An Eye for Color by Olga Gutierrez De La Roza is a good-looking guide to colour combinations. The intent is to guide readers towards developing colour sense, based on a system of creating patterns devised by the author. She divides the book by colour, taking a chapter for each one and starting with the work of a painter or designer and breaking it down into the palette used (she uses RGB and CMYK). Next, it is up to the reader to create a file of swatches based on these, in order to create an inspiration reference. Or simply refer to the variety of groupings in the book. It is an enjoyable and handy tool, with little text, so is fairly uncomplicated. The kind of nicely-designed book that makes you want to start more projects …

Hardcover, 272 pages. Collins Design 2007. $23.10 at Amazon.

+ An Eye for Color at Amazon