Hi Bruce,

Thank you for your inquiry. I took a look at your site and tried to get a feel for the DNA of your brand and I noticed your very clever and humorous TV ads. I think the pairing of humor with your brand makes it more compelling and interesting and not just a boring value message. I always encourage that the color story should reflect the overall brand story. Just by going from what I see, I think you have a lot of good things working for you. I do think your overall brand color is well supported by the huge Yves Klein International Blue color cycle that we are in the midst of. This cycle supports innovative forward thinking communication brands like facebook and twitter. Ives Klein blue is far from out of date. I also think you have an opportunity to bring some of the humor of your TV ads into your over all brand message. Think of Geiko, Progressive and Aflac advertising. Your logo might also have the opportunity to become a bit more "light hearted" and less anchored. You may want to bring in more bright accents like Kraft Foods rather than the cacophony of Google. The real key is determining the essence of your brand story and how the colors will support it. I tend to agree that you have the opportunity to bring in some more light hearted bright accents, but I would also keep that strong communication message of your vibrant blues. Define your brand and choose colors as if you were using the colors to season the brand story.

Hi Carol,
I definitely agree with what you are saying. Color meaning is definitely contextual - it all depends on several different contextual factors: Culture/Country/Region is one. The physical environment (light, surface, viewer and surrounding colors) is a second. Psychological is a third - how is the consumer reading the meaning of the colors when combined with the other design elements and the brand story? Fourth is how the meaning of the color is being influenced by major social drivers like the economy, social media, natural phenomenon like the events in Japan, celebrities and other major events. How are these major drivers changing consumer perception and changing their preference towards current trends and color? Where are color preferences moving to? Why? All these factors are what make color such a changing and dynamic design element. By putting more emphasis on the ever evolving brand story in relation to changing color stories, I believe we can make more compelling and connected color choices for our brands.

Yes, quality can be conveyed by color, but what is the quality story? If it is one of high quality hand crafted pottery. The glazes may be subtly different and add to the beauty of the collection of dinnerware. Here inconsistency says quality - it all comes back to the story and the context of the color within the story.

Hi, Thanks for your comment! I want to be clear that I am not opposed to using color as a navigation tool for the brand - it is a very valuable tool when it comes to brand navigation . My point is that when the brand is modeled by a too formulaic and structured process, the color tends to migrate solely to this navigation place. The intuitive, emotional and creative connections tend to suffer or be ignored because they are not easily quantified in the highly structured model. In a more right brain model, like the story, the whole is greater than just a sum of it's parts. It's the context and how the colors are put together with the rest of the design that creates that delightful unexpected connection with the consumer. As an example, I would point to the Apple brand. The Apple experience is a very simple "white" and intuitive one, but many colors appear in often unexpected ways to delight the consumer. You might also consider how we tend to look at disciplines as either Art or Science - I think it time become "middle-brain" thinkers and consider both no matter what the discipline. Quantitative and Qualitative research need to be integrated - neither should stand alone.

Hello Ron, Thank you for your comment. I do agree with everything you are saying here, but unfortunately by creating the "graphical devices of pillars" the brand visuals in many cases are becoming overly differentiated as well as the color stories. Color is especially effected because it is so easily used as a classifier. It is certainly possible to have brand color, graphic, sound and scent stories that better integrate with the holistic brand story. When we purposely assign buckets they tend to be filled whether they need to or not.

Hello Ralf, The cultural aspects of color are definitely an important consideration for any good color strategy. This is one reason why I think color design is much more successful when a brand story model is used. The cultural cues can be interwoven throughout story model so much easier. The architectural model tends to default to defining individual color meanings rather than developing a color story to support the brand story.

I think you might find an earlier article that I did for color strategy to be of interest. Here is the link: http://www.landor.com/index.cfm?do=thinking.blog&...

Hi Günter, Thank you for your very eloquent insight - I couldn't agree more. Well said!

Hi Günter, It was great to have you join us at the Twitter Red Carpet Party!

I think it is very important to remember that fashion trends are not the only factor that we look at to validate our forecasts. Fashion usually points out which color families have the really hot new color directions, but in our business we need to know what the directions will be across the entire spectrum. The green family may be taking a rest after all the recent "Green Movement" activity, but we still need greens when we design green appropriate projects. That's why I think it is extremely important to define the color direction story based on consumer attitudes and drivers before creating a forecast or palette. If we use the story that is driving the new trends then we can extrapolate it on to the sleeping colors. This is how I did the Forest Floor palette. It is also possible to validate color directions in the electronics and transportation industries. Finally, if you still can't confirm a direction you can always rely on the classics. It the case of green this might be a grass, forest or emerald green.

The dress colors were right on to the Landor forecast - Fire and Smoke. The big surprise color of the evening was a Lavender - Periwinkle dress worn by Mila Kunis. Maybe a new direction? The absence of green and true yellow and not much pink should be noted. The stage lighting combinations looked like the Landor Fire, Smoke, Water and Comforting Luxuries palettes. With the end of the award show season, the Landor Passionate Fire forecast is definitely validated. Greens still remain the big question.

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