by Christine Marr | Apr 12, 2012 | Branding, Creative, Design
Our reaction to colour is subliminal. As consumers, we are generally unaware of the persuasive effects of colour. Psychological effect is instantaneous, stimulating the senses and power of suggestion. We see it in every level of communication: in corporate identification and logos, signage, advertising on tv, billboards, in print media and packaging, on the computer and in-store. As we zip down isles in our favourite stores, our eyes rest on a package for approximately .03 seconds. In that blinking-of-an-eyelash timing, the packaging/sign/logo must rivet the observers’ eyes, inform them of the product, and, more importantly, appeal to their psyches.
I doubt I am saying anything new here. However, last week, we went to visit a client at their office and what happened there, prompted me to take note about colour and how we identify with it. We hadn’t been to Dentsply Canada’s office in a little over six months. As we walked through the door, the receptionist glanced up and said “…from 3H?”. Wow, that completely floored me. We make a point of always wearing purple when we see clients, because purple is the dominent 3H brand colour. This was enough for the receptionist to remember our visit from 6 months ago. We, at 3H, are strong believers in Brand Recognition!
We practice what we preach. While we clearly know and acknowledge that it takes much more than colour to build a brand… what you do with a “brand” colour clearly enables and facilitates brand recognition. Colours are so intimately associated with a brand that just the suggestion of a colour is enough to bring a brand to mind. That’s isn’t simply amazing… it’s awesome in building equity.
Think about this…
When you think of Home Depot, what colour comes to mind?
Which bank is “blue”, which one is “orange”, and which one is ‘green”? Close your eyes and picture the Google logo. The McDonald’s logo? And for my Canadian readers… what is meant by the “Windsor” blue.
Our reaction to color is instantaneous and this lens is a quick look at general responses based on research, historical significance of color and word association studies. Let’s take this one step further… picture the Home Depot logo, but with different words in the same font in the orange box… would you still recognize it? Would you see the logo as a whole, as one image, and recognize it instantly, associating it with Home Depot.
So when developing a brand and beginning with the basics of creating a logo… choose a colour that would represent your brand identity effectively for now and the future…And repeat after me….
Repetition, repetition, repetition… consistency… everywhere… all the time. Exposure over time ensures success….. but that’s a different point of discussion! Colour makes a brand stand out and command attention and make sure that the Logo colour matches your brand mission and message to create the brand identity you want.
So what do colours mean anyway? Here’s a brief overview.
Green occupies more space in the spectrum visible to the human eye than most colours. Green is the pervasive color in the natural world, making it an ideal backdrop in interior design because we are so used to seeing it everywhere. Green is considered the colour of peace and ecology.
Purple embodies the balance of red’s stimulation and blue’s calm. This dichotomy can cause unrest or uneasiness unless the undertone is clearly defined, at which point the purple takes on the characteristics of its undertone.
Blue is seen as trustworthy, dependable, and committed. As the collective colour of the spirit, it invokes rest and is calming.
Yellow shines with optimism, enlightenment, and happiness. Shades of golden yellow carry the promise of a positive future. Yellow will advance from surrounding colors and instill optimism and energy, as well as spark creative thoughts.
Pinks are youthful, fun, and exciting, while vibrant pinks have the same high energy as red; they are sensual and passionate without being too aggressive. Pink is the color of happiness and is sometimes seen as lighthearted.
Orange sparks more controversy than any other hue. There is usually strong positive or negative association to orange and true orange generally elicits a stronger “love it” or “hate it” response than other colours. Fun and flamboyant orange radiates warmth and energy.
Understanding colour and what they represent is important in establishing a brand persona. In today’s world of fast communication and overload of visual stimuli, it is more than vital that brand expresses its identity at the blink of an eye.
If you had to define your personality as a brand colour, what would it be?
by Lindsay Sleightholm | Mar 27, 2012 | Branding, Business Success, Creative, Design
It’s been said that nothing is new, and everything old is new again. Never has that been more obvious than in today’s retro-infused consumer market. The trend towards aesthetics of the past are everywhere: fashion, art, music (the amount of remakes out there are enough to make your head spin), home decor, cars, architecture – you get the point.
So what is “retro” anyway?
According to Wikipedia, retro is “a culturally outdated or aged style, trend, mode, or fashion, from the overall postmodern past, that has since that time become functionally or superficially the norm once again.”
Basically, it’s a blast from the past. And we can’t seem to get enough of it. It’s part of human nature to gravitate towards the familiar. Psychologically, going retro gives the impression of standing the test of time. It has merit. Not to mention, it gives us that warm, fuzzy feeling that we so often crave.
Jumping on the Radio Flyer
Nostalgia seems to be something of a “new” commodity these days. Many are jumping onto the retro bandwagon, and not in an entirely elegant way. A lot of it is far too deliberate. There is no subtle throwback to a bygone era; it’s become outright blatant, down to the letter (or typeface if you will). Some may say it’s actually “retro reinvented,” meaning that it’s taken on a modern spin. But when that modern spin is just a whisper against the overall retro message, it can hardly be considered modern.
Okay, I’ll be the first to admit that I have a definite inclination towards thing of the past. But if Cyndi Lauper were to walk up to me today and ask me to design her new identity, it would not look like something from her earlier albums. Why? Because even she has moved forward. She’s not the same flamboyant performer of her past. She has evolved – not just reinvented, but changed.
Has retro design seen its day?
The primary goal of today’s retro revival seems simply to be to mimic a style instead of creating one. Actual art and design movements of the past were born in large part due to a cultural shift. And for the most part, they generally shifted forward. But there’s no shifting forward with retro design; it’s going back, because that’s what retro does.
Maybe we’ve run out of ideas, or we don’t know how to design for this nameless age. Or maybe we really do want to go back in time.
Graphic design will always have a strong link to its roots. That is, to those who came before and blazed a powerful trail to follow – great periods such as Art Nouveau, the Victorian era, the Industrial Revolution and, yes, even the latter half of the 20th century. But when we lean on the ideals of the past too much, we stop ourselves from moving forward.
Instead of going back, perhaps we should take a moment to think about where we’re going to be in the future. Maybe – just maybe – we’ll like it just as much. And if not, in 20 years it’ll become retro again anyway.
So, what do you think? What else have you’ve seen? Share your examples of the good, the bad and the downright embarrassing of retro graphic design…
by Miriam Hara | Mar 14, 2012 | Advertising, Branding, Business Success, Creative
In today’s social market landscape never has the consumer adage of “What’s it in for me?” been more key in all communications. Today, Brand must be upfront, in the consumer’s line of vision, without selling. Brand must engage with intent, with less frills, less sell and more substance. Social Brand has enabled this. Today ‘advertising’ through the social channels must be informative, educational and add value. The concept of Social Brand has emerged, trumping all other frivolous communications. I am not saying that traditional media is out, quite the contrary, it has a very strong future. It will finally evolve to the place that it should have always been… revenue generating. The emergence of social media with its marketing intimacy and emergence of inbound marketing has proven to be the catalyst for Traditional media. Entertainment value is no longer enough… mind you, the creative of advertising should never have been the focal point of advertising… and now it can’t be, because it is no longer relevant. From a brand’s point of view, it should never have been about creative, because creative doesn’t translate into revenue. Mark Stevens who wrote the book Your Marketing Sucks stated it very clearly: “Marketing that doesn’t suck should be about the revenue, not about how beautiful the advertisement is”.
From the advertising agency’s point of view, the Traditional ad (broadcast, print or out of home) needs to be tied more succinctly to Brand Persona and what the brand is communicating within its other platforms, such as social media channels. It has to be more functional. Being a Chief Creative Officer with a strong heritage of marketing and business, ad evaluation has always been about brand context. My team constantly mimics me “Are we asking the consumer to do too many calisthenics to get to the point?“. It always irks me when I see an advertisement (print, radio, TV, out of home) where the creative won over the brand… when the creative premise/idea/visual was so beautiful that it won out over the primary objective of what the ad was actually supposed to achieve. Answer these few questions when you see an ad that has captivated your attention:
- What is the Brand? (Does it have presence, seen or stated? Does it inspire you to remember it?)
- What is the single message the ad has communicated? (What is the message? Does it speak to the Brand’s Basic Premise and its reason to believe?)
- Does the message hold any relevance for you? (Are they speaking to you, the intended Target Market, in the way you wish to be addressed? Are you the Target Market?)
If you can’t answer all these questions succinctly, then the advertising has failed. Over the years, I have seen ads that are clever and witty, utilizing the latest and greatest animation techniques to create a thing of real beauty… it almost becomes a piece of art – so much so that they win awards, as they are award-winning creative. But do they win sales for the client, for the Brand? That really should be the metrics to measure the success of an advertising campaign. My creative philosophy has always stemmed from my marketing background. As such, when we are brainstorming sessions at 3H, the objective is written out, clearly on the big LCD screen. All creative ideas are scrutinized against the objective and more often than not, the objective is to increase sales.
Don’t get me wrong, there are ads that are beautifully conceptualized, executed and very brand relevant. But, more often than not, advertising loses the perspective that it’s there to promote Brand and deliver on sales, not creative. Achieving the delicate balance of creative and brand… adding in a strong understanding of target psychographics is never easy… but believe me it’s totally doable! Clear concise messaging, with strong benefits, executed with a seamless strategy relevant to the target market is what brand advertising should be all about.
by Angelika Orgacki | Feb 15, 2012 | Advertising, Branding, Creative, Design
Keep it Simple
Whether I’m watching television, driving on the highway or opening a magazine, I am exposed to advertisements. In a consumer world this constant exposure has now become the norm. However, with the immense bombardment of advertisements, it has become increasingly difficult to grab the public’s attention. Having ads that are overwhelmed with information doesn’t help either.
Companies always want to make their brand as attractive as possible, but sometimes the detailed information behind the product is not worth mentioning. Cramming too much information onto an advertisement usually produces more harm than good. When I look around and examine the ads that grasp my attention best, I begin to see a common trend; simplicity works. This is especially so for a company logo.
Graphic designer Lucien Bernhard pioneered the idea of simplicity in advertising when designing a poster for the Priester match company. His initial concept featured a setting made up of a checkered table cloth, an ash tray with a lit cigar emitting smoke in the shape a of woman, and finally the matches on the table. After analyzing his own design, Lucien began to reduce certain elements one-by-one from his ad as his scene contained too many distractions. All that was left in the ad were the matches with no other image supporting the product but the brand name and the connotations of the brand itself. Hence, the Priester match poster is a great example of how sometimes it’s best to just “keep it simple.”
by Miriam Hara | Jan 25, 2012 | Business Success
January has come…and almost gone, and with it, all the heartfelt declaration of personal and business resolutions. I totally understand personal resolutions, it’s the onslaught of “business resolutions” and more specifically brand resolutions that have been making their way into my inbox that I really don’t get.
I’m the first to state that Brand is a living organism. I stand by that adage. However, saying that doesn’t mean that brand gets to act like an individual! All good intentions and no follow through! That’s really my point. It comes back to the basic question of what defines a marketing plan and what is branding?
Brand needs to be guided with a marketing plan with defined marketing strategies in hand and established on-going protocols for measuring the success and failure of initiatives and the next step forward. Resolutions, especially when referred to within the business arena, in my humble opinion, implies that strategies and tactics that should of been implemented were somehow lost sight of. Not a good sign! Afterall, my newly formed annual resolution of losing 10 pounds has come about because I haven’t exercised as I said I would (followed through on my plan and implemented my tactics) and quite frankly, I have been eating way more than I should (not measuring ROI)! Sorry, I am human! 😉
A brand should always follow its exercise routine (marketing strategies) in order to reach its ideal form (objective). In order to do that, it needs to show discipline and track results (post-initiative analysis) at specific points in time. If that isn’t done routinely…. then you’ve set up your brand to fail.
So this year’s business resolutions aside… exercise your brand all year around… every day…with intent… with follow through. That way you know your brand fitness level. If you do that, no matter what time of the year it is and what business challenges your brand faces…. trust me, nothing will sneak up on you like 10 pounds does… and you definitely won’t need a resolution!
