Fifty years ago, if you turned on your T. V. you would have seen My Three Sons in brilliant black and white. Very few print advertisements went beyond 3-color printing and the internet wasn’t even a glimmer in Al Gore’s eye. Color, for the graphic designer, was a mere novelty, meant only for the most high-end projects and package design. Color, once too expensive to use whimsically, is now expected for the most part. Black and white has come to represent the high-end and artistic.
Fifty years ago, if you turned on your T. V. you would have seen My Three Sons in brilliant black and white. Very few print advertisements went beyond 3-color printing and the internet wasn’t even a glimmer in Al Gore’s eye. Color, for the graphic designer, was a mere novelty, meant only for the most high-end projects and package design. Color, once too expensive to use whimsically, is now expected for the most part. Black and white has come to represent the high-end and artistic.
Gone also are the days of using color for the simple joy of it. Colors have cultural meaning. You as a designer, have a responsibility to be aware of not only their meanings but their trends.
Lets take for example the current situation in the United States. According to some market researchers, in a time of war, people respond better to a more pastel or whimsical palette. Why? The obvious reason is that, as people fell stress, they are drawn to lighter imagery. The second reason, which every designer in a roundabout way should know already, is contrast. Visiting your favorite news site during a period of turmoil you’ll notice the images on the screen are dark, yet vibrant. Dark smoke contrasting the red flames boiling out of a building are harsh, strong images. People genuinely start to filter out those images mentally. The old saying, “You’ve seen it once, you’ve seen it a thousand times,” truly comes into play. The way to combat this is through a mild palette. Use soft colors on white backgrounds. A great example of this was J.C. Penny’s Christmas advertising campaign. Instead of using the typical bright red and green to display their logo, they had light blue snowflakes falling in front of a white background. Then their logo fades in the middle of the screen. Who would of thought, one of the largest retailers in the world, would go against the grain and not use red or green? Essentially, you could call this color branding. Your identity, not necessarily your logo, can be associated with what ever colors the current trend dictates.
Other influences on color preference are social concerns and lifestyle. Pantone, in their article “Capturing the Collective Eye”, makes the point that, if someone is interested in an issue or a cause, they may begin to prefer the colors associated with that cause. For instance, an environmentalist may become partial to earth tones such as browns and greens. A gay activist may prefer more lively vibrant colors because a rainbow is used so much in the imagery for the cause. A conservative Christian will learn toward conservative colors such as navy and gray. You may want to consider such factors when designing for a targeted audience.
Color Innuendo
Colors generally carry with them certain documented social overtones. While none preconceived meanings con be considered universal, researchers have found these meanings to be somewhat accurate:
Black:
Meaning: Authority or power and sometimes evil. Darth Vader was black for all these reasons.
White:
Meaning: Purity, sterility or innocence. Brides wear white to imply purity and innocence.
Red:
Meaning: Anger, warning, conflict and love. Red actually can cause an increased heart rate and breathing. Used in some context, it can have a negative effect and in others it can have an affectionate effect.
Blue:
Meaning: Tranquility, peaceful – cold and depressing – noble and loyal. Business suites are often navy because it implies loyalty, while class rooms are often light blue to the blue’s calming effect. Musically, it’s referred to as “the blues” because the music and the color can have a depressive tone.
Green:
Meaning: Natural, refreshing and fertility. The obvious connection with green is nature, but its use in hospitals is similar to blue in that, green is actually a calming color.
Yellow:
Meaning: Cheerful, optimistic and concentration. Due to yellow’s enhancement of concentration and ability to contrast with almost every other color, yellow is often used in road signs.
Purple:
Meaning: Royalty, luxury and romantic. Royals have throughout history been associated with purple due to the fact that it is scarce in nature and money had to be spent to make the dye.
Brown:
Meaning: Solid, reliable and earthy. UPS promotes the color brown in its advertising for this very reason.
Other considerations:
Patriotic colors:
You may consider your target audience’s national flag when designing. Different colors are considered patriotic in different countries. If designing a site specifically for another country, yellow may hold no patriotic implications, while green is a color of great pride.
Product:
You may also want to consider the natural colors of the product for which you are designing. Menu designs very rarely contain any blue because blue isn’t naturally found very often in most food. For that very reason, blue was the last color to be released by M&M’s. People tend to associate earth tones with food. Another example of this is oil/energy companies. Gas stations have a tendency to be refreshing colors such as blue, green or yellow. This is done to counteract the thought of pollution and other environmental issues.
Scott Harris a former graphic designer for murdok and currently the design manager for C.A.D. Website Design and RSStatic
