My professor said to always start with black and white, and I finally get it

In my first design class, my professor told us to remove all color from our initial layouts and focus only on shape and value. I thought it was a waste of time and ignored it for a project last semester. My final piece felt messy and unbalanced. After failing that assignment, I tried her method on a recent logo project, and the clarity it gave the composition was a game changer. Do you think this 'grayscale first' rule is a must for beginners, or can you learn good structure while using color from the start?

2 comments

2 Comments

jason_wood2d agoMost Upvoted

My first logo looked like a clown threw up on a geometry test. I was so sure my color choices were genius, but the whole thing just fell apart. Starting in black and white feels like learning to walk before you try to run a marathon. It forces you to solve the actual layout problems instead of just hiding them with a nice shade of blue. I still skip it sometimes when I'm feeling cocky, and the results always remind me why the rule exists.

willow_reed2d ago

Oh man, my buddy did the exact same thing in art school and his final project was a total mess. He swears by that grayscale rule now, says it's the only way to build a solid base.