Designer and author Margie Deeb is the beading world's go-to source for help with color. Every season she produces an illustrated ebook which explores the latest Pantone fashion colors and recommends specific bead color palettes and proportions.
I find Margie's Color Reports to be extremely helpful for design work. Here's why:
Each featured color in the Report receives its own "presentation page." Presentation pages contain the following elements:
- The color's name and Pantone number.
- A list of suggested Miyuki Delica cylinder bead colors (by name and I.D. number), as well as other bead colors, including Swarovski crystal colors and gemstones.
- A discussion of the emotional impact of the color.
- A list of colors that work especially well with the featured color, and advice on combining colors to achieve certain effects.
- Four suggested color palettes that include the featured color, with each member color's suggested proportions in the palette. What's especially nice about this "Combinations and Proportions" feature is that it gives you an immediate, visual concept of how you can use the featured color in your own designs.
About halfway through the ebook, you'll find a design gallery with even more beadwork examples. Browsing through these, you'll immediately realize which palettes and color proportions best suit your own taste. And there are enough varied designs here that you're bound to identify at least a few that really grab you (I counted a total of 15 gallery designs in the Spring/Summer 2012 edition).
Next, Margie includes a section titled "The Colors in Context." This is a really fun segment, and I've never seen anything exactly like it before. On these pages, the Combinations and Proportions palettes from the presentation pages are used in crisp, bright graphic design swatches. These look like beautiful, uber-stylish little squares of digital wallpaper. They're yet another tool for discovering which colors, proportions, and arrangements speak to you the most. Once you identify those, you can skip back to the appropriate presentation pages and jot down the names and numbers of beads to add to your shopping list.
Featured Pantone Fashion Colors
Where to Find the Color Report
You can purchase your own downloadable copy of any season's Color Report at MargieDeeb.com.