Colourised Photos

[Jim Page]

Laurie, as a graphics person, I've spent the last 40 years trying to convince folks that color adds meaning and an emotional connection when applied to publications. Part of the problem is that many of the folks making the decisions are (long story short) clods.

As much as I love old black-and-white movies and images, the fact is that folks like and expect to see color.

I've had executives tell me that color meant nothing to them when it came to what they read. Once, acting on a hunch, because 20% of men have some degree of impairment in seeing color, I asked a guy who said that (he ran a then-large engineering firm), "Hmm. Are you by any chance color blind?" Of course, he was, as were seven of the nine fellows on that company's executive council.

I responded, "Please remember that just because you don't get something doesn't mean it isn't true; it just means that you don't get it."

That engineering firm is no more; those guys augered it right into the ground. Their graphics looked like the old gray-lady version of the New York Times.

--Jim