Contents Colour & Context Introduction Geographical Context Language & Colour Social Experiments Age & Colour
01 03 05 07 09
2.1 2.2 2.3
North America Europe East Asia
11 13 21
3.1
Bibliography
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1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Colour Symbolism
1.1
In an increasingly competitive & saturated market, brands need an instant way to stand out.
01
Introduction
If you were to consider a red can of cola, blue striped capital letters, a black apple, and yellow arches – what brands come to mind? In each instance, colour is important in identifying & associating a brand. Colour lets us instantly recognize and draw emotional associations to a brand. It’s far more than just an aesthetic choice, and is a vital component to construct a brand identity and experience. Colour is the very first perception customers will have with a brand. Colour And The Brain Once we (as humans) identify a colour, we instantly have a chemical reaction in our brain that produces an emotional response. This response triggers a vast amount of thoughts, memories and associations to people, places and events.
02
1.2
In Asia, orange is a positive, spiritually enlightened, and life-affirming colour. In the USA, it’s a colour of road hazards, traffic delays, and fast-food restaurants. Colours can help differentiate a premium from a discount brand, and distinguish between fun, serious, young, old, male and female. The context is everything, eg. a group of people wearing black might be priests, ninjas, a heavy metal band, or fashion designers. Even the climate in which we live influences colour preferences. E.R. Jaensch’s research shows those who live in climates with a lot of sunlight prefer warm bright colours; while those from climates with less sunlight prefer cooler, less saturated colours.
03
Geographical Context
A single colour can have many different meanings in different cultures & societies.
04
1.3
The Shona language in Zimbabwe and the Boas language in Liberia have no words which distinguish red from orange.
05
Language & Colour
Every language is different, with some languages lacking vocabulary for certain colours, and others having more. All languages have designated words for black and white. The next most common colour is red, then yellow or green. Blue is the sixth colour named, and brown is the seventh. Finally, in no specific order, pink, grey, orange & purple.
06
1.4
Radeloff (1990) has found that women were more likely than men to have a favourite colour. Radelooff also found that there were no preferences for light versus dark colours between men and women, although women prefer soft colours and men prefer bright ones. Thomas, Curtis, and Bolton (1978) interviewed 72 Nepalese people, and asked them to list the names all the colours they could think of. Women consistently listed more colour names than men did, explained by the fact that Nepalese women traditionally wear more colourful clothing than men do. A similar study by Greene (1995) look at colour identification of university students. They were asked to identify the colours of 21 colour chips. The results showed that women recognized significantly more elaborate colours than did the men.
07
Social Experiments
These examples show that gender & cultural differences influence colour perception, & how an audience could perceive a brand identity.
08
1.5
As we age, our ideas & preferences with colours change vastly.
09
Age & Colour
From three to six, children strongly prefer colour to shapes (the opposite is true at a later stage of development). Bright red is used by children to express anger, and black with the night and depressing feelings. Yellow often reflects the sun, and can stand for a happy desire to communicate and express themselves. Younger children are attracted by strong, warm, and intense colours. As children age, colours become less violent and they begin to prefer softer shades. This continues through life, with older people preferring more subdued colours. This shows the importance of brands targeting the specific age they seem their audience as. You will often see bright colours in use for brands that target children (such as Lego’s bright yellow).
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2.1
North America USA & Canada
Apple, Google, Verizon, UPS, McDonalds, Coca-Cola, American Express.
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Colour Symbolism - North America
Colour
Connotations
Examples
Yellow
Visibility, cautionary, happy.
Used in to signal police area & colour of taxis.
Orange
Visibility, danger.
Highway signs, prison uniforms.
Red
Excitement, warning, sex, safety, rescue.
Colour of the Canadian flag & mountain police.
Blue
Trustworthy, soothing, official, business.
Mailboxes, uniforms, blue ribbon.
Green
Environment, fresh, healthy, envy, outdoors.
Money, nature.
Brown
Boring, dull, fertile, strength, poverty.
National Park signs, coffee packaging.
Black
Death, evil, formal, business, masculine.
Clothing.
White
Clean, pure, elegant, antiseptic.
Paper, cleaning products.
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2.2
Colour
Connotations
Examples
Yellow
Visibility, rubber.
Rain jackets, visibility jackets, AA.
Red
Power, authority, government, hot.
Letter boxes, buses, telephone boxes.
Blue
Tranquil, diginity, Scotland.
Formal clothing, the Scottish flag.
Green
Enironment, catholicism, quality.
Four leaf clover, Irish flag.
Gold
Royalty.
Royal crown, pound coins.
Black
Formal, style, mascline.
Black cabs, clothing.
13
Colour Symbolism - Europe
Europe United Kingdom
HSBC, Tesco, BT, Barclays, BP, Sky, Dove.
14
2.2
Europe France GDF Suez, Airbus, Total, L’Oréal,
Louis Vuitton, Chanel, EDF.
15
Colour Symbolism - Europe
Colour
Connotations
Examples
Yellow
Summer, joy.
Fruit, letter boxes.
Red
Blood, passion, love.
Lipstick, clothing.
Blue
Water, reliability, trust, France.
French flag, street signs, jewelry.
Gold
Decoration, light, luxury.
Champagne, interior decoration.
Black
Style, sophistication.
French fashion brands.
16
2.2
Colour
Connotations
Examples
White
Nature, fresh.
Snow, mountains.
Blue
Reliability, neutral, romance.
Water, the Blue Danube Waltz.
Silver
Sophistication, masculine.
Cars, shaving tools.
Gold
Money, wealth.
Swiss bank accounts.
Brown
Earth.
Soil, swiss chocolate.
17
Colour Symbolism - Europe
Europe Germany & Switzerland
Volkswagen, BMW, Siemens, Zurich, Mercedes - Benz.
18
2.2
Europe Italy
Generali, Eni, Enel, Unicredit, Gucci.
19
Colour Symbolism - Europe
Colour
Connotations
Examples
Red
Light, fidelity, power.
Italian flag, Ferrari, restaurant decorations.
Purple
Nobility, endurance of suffering.
Martyr’s clothing.
Gold
Wealth, luxury, divinity.
Jewelry, Christian crosses.
White
Virtue, purity.
Clothing.
Black
Style, sophistication.
Italian fashion.
20
2.3
Colour
Connotations
Examples
Red
Communism, celebration, government, good luck, joy, fertility, good fortune.
Wedding dresses, lucky money envelopes, red ink in obituaries.
Yellow
Earth, power, royalty, sun, masclunity, happiness.
Sun, Ying.
Green
Desiability, spring, youth.
Jade jewelry.
Orange
Love, good health.
Buddhist monk robes.
White
Death, mourning.
Funerl clothing, flowers.
21
Colour Symbolism - East Asia
East Asia China
China Mobile, Bank of China, ICBC, Huawei, China State Construction, QQ.
22
2.3
East Asia South Korea
Samsung Global, Hyundai, LG Group, SK Group, Shinhan Financial, Kia Motors.
23
Colour Symbolism - East Asia
Colour
Connotations
Examples
Red
Good luck, blood.
Festive clothing.
Yellow
Joy, happiness.
Engagement.
Blue
Mourning.
Funeral clothing.
Black
Mystery, mourning.
Funeral clothing.
Gold
Decoration
Jewelry.
24
2.3
Colour
Connotations
Examples
Red
Blood, self sacrifice, strength.
Public phones, paint, cherries.
Silver
Spring, youth, good health, speed.
Tools, cars, weapons, bullet trains.
Purple
Royalty.
Flowers.
Black
Technology, mystery, night, anger.
Electronics, clothing.
White
Death, mourning.
Cars, funeral clothing.
25
Colour Symbolism - East Asia
East Asia Japan
Misubishi, Honda, Nissan, Hitachi, Toshiba, Sony, Panasonic, Mizuho.
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3.1
Biblography
Bibliography Large Randall [1991], Does Orange Mean Cheap?, Forbes, [December 23] pp.144-147. Peterson, L. K., Dangel Cullen [2000], Global Graphics: Color, Rockport, Gloucester, MA, USA, 2000. Techtronix (1998) - The Color Connection, Morton, IL, USA. Research Sources and Findings, Banner Ad Placement Study [199798], www.webreference.com. Khouw, N - http://www.colormatters.com [Accessed 1st May 2014], Natalia, Color and Branding http://library.thinkquest.org [Accessed 1st May 2014], Psychological Effects of Colour
By Joe Leadbeater
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