Color And Text - Kyocera KM-8530 User Manual

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A-13 Desktop Color Primer
Once you have mastered the concept of the color wheel, you have a good framework
for experimenting with color combinations. Many books targeted at graphic designers
show groups of preselected color combinations. Some are organized by themes or
moods, and some are based on a custom color system, such as PANTONE. The more
you develop a critical facility for judging color combinations, the more you will be able
to trust your own eye for color. The bibliography at the back of this manual includes
books on design.

Color and text

It is not a coincidence that the overwhelming majority of text you see is printed in
black on white paper. Text in black on white is highly legible and is not fatiguing to
read for extended periods. For many color materials, using black text on a white
background and confining color to graphic elements and headings is a good choice.
Color text can add flair to documents printed on paper when used skillfully. This
technique is widely used in presentations. When using color text, avoid dazzling text
and background combinations created from primary complements, especially red and
cyan or red and blue; they are visually fatiguing and hard to read. Color text is more
legible when distinguished from its background by a difference in lightness—for
example, dark blue text on a light beige background. In addition, using many different
colors in a string of text makes for a confused appearance and is hard to read. However,
using a single highlight color is an effective way to draw the reader's eye to selected
words. For color text samples, see the following figure.