Tag Archives: branding

What type of colour information do designers want?

advanced stuff, , , ,

In this study we were interested in which type of colour information designers want. We carried out surveys and interviews (with senior designers and brand managers) and the results are summarised below:

We used a card-sorting technique in our interviews to ensure that the participants knew what each of our terms meant.

We found that colour meaning was one of the aspects of colour that designers would like to be able to put their finger on; it was more important that colour trend information in fact! We also looked some existing colour tools and found that none of them really offered the most important information that designers and brand managers want to know about colour. What would be really cool would be a tool that provided accurate information about the meanings that colours have in different cultures and perhaps in different contexts.

The full paper will shortly be published in Color Research and Application.

Won S & Westland S, 2018. Requirements capture for colour information for design professionals, Color Research and Application.

The full publication details will be added here when they are available. Meanwhile, you can read it here.

 

cigarette packaging colour

design, news, , , ,

smoking_248418k

New regulations – from 20 May 2016 – will see all cigarette packaging in the same drab green colour.colour with other standardised features such as opening mechanism and font, and with 60 per cent of the casing covered by text and images showing how smoking affects your health. The decision was made in Parliament on 15 May last year.

They have also been told to get rid of any misleading information from cigarette packs, and have been prevented from using words such as ‘organic’, ‘natural’ or ‘lite’, which could lead consumers to believe there is a healthy smoking option.

Further information can be found in this article in The Independent.

The images shown above are from a similar scheme in Australia.

why people have started to buy brown cars again

culture, design, , , , , ,

3-Beige-Golf-Rex

Interesting article by Ian Johnston in The Independent today about consumer colour choices for second-hand cars in the UK. Bucking the recent preference for silver, black and whit, the top 10 list of colour schemes includes green, beige, yellow and gold – colours that we associate with the 70s.

Please see the original article for further information.

colour and branding

culture, design, knowledge, opinions/rants, , , , ,

mcdonalds

According to Jon Feagain colour affects brand development in five ways:

    It helps boost perception

    It attracts attention

    It can help to emphasise or conceal information

    It can help you appeal to the right audience

    It can can help the audience digest information better

I think all of these things are true. However, to make the right decisions a good understanding of colour semiotics is critical in my opinion. Achieving that is easier said than done.

BP fails to win protection for green colour

design, news, , ,

BP

The oil giant BP has again failed in its long-running bid to trademark the colour green in Australia.

The intellectual property watchdog, IP Australia, found BP was unable to show “convincing evidence” that it was indelibly linked in the average petrol consumer’s mind to the dark green shade known as Pantone 348C, a spokeswoman for the government agency said.

BP first tried to register a trademark for the colour in 1991, and until 2013 fought legal battles against another corporate titan, Woolworths, to stake its claim to the colour as the dominant shade for its service stations.

For the full story see http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/jul/03/bp-loses-battle-to-trademark-the-colour-green-in-australia

colour and brand identity

culture, design, professional, , , , , , , , , ,

union-jewellery-boxes

Just read a really informative article by David Airey – an independent brand identity designer – about colour and brand identity. In his article David reiterates some ideas I heard from Laura Hussey in Design Week (and recently blogged about); that is that some companies such as Oxfam and The Guardian are rebranding with a rainbow colour palette. As David writes: “Multiple colours speak of choice, variety and diversity. Think Google, NBC, eBay, or MSN to name but a few that use more than two colours to express their breadth.”

However, David’s post goes further to describe some of his own work with Halcyon coffee and the use of a range of different colours: “The colours used within the brand and environment were derived from, and act as a subtle nod towards the diverse colour palette used during Britain’s great creative periods of the past — our Halcyon days, mixed with those we see around us today.” Definitely worth having a read of David’s article

MRes Colour Communication

advanced stuff, design, knowledge, news, professional, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

colour communication

We’re starting a new programme at Leeds University next September. It’s MRes Colour Communication. This is a one-year Masters programme by research but with a twist. There is a taught component in the first semester to get everyone up to speed to make sure they understand the basics of colour communication. They then explore one aspect of this in their research project and submit a dissertation at the end of the year. Please contact me at my University email of s.westland@leeds.ac.uk for further information or visit http://www.design.leeds.ac.uk/pg/research-degrees/.

Cadbury lose purple case

culture, design, news, , , , , , , , , , ,

cadbury

I have written a few times about various legal cases that are on-going to settle disputes about colour ownerships. For example, about 18 months ago I wrote about trademarking colour and the dispute between Cadbury and its competitors over the use of the colour purple (specifically Pantone 2685C) on chocolate packaging and advertising. In that blog I noted that Cadbury had lost a case in the USA against Darrell Lea but had been granted protection in the UK despite protests from Nestlé. The law is a complex matter.

However, today, in the BBC I read that Nestlé has won a court battle with Cadbury, over Cadbury’s attempt to trademark the purple colour of its Dairy Milk bars. This is a successful appeal by Nestlé to the earlier ruling. The Court of Appeal said that Cadbury’s trademark application lacked “the required clarity, precision, self-containment, durability and objectivity to qualify for registration”.

“We are disappointed by this latest decision but it’s important to point out that it does not affect our long held right to protect our distinctive colour purple from others seeking to pass off their products as Cadbury chocolate,” said a Cadbury spokesman. Watch this space!!