{"id":54223,"date":"2017-03-29T13:22:43","date_gmt":"2017-03-29T17:22:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/?p=54223"},"modified":"2022-10-05T16:07:07","modified_gmt":"2022-10-05T20:07:07","slug":"color-matters","status":"publish","type":"bu-article","link":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/news\/articles\/2017\/color-matters\/","title":{"rendered":"Color Matters"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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March 29, 2017<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t
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With Spark<\/em>, Marshall Lambert demonstrates that when it comes to color, it\u2019s all relative.<\/h3>\n

by Brooke Yarborough<\/p>\n

For Marshall Lambert (CFA\u201915), Founder of the curious and processual design and art practice Studio Skiffle, and the Creative Director of Spark, color selection is more than a subjective choice based on personal preference\u2014 it\u2019s a science.<\/p>\n

Known to artists and graphic designers as Color Theory, Lambert sat down with the Spark Editorial Team via Skype from her studio in Golden, CO, to provide insight into her process\u2014shedding light on how methods of trial and error and experimentation set the tone and inform the content for Spark from one issue to the next. \u201cFor me, design is as much of an art practice as painting, for example,\u201d says Lambert, who typically draws from other art forms in her work. \u201cPeople often have strong opinions about color. I try to be really mindful of this when selecting colors\u2014why I picked them, why I used them.\u201d<\/p>\n

While experimental in nature, Lambert embraces what she calls a painterly approach in developing a color system\u2014manipulating colors through contrasting backgrounds and creating illusions from context. Through Adobe Color, Lambert often consults a color wheel before settling on a color system for any project; for Spark, it helps her \u201cexplore colors that complement each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

Spark\u2019s design creates a rhythm; Lambert considers color\u2019s role in the process: \u201cTo some degree, it is always present in the background of each spread,\u201d she says. \u201cMaking a decision on that color so it\u2019s not overwhelming, so there is a break in color, and pace, that\u2019s where the experimentation comes in.\u201d In developing the color system for Spark, Lambert \u201ctook into account everything [she] knew. Should the colors reflect the seasons, or the experience of schooling and changes over the semesters?\u201d She also recalls drawing inspiration from other color systems she\u2019s encountered: \u201cThe Harvard Art Museums uses a color system on their website where every day of the year is represented by a slightly different color of a spectrum.\u201d For Spark, Lambert was searching for a color process that could transfer over many years.<\/p>\n

In the end, the fall 2015 launch issue sampled two colors from the issue\u2019s cover image as its primary colors; the inverse of those colors were then used as the primary colors of the winter 2016 issue.<\/p>\n

This system of rules successfully carried the publication through two volumes and four issues, resulting in the addition of a third issue for spring and summer 2017, and a complicated quandary for Lambert to answer: How do you add new rules to a color system so it can handle an additional publication when the system was originally designed for a two-issue publication?<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve had many fun ideas while thinking through what the \u2018third issues\u2019 could and should look like,\u201d says Lambert. \u201cWe threw around a couple of ideas, and landed on the idea of a \u2018wildcard issue.\u2019\u201d These are, together, the spring and summer issues after all, she tells us: \u201cStudents are anxious and flustered\u2014 blundered between final exams, graduations, and their futures, all in contrast to the excitement of warmer weather, Spring Break, and summer vacation.\u201d<\/p>\n

The spring and summer issue of Spark will harness those energies, flipping the systems in place on their feet by making the design a special and unique experience. \u201cIt\u2019s a place to explore,\u201d says Lambert. \u201cThis issue’s colors were inspired by the contrasting tartness and sweetness of grapefruit enjoyed in early spring. For these third-issues, color now becomes a \u2018wildcard,\u2019 and won\u2019t be bound to the first two issues within the volume; gradients as currently expected may not necessarily exist. For the articles, I imagine greater possibilities in layout\u2014perhaps white pages with different colored type, overlapping images, and repeating shapes, photos, and interesting textural overlays.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, this is the perfect time to talk about the color system and the design of Spark,\u201d says Lambert. \u201cI feel it relevant and important for our readers to understand the design on a deeper level. As a designer, I have felt really supported. Spark is an unusual publication that is well-represented by its team. They have been very open to experimenting with these theories and designs, which speaks volumes about CFA\u2019s openness to curiosity.\u201d<\/p>\n

The result has been incredible. In just 18 months, Spark has won nearly a dozen awards in editorial, art direction, and graphic design. In the future, Lambert hopes to continue experimenting with patterns, illustration, and the unexpected experience.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With Spark, Marshall Lambert demonstrates that when it comes to color, it\u2019s all relative. by Brooke Yarborough For Marshall Lambert (CFA\u201915), Founder of the curious and processual design and art practice Studio Skiffle, and the Creative Director of Spark, color selection is more than a subjective choice based on personal preference\u2014 it\u2019s a science. Known […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4922,"featured_media":54356,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"bu_prepress_billboard":"","_bu_prepress_primary_term":"","_bu_prepress_primary_term_manual":""},"tags":[],"bu-publication":[192],"magazine-article-category":[],"magazine-topic":[],"news-article-category":[216],"news-topic":[],"bu_edition":[],"media_type":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/54223"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/bu-article"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4922"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54223"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/54223\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":89156,"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/54223\/revisions\/89156"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54356"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54223"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54223"},{"taxonomy":"bu-publication","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-publication?post=54223"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-article-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/magazine-article-category?post=54223"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/magazine-topic?post=54223"},{"taxonomy":"news-article-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-article-category?post=54223"},{"taxonomy":"news-topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-topic?post=54223"},{"taxonomy":"bu_edition","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu_edition?post=54223"},{"taxonomy":"media_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media_type?post=54223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}