Pastel Symmetry

Pastels have almost no value contrast, so nothing in the frame fights for attention. That is what lets a symmetrical composition read as calm rather than as empty.

The single deep colour is what stops it floating away. One dark note gives the eye a floor and the pastels above it stop looking like a wash.

Dust every colour. A pastel here has a little grey in it, as though it were mixed with chalk or printed on old board.

Light it flat. Strong shadow puts depth into a palette that was chosen to be shallow, and the whole effect goes with it.

Add exactly one deep muted colour, usually a brick red or a dark green, and use it on a small area. Two anchors and the palette has a normal contrast range again.

Use it for anything storybook, nostalgic or deadpan: a title card, a set, an illustrated poster, a hotel, a menu, a children's book.

Leave it alone for anything urgent. There is no contrast in it to make something matter.

Bubblegum Pop uses the same colour family bright and glossy. This one dusts them and adds a dark anchor, which changes the reading completely.

An analogous scheme keeps its hues neighbouring. Here the hues are spread right across the wheel and it is the low saturation that holds them together.

American independent cinema of the 2000s made it a house style, borrowed from mid century book covers and from hand tinted postcards. The symmetry came with it, which is why the palette and the centred frame are now read as one idea.

The colours come back bright and clean. Say they are chalky and slightly dusty rather than saturated.

Deep shadows appear and the picture gains depth it should not have. Say the light is flat and even with no strong shadow.