Cinematic Color Choices

Written by

Eric Albertson

Here at Duarte, we help people create cinematic presentations—you know, ones that are the opposite of those word-saturated bullet-rich presentations we have all come to dread.  So, if you want your presentations to be cinematic, why not take a cue from a current movie poster trend and make your color scheme cinematic, too!

The June 25^th edition of Entertainment Weekly commented on a recent trend in movie poster design which pairs the complementary colors blue and orange together for visual impact.

© Entertainment Weekly

While movie posters may be leaning toward these colors lately, using complementary colors to achieve a powerful effect is not a new technique.  Colors that sit across from each other on the color wheel (complementary colors) have high contrast, and contrast, as we teach in our workshops, draws the eye of the audience.

Need to help your audience focus on a particular option?  Consider using a contrasting color to help draw the eye.  The greater the contrast, the easier it will be for your audience to know where to look.

Obviously, this needs to be done within your corporate or predetermined color palette.  No going maverick here.  Usually a well-designed template color palette will have a selection of colors that include some high contrast colors to help you tell your story while still maintaining a consistent overall look for your presentation.

So, for your next presentation, consider adding a bit of contrast to make your message worthy of the big screen.