Colours of cards at The Wilson, Cheltenham Library. Relevant reference to colour wheel and design chosen.

The above card is illustrated by Caspar Wain, casparwainillusstration@gmail.com.

Introduction to the following seven cards:- I chose seven cards at The Wilson, Cheltenham when I went there today to see the Radev Exhibition.

I wanted to write about them with reference to design and to the colour wheel as a further reflection on the lecture session that we had on the colour wheel. I also wanted to find a venue outside of the University to look at examples of design, as so far, most of my stimulus to blog has been found within the library  or using the computers and books there or within FCH University campus.  Before the course ends this term I wanted to show I had looked for design inspiration further afield.  I hope to do some more of this.

The above tractor card is the first of the seven cards.  The Wilson museum is a modern space that has recently had the interior redesigned. In general, I find that museums whilst often housing mainly older artefacts etc are likely to display something with a contemporary appeal in cafes and retail, communal areas. Museum Shops tend to have a bright, simplistic, modern look. Items on display there are often in a simple perhaps striking design.  Some of the cards that I have chosen, use striking colours as does the one above but some use muted colours.  The muted colours used in following cards are striking in their own way as they convey what is depicted in a new colour combination so it seems out of the ordinary and demonstrates a new twist on simple depictions the ingredients of which are often used eg birds, vehicles, puppets, s shapes, faces, crowns, and bulls. The designs are a simple basic, with varying amount of detail added. Six of the cards are postcards ie one sided (only one of the seven cards, the blue and purple owl like bird is double sided so can be used as a card or as a notelet).

The above postcard could be sent to any sex but has a more male energy.  It is useful to send to a male as predominantly I find the card market has cards that are more female orientated in design.

When we had our colour wheel lecture, one of the students said that his favourite colour is turquoise.  This card has turquoise and a deeper turquoise or it may appear deeper by being blended with red impacting on it. Five out of the seven cards chosen have some kind of blue.  Jamie said that "blue is a favourite colour for a lot of people.

The three primary colours depicted red, yellow and blue always appear striking.  The use of white, a neutral colour introduces a feeling of light and space and stops the design appearing too dense and intense. White used as part of a sky works well as it can also be an actual thing, cloud.

The red seems to bleed into other colours and in the zig zag formation makes the turquoise look more blue and in he striped area makes the yellow take on an orange hue.  Two hints of colours that are actually not there, so the combination of primary colours gains colours.  The distortion of hue does not happen around white, a neutral colour.

The floating fish and tortoise and tree shapes with zig zag leaves make it appear abstract contrasted with the earthy symbol of a man and a tractor in middle.

One word summary - striking

Successful design? Yes