You'll use the diagram you created to explore some of Illustrator's tools for working with color.
Step 1: Make a copy
a. Save a copy of "Network.ai" as "NetworkRecolored.ai"
Step 2: Inventory the colors
a. Create a new layer called "color inventory" (Note: you'll be asked to create more color inventories later in this course)
b. Off to one side of the artboard, draw a bunch of rectangles and use the eyedropper tool to make them the colors in the diagram. Here's what mine looks like:
c. Watch this video about color panels
d. Select all of the color rectangles, then click on the "new color group" button (the one with the little plus sign) in the Swatches panel to create a group of the colors in the network diagram. Call it "network colors":
Step 3: Change the colors
a. Watch this video to learn about the recolor artwork tools.
b. Unlock all of your layers (you can run your cursor down the lock column to lock/unlock them all quickly). Then lock your "color inventory" layer so you don't accidentally recolor it.
c. Select everything (except the color inventory boxes).
d. Click on the Recolor Artwork button 
to bring up the dialog box.
e. Click on the Edit button that's just under the swatch at the top left. You'll get something like this (yours will look a little different depending upon how you colored your artwork originally):
This lets you see that the colors are clustered into 3 groups:
Greens, Pink/Purples and Oranges
...now it's time to do some recoloring. There are many ways to recolor using this tool. Some give you random results, some take skill to apply. I'll walk you through one that's pretty easy and can give you good results.
f. Click on the Recolor Art checkbox in the lower lefthand corner of the dialog box 
g. Now click on the button that looks like this 
(it's clicked in the image below and you can see the dialog box that shows up):
Experiment with the choices you get here (e.g. this is what I got when I chose Art History -> Baroque):
h. Find a color scheme that you like (other than the one I've used), and save it.
Step 4: Think about how color is used
Of course, in information visuals, color is generally informative (i.e. color is used to encode meaning or highlight important elements). The changes you made in the previous step may or may not have altered the informativeness of color in the diagram. The following set of questions are intended to get you thinking about how color was used in the original design (you might want to open your original version to remind yourself what they were - but write your answers in the new file).
a. Somewhere outside of the artboard, use the text tool to create a text box and write your answers to the following questions (there are no right or wrong answers; the point here is to think about what they might be):
It is also important that color be used in a way that creates an appropriate tone and is pleasing. This isn't just about "making it pretty" - it's also about making it feel coherent and comprehensible.
Design principle: Unity (repetition) and Variety
To give a design coherence and avoid making a graphic look like a mishmash of elements, it's important to create a sense of unity by repeating visual elements. That can mean repetition in sizes, shapes, textures...and color. Unity needs to be balanced with variety to keep the design from getting boring and losing the viewer's interest. So there should be variety in sizes, shapes, textures...and color.
In an information visual (as opposed to other forms of visual design), repetition and variety also convey information - things that looks similar convey the information that they mean something similar or that they belong together. Things that look different convey the information that they mean something different or don't belong together.
We'll practice spotting Unity and Variety in designs throughout the quarter.
Step 5: Color representations
a. If you double click on the color selection boxes in the tools panel 
, you'll get the Color Picker dialog box (shown below). You can learn a fair bit about how colors are defined in the process of learning how to use this tool. Watch this video to see that.
b. Next to any 2 of your color rectangles, indicate how these colors are represented as HSB, RGB, CMYK and hexadecimal.
FINAL PRODUCT: NetworkRecolored.ai
SUMMARY
Unity & Variety (design principle)
Color tools (color harmonies, hue, saturation and value)
