Contexual Studies 2016

Kayleigh Parmley

FdA Graphic Design

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Contents

Page 5 Bibliorgaphy Page 6-7 The value and use of colour -An introduction to colour Page 8-9 Colour in the industry -Sweets -Drinks -Technology -Food -Health and Security

Page 10-11 A quote on colour

Page 12-13 A view on colour -Conclusion

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Bibliography

Main research source Value and Understanding of colour and how this effects the brand Also used for the quote “Colour plays a major part in the reflection of your brand” BlackBearDesign and Black, J.L. (2012) The meaning of color in graphic design | Col-our in design. Available at: https://www.blackbeardesign.com/understanding-color-the-meaning-of-color/ (Accessed: 14 April 2016).

Examples of using colour in branding;Branding, P. (2015) 21 outstanding uses of colour in branding. Available at: http://www.creativebloq.com/branding/amazing-uses-col-our-6133196/4 (Accessed: 14 April 2016).

Fast food Branding research; Posted (2011) Branding - why red & yellow is used by the fast food industry - Karen Haller | Blog | Karen Haller Colour & design consultancy is based in west London, UK, working with businesses and private clients on their branding, personal and interior colours & design, specialising in applied Colour psychology. Available at: http://karenhaller.co.uk/blog/branding-why-red-yellow-is-used-by-the-fast-food-industry/ (Accessed: 14 April 2016).

Emotion in colour researchAlso Used for the quote; “it draws consumers to produce, stirs emotions and has a huge impact on brand recgonition” “Green symbolizes health, new beginnings and wealth. Green is the easiest on the eyes and should be used to relax and create balance in a design. It is a great color to use if a company wants to depict growth, security or inspire possibility.” -Allison S. GremillionKhan, A.W. (2011) How color impacts emotions and behaviors. Available at: https://99designs.co.uk/blog/tips/how-color-impacts-emotions-and-be-haviors/ (Accessed: 14 April 2016).

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There are different values and uses for colour. A hue is a primary colour given to the brand, then saturation is the overall intensity of the colour, for example, ORANGE use the colour orange however the colour is very bold and intense, so the colour does not appear dull. The value is the overall lightness or darkness of overall colour schemes, this will come in handy for many businesses, as this determines the emotions they want the brand to provoke, the brighter the colour, the more childlike joy it gives, whereas when the colour is dulled it can make the scheme look more serious, modern. Each colour gives off different emotions, this is why picking the colour for the brand is so important, as the colour reflects your brand, for example, the colour orange, a bold colour, is seen to be very joyful, creativity almost childish, so this colour would be used for a brand that wants to be bold and passionate. On the other side of the scale, take the colour black, seen to be a very mysterious and powerful colourful, this colour would be used in a brand that showcases its functionality and sophistication.

Colour has the power of persuasion, by following colour trends, and linking the colours correctly to your brand, it will greatly help to increase the popularity of the business, it will draw in clients. From doing some research into various brands and the colour schemes they use, the colours, black, white, blue, yellow and red are the most commonly used within colour schemes or alone, this Is because all of those colours, besides black and white, are the primary colours on the colour wheel, these colours are easy, simple and bold, enough to attract the attention of the public, if used correctly for the right brand

Colour in the Graphic Design industry is very important, as it gives the client a first impression of your brand, how they remember it. It is a reflection on your brand, the visually obvious yet subtle application has impact in a way it is perceived by the public. Every colour has a different emotion, so certain colours evoke emotions from your clients, for example, Mc Donald’s used to be red and yellow, commonly recognised as fast food, these colours mainly evoke hunger, however recently they had changed their colour scheme to green and brown, these colours help to create a more natural, soothing atmosphere for the client. Once the clients get attached to the colour within the brand. This can then be used to an advantage for the business, as you can begin to manipulate advertisements etc., to create a more daring and confident advert for the public. By using the colour in which the public are associating with the brand, there is more room to explore in what you do with the advert, being more free with how funny or out of context it can be. People will automatically make the link between the colour and your product, then creating a successful advertisement for the company. In this report I will be discussing the meaning factors behind colour, how colour can evoke emotion from the client, whether that be to encourage them to keep going back to the product, or by giving them an impulse to buy the product. As well as looking into colour schemes, how this can affect the business as opposed to one colour, and what will happen if the business were to change the colour scheme, how will this affect the client. I will be exploring the depths of colour in branding, analysing different branding, comparing them, to come to a conclusion as to the ‘use, effects and value of colour in Graphic Design particularly within the area of branding.

Within branding, colour, plays a massive part with its reflection, it shows you as a business and what you do, as well as to give an impact to the public for your product. With a company with strong brand recognition e.g. McDonalds, altering the colour scheme changed how we thought of the company, the yellow and red colours were used to help us identify with hunger, fast food, however with the new green and brown colour scheme they have, it gives a more natural, soothing atmosphere for the clients, this was a big change for the business yet still we associate McDonalds with yellow and red, they use the colour red, as this colour resembles hunger, it evokes hunger when seen, as this is what is associated to be with this colour, this helps to attract clients.

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"Colour plays a major part in the

correct reflection of your brand."-Joel Lumon Black

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The sweet industry is in a completely different area to the food industry, this is because the sweet business is huge, the way they use colour and the way they use branding is different. They seem to create more child-like branding, to be more fun and creative with how they present themselves; this effects how we, as the public, react to the product. For businesses like Cadburys, Reese’s and bounty, they have created a colour scheme that suits the branding and also promotes itself as a successful business. They all use a colour scheme or a certain colour to promote themselves, they stick with this until it is ingrained into the public for linking the colour with the brand, making it easier for the brand to be confident in themselves enough to use fin and creative advertisements that can easily be distinguished just from the colour. For example, with Cadburys, they use a certain shade of purple, and this has now become the most recognisable brand for this shade of purple. In fact, they had released an advertisement that shows the power of their brand colour, this was shown by Fallon’s Black Pencil-winning Gorilla spot, a creative, fun advertisement, from this came a new way of branding, using posters, websites etc., just from using their signature colour that is so ingrained in the public. An advertisement or branding like this can evoke certain emotions, especially by the colour that is used. Purple resembles nobility and luxury, this is perfect for what the brand is wanting to achieve, the brand mainly creates chocolate, chocolate is seen to be a luxury item for the public, it is sought after, by using a colour that is to be considered ‘luxury’, fits with the product they are creating, and evokes this to the public, it encourages them to buy the product, seeing it as a luxury as evoked from the colour. Cadburys have significantly gained confidence with their brand, by showing what the power of colour can do to both the public and the business. However, this can be said for most popular sweet brands i.e. Refreshers, Reeses, bounty; As this have picked a certain colour scheme and they have kept and used this to their advantage in order to make themselves know, to create an image for themselves, if a company were to always change their colours, there would be nothing to easily identify them by from the publics eyes, it would be much harder to trust a brand as well as to use the brand.

When talking about the food business, the main topic would be the fast food chain, this is because fast food chains use the colour red because it evokes hunger, the colour red shows many different emotions, however the main one being hunger, as we now link the colour red to fast food chains, along the lines of McDonalds, Burger King and KFC. All of these fast food chains contain a similar colour red, however have different colour scheme, but they still all use that one colour so that it evokes hunger, causing the public to immediately want that product. It works well for the businesses as well as the brand itself, by using red it has made those 3 chains successful, as we link the colour to them, this is what a successful brand needs to aim, so that they can use the colour to their advantage by manipulating the message it gives to create more attention for the business.However when thinking about McDonalds, who have recently undergone a change in the colour scheme, but they did not change the colour of the logo, originally the colours were red and yellow, the red triggering hunger and attention, yellow evokes happiness and friendliness, which is why these were both choosing, to help represent the brand. As they have changed the colour of the interior as well as the uniforms in the business from red and yellow to greens and browns. This has given a different feeling to the brand, the colour evoke the feelings of nature, natural and environmentally friendly no longer about rushing for food, it helps the public to get comfortable and relax; but, this did not effect the logo, they have still kept the logo colours to yellow and red, to still evokes the hunger and manages to attract attention easily, if the business were to change the colours of the logo as well, this would not have worked well for the company, as the red and yellow are there to attract attention, to show welcoming happiness, to trigger hunger, to replace them with greens and browns would give the logo a more calm and natural look, taking away the trigger that reminds the public of the products they provide, to be easily seen and to be inviting. By keeping the original colours, it draws the customers in but then enables them to be soothed and relaxed by the colours, to show the image of being environmentally friendly as a business.

Health care and security and the most crucial subjects when gaining the public trust, the public need to trust the company enough to give them business, they need to show themselves as a safe trustworthy company, this is because they keep the most crucial of information in your life, the colour the company pick will be the deciding factor of how the public see the company. So companies like the NHS and Barclays both use the colour blue, this is because the colour blue is known to be a very trustworthy, loyal and secure colour, it puts you at ease, helps you to relax to trust the company, but if you were to use a colour like orange, it would show a childlike, fun emotion, which does not give enough trust for the public to give the information. The NHS needs to be trusted by the public otherwise they could not continue their job, by using the colour blue, it instantly gives a feeling of safety, you can trust where u is, this is why many hospitals use blue for the décor, to help give that feeling with trust. Similar to the NHS there is Barclays, however instead of looking after the publics wellbeing, they look after their bank details, the most secure information is kept, the company needs the public to know that they are secure with the information they have, and that they are very safe with how they handle and give out such information; this is why they use the colour blue, for evoke safety, trust and security, so when the client sees the brand then can feel safe with the brand, it helps the company with their image of security.

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The drinks business also has to think carefully about their colour branding, as for advertising purposes they need to be easily recognized in order to be a successful brand. Their main way these businesses show themselves is mainly fro advertisements, they use their colour branding to their advantage with this. Using Guinness as an example, they have the colour black as their brand colour; they had manipulated this for advertisement with the slogan, ‘paint the town black’, for St Patricks Day, with the use of Black and White in its multi-award winning advertising including the iconic surfer ad. This was a clever display of making their colour iconic, showing that the colour black links to that brand. They are clever to use this colour and the emotions it evokes onto the public. Known to most, black is seen as powerful and mysterious, by using this colour for a drink, it gives a feeling of power with the drink, a state of pride when drinking the product. They try to make the product reach out to the public, by using colour it gives a massive encouragement to make themselves stand out, to be known for that particular colour.By using another example, Coca-Cola, they are known for their iconic Red and white colour that they have always stuck with. They are confident that the colours are ingrained in us that they can use advertising with out the actual brand, just simply by using the colours, red with the white curve through it, that curve however makes the branding, as if it were to be red, we would automatically relate this with a company like KFC or McDonalds, but by inserting this curve of white in with the colour it makes it into something completely different giving the brand its own image, giving the bran more freedom to explore different advertisement and branding ways. From the use of their Christmas advertisement and branding, ‘Holidays are coming’, this is now known to be the official start of Christmas for most, it is internationally known and every one looks forward to this, again making giving an appearance for themselves. To change these colours would be dangerous for the business, as this would be changing the way you think about the brand, as you would still associate the brand with those colours. This brand has now become a world known brand, known for their colours, this works in their advantage for the public, as this has built up trust with the public and the company.

Technology is another massive area that needs to be considered for colour and how they present this with colour branding, as there are companies where they are very reliant on the colour of the brand, however there are other that do use colour to help with their brand however they manipulate it to get what they want out of the public, to evoke certain emotions to help either portray the colour or the branding itself. A big topic would be Apple, Apple are most known for the functionality and perfection of their products, they have chosen their colour well for the brand, they needed something that could represent the product but could then be manipulated to what they need from the public, how they want their image to be perceived. This business strives on perfection, the colour they use, white, is most known for its elegance, perfection and purity, all of which Apple strive to achieve which every product they release, they clearly show this from their branding and advertisements. They are quick to the point, making it clean cut for what they want to promote, shown from their iTunes branding, the silhouettes and colours they use are all done to manipulate the look of the product they are promoting, in this case, ITunes, they use the colour to catch the eye of the public, then focusing on the white headphones from the black background to heavily differentiate the two, they did not feel the need to include their branding on this as they can be so easily recognised by their colours and branding, they can do without, making it more interesting and easier to create a successful branding campaign. Same can be said for the phone company Orange, they have a particular shade of orange that is internationally known for their colour, and even more memorable that they named the company after the colour they chose, the colour orange evokes happy emotions; child-like, fun, happiness, this effects how the public sees the brand, they are more likely to watch an advert or brand campaign that creates a happy child-like atmosphere. They are internationally known for their colour, they use this to their advantage by creating simple and easy designs for branding, as by using that shade of orange, the public are full aware of what company this is and what they are selling. Showing the power that colour can create for a business, and can dramatically change how successful the brand becomes, its easily recognised and can be striking for the public, making them notice the brand, giving the brand their own image.

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Green symbolizes health, new beginnings and wealth.

Green is the easiest on the eyes and should be used to

relax and create balance in a design. It is a great

color to use if a company wants to depict

growth, security or inspire possibility.

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Green symbolizes health, new beginnings and wealth.

Green is the easiest on the eyes and should be used to

relax and create balance in a design. It is a great

color to use if a company wants to depict

growth, security or inspire possibility. -Allison S. Gremillion

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"it draws

consumers to

products, stirs

emotions and

has a huge

impact on brand

recognition."-Allison S. Gremillion

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Colour is the most important choice that a business can make for their branding, not long does it give an insight to the product, it also produces an image for the company, this is important in order to show them as a brand. When choosing the colours, they must take into consideration as to how they will portray the colour in a way that it will link to the brand and product. So using a dark colour like black for a Health-care chain would not be helpful or professional for the brand, as this colour evokes mystery and elegance, none of which s needed for that brand. However, the correct colour for this would be blue, blue evokes security, trust and loyalty, this is why brands such as the NHS use this colour, to make the patients feel safe and secure while undergoing any treatment, giving a good image of the brand in the most important, by doing that it gains the publics trust, who are then more likely to come back again and feel comfortable with the business. I have found that without colour, a brand cannot give any emotions in their campaigns; it will fail to show the public what the product is about, and will bore the clients, as they cannot link what they’re doing with your brand. In order to become successful, the colours must be manipulated in a way that you can make the colour yours, you can have the creativity in your branding that makes it its own, gives the brand its own identity for the public to grab a hold of, to evoke emotion that can grab attention, make clients happy or sad on purpose in order to show the product in the most recognizable and creative way so that the brand can spread to then become internationally recognizable for the colour or colour scheme that has been chosen.