The Complete Color Harmony, Pantone Edition: Expert Color Information for Professional Results Kindle Edition

I have owned and loved several different editions of the Color Harmony books over the years, including one in Japanese. The first one came out in English thirty years ago, in 1987. The different volumes used a set palette of colors and then showed them in combinations of two to four colors. Most of the volumes have color cards in the back that make up for the rather small swatches in the color palette pictures themselves.The first two volumes of Color Harmony look at color in different ways. The first volume divides the combinations into categories similar to the ones we are used to considering. The second volume which came out ten years later looks at color schemes according to mood. Within each mood, they divide the combinations into sections by color scheme. This volume is unique because it actually provides you with neutral suggestions for each mood, although its definition of neutral is very narrow.I was excited to see that this new edition with the cooperation of Pantone was coming out.The book opens with a text section which is excellent. There are chapters on different aspects of color as well as chapters on the psychology of color, featuring a baker's dozen different colors. While I don't always agree with their interpretations, it's interesting to read. As one would expect from a Pantone book, the color pictures are ravishing and the text is well written.The next sections, and the bulk of the book, cover color and mood. I really liked that it expanded the areas covered in these chapters to include subjects like fashion and interior design. Older versions focused too much on the needs of graphic artists. This also makes it more useful for us as needlepointers. Just looking at one page at random, from Provocative, I can see hot pink, in several Pantone colors, used as main, secondary, and accent colors in combinations that include everything from bright orange to rich teals. It gives me so many ideas for needlepoint! (In a future post will look at exactly how to translate these combinations to needlepoint.)The palettes in the book reflect a wider audience as well with many of the palettes containing color schemes too subtle to work in packaging and in other graphic design applications. But they could make great schemes for rooms or clothing or fiber art! Some of my favorite palettes are these, many in the section Delicate. While I probably wouldn't use them as is; these pale almost white schemes have given me so many ideas for backgrounds.The color palettes, which are keyed to colors in the Pantone system, are shown for each of the color moods in the second half of the book. They are shown in rings with the colors in proportion to dominant, secondary, and accent. No other numbering system is shown, you will need another reference for that.While I like the proportional display, I'm not sure that I like the rings. The white space in the center is distracting. On the plus side, it does allow presentation of a dozen palettes per page without them seeming crowded. This is great compared to the 2q4 small combination shown per page in the original books.The later text sections of the book look at psychological aspects of color with sections on color personality, the affect of color on our lives, and color forecasting, among other topics. These sections also have many intriguing ideas.The Color Harmony books have a wonderful ability to help you look at color in a new way. They have probably been more influential in how I think about and use color than any other books except the ones specifically about color in needlework. Because of them I have become braver in how I think about color and in how I combine them.However the earlier versions skewed a bit too much to graphic artists for me to adapt many of the schemes. Because Pantone as a company works with a much broader audience, these palettes are ones that I will cheerfully and quickly adopt.This is a worthy addition to the series.

The colors are bright and vivid, the paper is thick, and the binding is decent quality. My first issue was that there are no color names, which I really needed. The second issue is that some pages were double printed and some were blank.

This book talks more about the psychology of colour than teaches you how to use colour successfully. Much briefer than I thought it might be. I wasn’t looking for contrived three colour palettes, I wanted to really learn how to use colour. I bought it because of the trusted brand name, disappointing.

The book is beyond beautiful. Every variety of aesthetic color combinations is included. It is a fantastic reference for anyone who is developing something in her own sphere of interest. I am a needlepointer, but this book would be fantastic for painters, quilters, etc. For each of 30 "moods" (e.g., botanical, delicate, nostalgic, tropical), there are pages of wheels each containing three colors that coordinate. For any project that you wish, you can choose one of these color wheels and match your "tools" (e.g., threads, paints) to those and know that you will have an excellent result. Just looking through this book is a delight.

tl;dr: a book of color palletsThe book starts out describing the common color wheel, which consists of 16 colors, then spends approximately one page per color describing what the color means. However, there is nothing scientific about what’s stated here which is what I was hoping for. Then the remainder of the book lists approximately two dozen key words and their corresponding color pallets (I.e three pages of color pallets per key word)Somewhat useful book but was really hoped for some science / statistic based evidence for what words mean or convey.

This book is more pop psychology than color theory. More for designers than artists.

Just as a sword is the weapon of a warrior, this book is a vital part of a designer/color consultant’s knowledge of color messages and meanings. It’s written by a brilliant woman, who has become my creative and colorful mentor and color hero. This book is incredibly well-done!

Well written. It is filled with palette templates of which you can tell the author really has a gift for combining colors. If you’re not interested in color palette ideas, the book may not be for you. For me, it is my favorite book in my collection written by an author who is extremely talented with color.

As a graphic designer and working in the print industry, I found this book very insightful. It teaches you a lot about the use of Pantone. It breaks down the psychology of colour and how to use correct colours to represent a specific mood. You learn about the colour wheel from primary to secondary colours and throughout the book you will also see Pantone references which is great for using in inDesign. I recommend this book for anyone with an interest, but I also believe this may be a good read for students studying a relatable subject.

I am a photographer and use colour to edit my photos... I use the digital colour wheel for editing photos and this book introduces the 'painters' wheel. The good part of this book is in learning to think about colour to affect mood … it doesn't matter what wheel you use the thoughts are the same.. great book.

As an artist and counsellor myself, I'm always open to new ways of helping people heal. This book (bought for Kindle on my laptop) gave a good overview of colour theory, how colours can complement and contrast with each other. I bought it from the point of view of clarifying my artistic eye, but found I gained much more from it in that the images can help towards a harmony of 'healing' too. Interesting, thought-provoking. Good range of images - though not too good on the Kindle! Will need to consider buying the paperback.

Good as it always had been. Enjoying buying books from Book Depository.

This is a good book but it feels a bit repetitive to read and feels poorly structured regarding the topics. It also ends abruptly.I did learn some things but I was hoping for a bit more depth.