COLOR PSYCHOLOGY IN BRANDING
COLOR PSYCHOLO IN BRANDING By: Hannah Miller
Saint Louis, Missouri 2014
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© 2014 Hannah Miller All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced by any mechanical, photographic, or electronic process, or in the form of a phonographic recording, nor may it stored in a retrieval system, transmitted, or otherwise copied for public or private use without the written permission of the publisher. First published by Hannah Miller 4363 Normandy Trace Ct. Saint Louis, Missouri 63121 isbn:
345 – 4 – 89452 – 885 – 0
Printed and bound in the usa.
DEDICATION This book is dedicated to my parents because without them I wouldn’t be where I am today.
TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction........................................................................ ......
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Color Meanings.........................................................................
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Bright And Playful.................................................................. ... 10 Organic And Natural.................................................................. 28 One And Done........................................................................... 50 Black And White......................................................................... 62
INTRODUCTION Color Psychology and branding go hand and hand. Branding is all about giving a company a personality and targeting the right audience for your product. To me the most important aspect to get right is color. Color is important because it is one of the first things that catches the consumer’s eye. Since color psychology is all about color meaning and how these hues interact, I chose to make a book that focuses on companies that use palettes in an interesting way. I wanted to show the difference between vibrant hues and hues that are taken from nature and how they interacted with one another. I chose to make a large book to showcase the boldness in the palettes and how interesting color interaction can be. What colors a designer chooses really says something about the company. A designer must get the palette right if they want to attract the right buyer and capture the right personality for their product. Since the colors designers used have a meaning and an impression to them, it is important to make sure that impression appropriate to the project.
COLOR MEANINGS Color meanings are different depending on the shades one uses. Overall, colors have general meaning: blue gives off the meanings of trustful, peaceful, and reliable. Yellow represents bright, energetic, and happy. Purple is used to show luxury, royalty, wealth, as well as uniqueness and vibrancy. Pink represents sweetness, femininity, playfulness, softness, healthiness and happiness. Green is used a lot for organic companies because this color gives off a sense of freshness, calm, security, and earthy meanings. Orange has meanings of
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warmth, exoticism, playfulness, and confidence. Red is dramatic, energetic, brave, passionate, dangerous, and represents love. Black means mysterious, powerful, protective and elegance. Goodness, purity, freshness, and cleanliness represents white. Grey is between black and white and stands for security, modernity, modesty, and the future. Brown is like green and is used in earthy, friendly, outdoorsy, and natural companies.
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BRIGHT AND PLAYFUL Bright and playful colors give off a friendly and youthful vibe. They are harmonious
colors that make people feel happy and attracted to the products. These colors are pure hues that are used to contrast and add energy to a project. These palettes tend to use primary and secondary hues at full strength without an underlying of black or white to dull the color. Companies that use vibrant palettes are usually aiming for a younger crowd and want to attract a consumer that wants eye catching products and a fun atmosphere. These companies use colors like bright blues, yellows, oranges, purples, pinks, and greens because they giveoff a feeling of fresh, vibrant, energetic, and playful vibes.
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MTV BRAZIL
Pianofuzz Design Studio From: Dynamic Logo Date Unknown
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BRIGHT AND PLAYFUL
2014 HIDALGO STATE FAIR Diego Leyva and Alfonso Cernates From: behance.net 2014
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BRIGHT AND PLAYFUL
Metro Rail Project Wade Veldsman From: behance.net 2013
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BRIGHT AND PLAYFUL
JENOJU INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
Studio Fnt From: Dynamic Logo 2013
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THE PLAYFUL
Kokoro & Moi From: behance.net 2013
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BRIGHT AND PLAYFUL
AG2R LA MONDIALE – LA TRANSAT PROJECT Studio Dumbar From: Dynamic Logo Date Unknown
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BRIGHT AND PLAYFUL
TELEFILM CANDA
Ig2boutique From: Communications Art September 2013
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BRIGHT AND PLAYFUL
HELLO LA
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Airbnb From: Communications Art September 2014
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ORGANIC AND NATURAL Organic companies like to use colors that give off a calm, natural, and earthy vibe.
These hues are mixed with white and black to make more subtle to the eye. They tend to use shades that are very neutral and are seen in nature like green, brown, white, light blues, and yellows. The palettes used by many organic companies are hues found from natural backgrounds like the sky, gardens, or ocean. This is because these backgrounds in nature whisper and are calming to the viewer’s eye. The most common stereotypical colors used for organic companies are green and brown and this is because they give off that fresh, earthy garden vibe that most organic companies want to achieve.
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BRIGHT AND PLAYFUL
Field Trip
Studio Fnt From: Dynamic Logo Date Unknown
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BRIGHT AND PLAYFUL
MELI MELI
Tompertdesign From: Graphis Branding USA2 Date Unknown
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BRIGHT AND PLAYFUL
PLANT YOUR DREAMS AND LET THEM GROW Sophia Georgopoulou | Design From: Dynamic Logo Date Unknown
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BRIGHT AND PLAYFUL
MUZEON ARTS PARK Charsky Studio From: Dynamichh Logo Date Unknown
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EIXIR
Tina Balaa From: behance.net 2013
Project from previous page
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BRIGHT AND PLAYFUL
QUAKER OATS REDESIGN Annie Marie Jasinowski From: behance.net 2013
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BRIGHT AND PLAYFUL
EASY LOAF
Carli Herbst From: behance.net 2013
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ONE AND DONE
One and Done or mono-tone colors are palettes that only use one color or a hue of colors along with white or black as accents. They are usually a bold primary hue that aren’t mixed with too much white or black. This way the colors can stand alone and still grab the viewer’s attention. Popular mono-tone palettes consist of bold reds or blues. A lot of companies used this kind of palette because these colors give off a strong, powerful, reliable and trustworthy impression By using this technique, it gives the product or brand a simplistic look that many customers are drawn to.
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BRIGHT AND PLAYFUL
ANNLAB
Kyungdong Kim, Myungsup Shin, Seungwon Huh, Sabum Byun, Jiyoung Yoon, Junhyuk Chun, Jihoon Kim, Siwan Noh, and Junggun Park From: Dynamic Logo 2011
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BRIGHT AND PLAYFUL
ANXIETY FIGHT
Forefathers Group From: behance.net 2014
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SHATTERPROOF Siegel + Gale From: Communication Arts September 2014
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BRIGHT AND PLAYFUL
Project from previous page
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BRIGHT AND PLAYFUL
MILK MAN
Ben Stevens From: behance.net 2011
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BRIGHT AND PLAYFUL
DAMA BOOK & DESIGN STORE
Cappelli Identity Design From: Dynamic Logo Date Unknown
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BRIGHT AND PLAYFUL
BLUE GOOSE
Flavio Carvalho, Anna Sera Garcia, Oleg Portnoy, and Pip Scowcroft From: behance.net 2013
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BLACK AND WHITE
Neutrals like black and white are considered timeless. They are pure hues to the truest form because they are not mixed with any other shades. A lot of high fashion companies use black and white because this color scheme gives off a powerful, elegant, dramatic, but also a pure, easy, and clean vibe. Companies that want to give off a high end vibe tend to use black and white. This is because they create a dramatic contrast that attracts the attention of a buyer in this fast pace colorful world. Since black and white are the highest contrast colors side by side, this timeless palette will continue to be used.
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BRIGHT AND PLAYFUL
CROCHET
Rita Rivotti and Joao Miranda From: behance.net 2013
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BRIGHT AND PLAYFUL
FIRM
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Andrey Zhuildin and Boris Zelenkevich From: behance.net 2013
DANIEL
Moodley Brand Identity From: Dynamic Logo Date Unkown
BRIGHT AND PLAYFUL
Project from previous page
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BRIGHT AND PLAYFUL
NA A A TAA
Evan Darlot From: Dynamic Logo Date Unknown
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Designed in Adobe InDesign CS6. Text set in Univers. Printed on Cougar White paper. Designed, assembled and bound by Hannah Miller; produced under the supervision of Jennifer McKnight. Published in 2014. Book
of 2.