to do that now.

severe solar
# eternal marten

And, p.s- your posters are super lovely, cato! They work well. They have less components. Big text, Big subject. Background. It's more sticking to basics and it all works. Gotta somehow adapt this

eternal marten
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then you add elements to reach that vibe without hindering the subject?

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Not sure if I can give you a formula thatt works for all poster design projects but usually having a theme / vibe and the main subject will help

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when i was designing my posters which I shared, I thought about the vibe that's cyberpunk so I have to keep in mind the colors has to be vibrant, Then I think about the subject which is the girl so I start adding elements that bring attention to the girl

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here's another fun thing I was practicing

Artboard_2.png
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I had a clear vibe in my mind to get the 2000s street racing / car vibes

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to get those vibes I added paper texture and some scratches and grain to make it look retro

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then lastly I added text on the very top in a way it doesn't block the car

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because the car here is my main subject

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Here's the original pic which I started working with

Honda_Honda_NSX_JDM_Japanese_cars_Sparko-77194.jpg
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I was trying out many pics which felt retro

nsx-wallpaper-hd-1.jpg acura-nsx-jdm-cars-2560x1080-14629.jpg
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just keep playing around the images and elements until you hit that perfect mood you were going for

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Here's another poster I made using like 7 different images

POSTER_FINAL-01.jpg
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also you don't always have to follow the 60 : 30 :10 color rule it's just one of the ways to make designs but not the only way

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it will take some time to find your way to designing posters, just keep in mind that you need your subject to be the main focus or a guiding focal point to your message and the theme you're going for is achieved with all the elements you choose to use

severe solar
# eternal marten Not sure if I can give you a formula thatt works for all poster design projects ...

Thanks for elaborating and sharing this lovely work.
I think it's a great mindset to be aware what's your main subject - and then find ways to support it within the frame.

I think my main moodboard was more like this next set of images. But, deep inside I love colors and I was probably drawn to use more and more colors. But, a good question here is.... should the artist/designer shape the project? Or should the project shape the designer? Maybe a more monochromatic color scheme will be a better fit here, despite my habits of loving colors?

I will share my instagram, so you understand my color vibes for my photography. The thing it, I'm not sure if I'm overthinking here in some ways or not. I mean, being all over the place, creating a non-unified work - will probably not serve me in the long run. Being aware on how you curate your personal work - is important when you present yourself to the world. If it's not concised and you don't have a difinitive vibe to your work - then you're not memorable.
So, working from the gut - is great, but I have a feeling just following your gut without understanding design - isn't gonna yield much results. Your work has to stand on it's own, and also together right next to each other. Now, how do you sail this ship towards that path? 🙂

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eternal marten