From the Color Conference 2019 in San Diego, California

January 25, 2019

Three ClemsonGC students attend the Color Conference in San Diego, California, January 2019

Co-Written By: Riley McLeod, Lauren Robinson, and Makyya Johnson

Looking back on our past four years at Clemson University, we could not be more thankful for the opportunities that have been afforded to us as students. One of the most recent opportunities we had was being attendees of the Color 19 Conference in San Diego, California. This opportunity was presented to us this past fall by Dr. Liam O’Hara and it was one we simply couldn’t pass up! Our trip was packed full with learning, networking, and of course a little exploring too. From listening to renowned industry members speak during the day to having the most delicious shrimp tacos in Pacific Beach at night, this trip was an incredible way to kick off our final spring semester.

Color19 had a large list of notable industry members who led sessions about color management in terms of print production, wide format inkjet, and brand and design. One of the first sessions we attended was on Color Management Fundamentals and was led by Don Hutcheson, the inventor of the G7® methodology. In his presentation he discussed what color management is, what it is not, and some of the main limitations. Having just come off of holiday break, this session was really helpful in terms of feeling prepared for the rest of the conference. From then on, we were able to choose what sessions we attended and this allowed us to choose sessions that we were really interested in. We ended up attending many of the sessions about branding and design and print production since these are fields we are interested in pursuing after graduation.

Many of the speakers hit on the basics of color theory and how color management is used in our industry. It was interesting getting to see how what we learned in Dr. O’Hara’s class applied in the actual industry. Some speakers led discussions about industry print management standards and specifications and this was both new and interesting information to learn about. Speakers also discussed new trends that are on the industry’s horizon and what we should look out for in the future. One of our favorite speakers was CEO Stefan Herbert from House of Bandits and The Paranormal Unicorn. His presentation was about managing brand-colors on social media, specifically in video production. The software he presented is relatively new in the market and it was exciting to see both how the product was used and how it relates to the industry as far as color standards go. Having grown up in the age of social media, it was really interesting to learn about the importance of brand color management in videography and web design.

ClemsonGC students: Riley McLeod, Kyya Johnson, and Lauren Robinson at the Color Conference.

The three of of us–Riley McLeod, Lauren Robinson, and Kyya Johnson–were honored to attend this conference and represent Clemson University’s Graphic Communications department. Being some of the only students in attendance at Color 19 really showed us the doors that this program helps open for us. We are now excited to take what we learned at the conference and apply it to our courses this semester and our future careers. Additionally, we are excited to now have many new connections with some of the industry’s best. When speaking with Steve Smiley of SmileyColor at the closing reception, he told another industry member that we were part of what he considered to be one of the best Graphic Communications programs in the country. This confirmed to us that we made one of the best decisions four years ago. Go Tigers!