The assertive palette

My purpose here is to get beyond theory—to examine some of the fundamental elements and principles that make a specific design work. Though concepts such as white space, balance, and contrast are surely contributors, I will focus here on some of the countless informational and style decisions that go into a real-world layout. The elements that make people hear what you say and feel what you show.

Some design palettes ease the reader into the subject with a combination of graceful type, muted color, and subtle imagery. The assertive palette is a bit more obvious. This combination of typefaces, colors, and illustrations is meant to strip away distractions and use visual contrast to highlight the key messages.

The typefaces

The primary typeface is Griffith Gothic—a clean, readable face with quiet strength. By that, I mean it does the job beautifully without dominating everything around it.

What makes it unique? The “G,” the “r,” and the “a” of Griffith Gothic Ultra show off the attributes that make this typeface so distinctive; in particular, the sharp edges and the interesting transitions of thick to thin.

The body text is set in Myriad Condensed—a simple, elegant sans serif face that, at this size and weight, remains neutral. When you’re packing a lot of information into a small space, neutral is good.

Variations in the color, size, spacing, and capitalization of the type are an important part of what is happening here. Mixing it up adds emphasis where it's needed and interest to the layout.

Sources: Griffith Gothic from Font Bureau, fontbureau.com; Myriad from adobe.com/type.

To create a simple “text logo,” type the words in Adobe Illustrator, convert it to outlines, then scale them to the same width. Overlay them on a square background and use colors from the palette to group the parts.

The colors

A full-color version of this piece would have an entirely different look and feel. Limiting the use of color quiets the visual noise and focuses attention on the straightforward concepts the photographs are meant to illustrate: for “community,” the organization’s headquarters; for “knowledge,” a trainer in a classroom; and for “information,” a picture of statistical data.

Color is also a great way to organize information. Squint at the layout and you’ll see that what pops out is the red—the headlines, the logo, and the incentive—all the primary points we chose to emphasize.

The illustrations

Layering images and color and adjusting layer opacity so you can see one layer through another makes the images more metaphorical than literal—more like magazine illustrations than newspaper photographs.

That use of transparency combined with the sky and clouds background helps to create a sense of airiness and lightness. The horizontal stripe of images across the front and back panels keeps the eye moving.

Sources: Trainer from Conferences & Training by Stockbyte from fotosearch.com; light bulb by Comstock from fotosearch.com; statistical data, building, satellite dishes from istockphoto.com

To recreate the illustrations, follow these steps:

Step 1: In Photoshop, create the blue in the Color Picker. Choose Image > Adjustments > Hue/Saturation, click Colorize, and increase the Saturation for a similar effect

Step 2: Duplicate that layer (above) and choose Select > All. Choose Filter > Blur > Radial Blur > and select Amount: 75, Method: Zoom, Quality: Good

Step 3: On that same layer, circle (select) the primary subject of the image with the Elliptical Marque Tool. Choose Select > Feather; set Feather Radius to 75 pixels and choose Edit > Cut

Step 4: Create a third layer (above), make it solid blue, and reduce the Layer Opacity for a similar effect

The layout

This piece folds down to 9 by 3.75 inches to fit a #10 business envelope. Mail it along with a cover letter and invite the reader to fill in the business reply card, detach it, and mail it back to you postpaid.

The details

Whether a particular palette works or not is dependent, in large part, upon attention to detail. Subtle changes in size and color, the alignment of individual elements, the choice of images, and so on, is what takes it from good to great.

Notice how the design of the book and disc incorporates a similar palette? Extracting parts and pieces of one palette to create another results in two elements that are compatible but distinctive.

Need to make your image more assertive? Find a part or portion of the photograph and bring it to the front. On side two of the mailer, the smallest dish was outlined, copied, overlaid, and set off the surface with a drop shadow.

This article originally appeared in the November/December issue of Layers Magazine.