Color Our World

Chris Webb, an Exterior Color and Trend Designer for General Motors, North America, provides an interesting insight in his post on FYI Blog today. The post is  cleverly entitled, "Orange You Happy With Your Car Color," referring to the resurgence of the color orange in all things fashion over the last five years. Of course, that trend is playing very strongly in the automobile industry.

Being a psychologist, developments like this always intrigue me. Colors cycle in popularity. You need only look at the avocado and gold appliances that proliferate in magazines from the late 60s and early 70s to see once popular shades that today appear hideously out of place. Color/texture combinations also go in and out of favor; matte vs. shiny black, for example. And, black itself, for that matter, once a signal of plebeian ordinariness (Henry Ford's "any color as long as..."), now a mark of power, luxury and taste (watch for the black Escalades in both the rap videos and the Presidential motorcade.) Or, as Webb points out obliquely, in episodes of The Sopranos.

Point is, the social and emotional uses of colors provide brands with an enormous chance to influence the meaning others ascribe to our products and experiences.

But, how do you know which colors are "hot?" And, how can you tell what they mean?

Well, the most obvious way is to look around. For instance, if you go to Martha Stewart's homepage, you see that the predominant color is a deep celedon green, appearing to me a little deeper than it's been for the last few years.

Why? What emotions does this color evoke? It's calming, that's one thing. That calmness feels good. There's a lack of trendiness to it that's appealing; it looks like a color that could endure, rather than quickly become tiresome, like that avocado refrigerator. But wait. If you look at Martha's page more closely, you find that orange that Webb spoke about used as an accent color. The combination seems to say, "we're traditional, but modern."

Of course, in all my years in working in the fashion business, color has always been a topic of intense discussion. All fashion designers in big companies subscribe to color and trend services, companies whose business it is to let everyone know what the "colors of the season" will be. Ever wonder how all the designers managed to pick the same color palette year after year? That's how; they all listen to the same gurus.

We also used to have continual discussions about which industries led the color trend: furniture, automobiles or fashion. Webb refers to this in his post.

Now, reading the gurus' reasons for choosing colors is quite an experience. What you find is a mixture of Nostradamus ("the cocooning trend will continue, but with a new need for flair") and physics/physiology ("the powerful stimulation provided by the brighter shades is balanced by the visceral pull of the earthtones.")

It's fun, even if it is hooey.

The point is that color is extremely important in many, many ways. We signal a great deal about ourselves and our brands through our choices of colors. Which means that we should never simply do so without thinking deeply about our customers, our intentions and the current milieu.

Now, the fact that this blog adopted an orange and brick color scheme recently should not be read to mean that the author is hip. Only that its designer knows how to propose eye-catching color schemes!

Comments

[niti bhan]

I think you've captured the entire concept well with these few words "It's fun, even if it is hooey" - as for orange adn brick, note how well 'Santiago' goes with my orange t shirt :P

[Tom Guarriello]

Yes...that Santiago is very snappy with that highly fashionable orange T, Niti!

It is fun, isn't it? But, it's definitely hooey, too!!

[Marie Rao]

1. ok. This brings to mind two words: Tod Blumenthal.
2. Orange is the new black
3. A simple rule of design vs. non design: No matter how well a designer "researches" color, when this color choice is presented to the "suits," (read decision makers) it will be deemed WRONG. Yes, people who are literally color blind will disagree with you, the color expert. Funny. Sad. True.

[Tom Guarriello]

For the uninitiated, Marie's an expert designer and co-podcaster over at The Shopping Podcast.

Now, to your points, Marie.

1. I guess Todd Blumenthal's legendary for his extensive color researching, which is definitely a two-edged sword.

2. No doubt...but soon something else will be the new black. But, we'll always have black.

3. This is the money point. If you go over to my friend Grant McCracken's blog, you'll see his interesting post about Sumner Redstone, Tom Cruise and the continual conflict between "the creatives" and "the suits." Check it out, especially the comments.

Point is, business needs balance and is best served when the balance can be exercised within creative teams rather than being imposed upon creative teams from without. Hard to do, but more and more this becomes a discipline great creative teams can exercise on their own.

[Tanalyn Dollar]

Recently I worked a promotion at Home Depot for Ralph Lauren Paints. The consumers I spoke with seem to choose RL's paint colors for their signature look (colors are patented and difficult to reproduce by other paint stores). While reading your post, I decided to follow up and visit Martha Stewart's website. Tried finding a link to view the "416 beautiful colors inspired by nature". Nothing doing. Instead, a page loads directing me to a local Sherwin Williams store. After putting in my zip code I learn about the 2 stores close by. Again, no links to view the paints or colors I might want to buy at the stores. (Why get in my car to look at paint if I can do it from home?) All this surprises me. Martha Stewart may be progressive spotting color trends, but they may want to link curious visitors into opportunities for hard sales via their website.

[Tom Guarriello]

I love the idea of "patented colors." My wife's an artist and she has a whole series of colors that are special, like the Kaufman colors. It's a funny concept; patenting wavelengths.

Martha plays lots of roles, I guess, and in this case it sounds like she's simply re-directing folks to go buy her paint in stores.

You know...if she put the actual colors up there, people might steal them!

Thanks for the comment.

[Fedai]

I'm painting a 69 convertible cutlass orange and black. What is the brightest orange out there? Is it hugger orange?

[Tom Guarriello]

I'd check the Syracuse and Tennessee uniforms!