What To Do With Blue?!

What To Do With Blue?

Recently my friend and colleague Debbie Josendale, President of Denver-based 3C Marketing Group LLC , asked me for my  color opinion on their new logo. She wanted  a very quick reaction to what I saw from a color perspective.  Having consulted her, and Victor Brown, V. P. Web Technologies, I was intrigued, and eager to peruse the choices.

Blue and green,  she wondered, in line with the firm’s previous logo color design, except no gray, a different hue of blue and green, and greater emphasis on the blue, with just a touch of green for the accent?

Or…the complimentary duo of blue and orange (with a little gradation pzzaz added into the “3C” itself).

Here is my reply, that I would like to share with You:

“I definitely think you should go with the blue and green, hands down.
Blue and orange, while compliments, and able to set each other off well in an interior design or painting, should, in my opinion, be used with caution in graphics/branding/graphical/visual identity.
Just as the other complimentary pairs can reference holidays: red and green- Christmas, purple and yellow, Easter, Blue and orange can reverb to Halloween…even though it is not orange and black!  NOT your message.

I love the blue and green for 3C, for all the reasons we have discussed. I think you can even use a bit more of that green- it looks like a teal, which has plenty of blue in it, and thus is not hyper distinct from the blue..very different than the orange! (Don’t get me wrong…I can really love blue and orange, but I do not think it is right for this context.)”

Deb replied,

“I prefer the blue and green versus the other…and feel reassured with your input. Yes we are changing the logo to better reflect our business.  Our current logo was designed with the idea of positioning to “professional service” businesses.  But as we move forward, I find that a lot of what I do ends up being more in the “branding and messaging” arena with some creative added to it.  So I wanted a new look that is a little more edgy and also has a bit more “creative” touch. “

I think she got it!  Color palettes do not need to have the extreme contrast of a set of compliments, more than two colors, or a lot of bells and whistles to be effective. Blue and green, a combination of one primary (blue), and one secondary (green) color,  is an “analogous” (based on a six color wheel) color combo. They can work very well together, depending on their hue, value, and level of saturation, as blue is a “parent” color of green, and thus they are intrinsically related from the get-go.

Here’s wishing 3C Marketing Group LLC much“creative” touch with that little bit of edge that sets it apart. The revamped 3C is on its way!

Brand of Colors: 3C Marketing Group LLC

Brand of Colors: 3C Marketing Group LLC

Having worked with colleague Debbie Josendale as “expert columnist” in decorative painting for her  Bay Area Women’s Journal, I was thrilled to provide color consultation for her and Victor Brown‘s company: 3C Marketing Group LLC.

Deb knew that the green  in the initial color scheme of the 3C logo needed to be changed..but, to what?

3C is a wonderful marketing company that works with wonderful clients, and I was honored to “chime in” on the look of their site, as it were!

I started with an email communication with Deb, who I knew back in the days when we belonged to the same BNI (Business Network International)  Chapter in San Francisco.

I wrote, “I kept thinking about our discussion the other day, and  how I kept trying to find words to describe the unique and special quality that you have which encompasses wisdom, compassion, empathy, strength and maybe above all, powerful perceptiveness!

 I came up with “meeting people where they are“…as we discussed.  I feel this phrase goes a bit farther than “Taking people for who they are.”.  I feel you truly “meet” people, and their businesses on the ground upon which they stand. As regards to your business, of course, this means meeting businesses where they are, where they stand, (you know how we ask sometimes, “Where do you stand on …whatever subject or issue?”) at the exact moment that they engage your services.

Any business starts with a person, doesn’t it?  A person and their vision. needs, drives, and desires. So…to me, the resonant descriptor/phrase is still meeting people where they are, with dignity, grace, warmth, and an ever-ready sense of humor!!

You are truly one who has learned, grown and evolved through your own life experience, and is able to bring it to bear in your work and business.

I understand that all of this needs to be reflected in your branding, and visual identity, and I hope you find the following, and the whole of this consultation reflective  of the important words you used to describe what you want your colors, and total visual identity to communicate:  strength, creditability, dependability, growth,…. longevity, confidence, creativity, and fun!”

Having identified essence, I felt (some might even call it the “brand“) of 3C, I was ready to delve into their “color”brand…a component of their visual identity.  In essence, I needed to “see” 3C  the way they (Deb and Vic / the principals of the company)  saw themselves, and needed to be seen by existing and potential clients.  It was not just a matter of appearances, or even perception.  It was and is a matter of who they are and what their company is.

Based  upon my communication with Deb, my knowledge and understanding of the company, and my own color research combined with “gut feel” or “intuition, I knew the colors should be in the blue and green hue range.

Blue: A resonant, clear, clean but not overpowering blue, slightly grayed down, but with a touch of green in it, was recommended.  Not  a royal, indigo or purple blue, nor a teal sea, or green-blue, but a dignified and “solid” but not stolid (connoting reliability and dependability) blue that nevertheless has a bit of punch, personality and possibility to it- as it leans ever so slightly towards the green undertone. The addition of yellow into blue to create green adds that subliminal touch of lightness, luminosity, and relief from seriousness desired.  A slight ‘gunmetal” quality in the blue reassures that whatever the storm, relief lies ahead, with the guidance, expertise and MAP Marketing solutions of 3C Marketing Group LLC!

Green; The current green is too light, and “lime-like”. Recommended is a green lighter than the recommended blues, but deeper than the current, with greater depth, strength and resonance, but still fun, fresh, and bright, to add a certain relief to the sobriety and seriousness of the blue (which has a slight grayness /gravitas to it).  The recommended green hues have a slight earthiness (relating to growth, spring, plants, the earth rather than connotations of eatables such as limes and avocados). Although the green relieves, and plays “against’ the seriousness of the blue, it also works in tandem with it communicate the message of longevity, credibility, dependability, positivity, growth and creativity!  Related also to money: (“Greenbacks”), another, and necessary form of growth!

After reviewing these recommendations, Deb and Vic tried a number of reiterations / combinations of the suggested hues,

before settling on one that accented the teal green, framed and supported by the deep, clear blue. They wanted in Vic’s words, as I understood it, a bit “edgier” choice.

The 3C logo today

It is so gratifying to work with clients you truly admire and respect. Thank you Deb, Vic, and 3C Marketing Group LLC, for such a creatively colorFULL experience, and for trusting my skills with your colorfully creative endeavor!

Featured Work: Top 1 Oil: Top Notch Family Affair!

Featured Work: Top 1 Oil: Top Notch Family Affair!

Sometimes the many and various elements that go into a project just come together in the most satisfying way.  A harmonious yet exciting blending of Client, Designer, and Contractor, other Vendors, subject matter and space can be so gratifying to work with.  When everyone respects and supports each other’s process, both creative and business, a project just flows, and is a joy.

Thus it was with the logo painting project for the new Top 1 Oil office building in San Mateo, Ca.  I was brought in and worked in concert with Interior Designer Kelly Berg of Arte Styling, a boutique interior design firm also based in San Mateo.

Kelly and I both enjoyed our work with Top 1 Oil, so much so, that I wrote an article about it as one of my monthly columns for the Bay Area Women’s Journal, and Kelly wrote a post about  it on her popular Arte Styling Blog.   From the responses we received, it seemed that our readers got a kick out of  the project as well, and were intrigued with how we “took the company branding to the wall” !

Top 1 Oil, "Taking the Branding to the Wall"!

A significant aspect of working with Top 1 Oil was the experience of working with a family-run company.  As I understand it, at least three generations of the Ryan family contribute their skills to Top 1 Oil, in areas ranging from finance to sales to publicity to reception, and more!

Though I loved working with siblings Mary and Frank, meeting Therese, and interacting with Bridget, I think it was Kate Ryan, pictured below, who really charmed me.  Wife of the founder, and mother to many of the Ryans working at the company, Kate is a mainstay of Top 1, and I am sure exerts her charm on everyone who has the pleasure of encountering her at her upstairs office reception post.  It was inspiring to meet such a vital lady, who presides not only over the company offices, but also over a multi-generational family of talented participants in Top 1 Oil.

Kate Ryan IS Reception for Top 1 Oil

Although Top 1 does a great deal of business with clients in Asia and Latin America, in my view, they retain an essential “Americana” approach: hard work, commitment to excellence, and core family values.  These are talked about a lot these days, but the Ryans, and Top 1 Oil, actually seem to embody them.

Top 1 Oil produces its product ON shore

Thank you Kate, Top 1, and the Ryan family, for gifting Kelly and myself, and I am sure, all of your other vendors, associates, colleagues and business partners, with a rewarding, authentic, and gratifying experience of committed and creative work.  You really are TOPS!

Top 1 Oil: a Top Notch experience

Color Muze Quarterly: Our View on Hue

Color Muze Quarterly:  Our View on Hue

One of the things we discuss often during our Color Muze segments on Artistically Speaking Talk Show is how we can make our lives just a little bit easier as decorative painters, faux finishers, muralists, artists, artisans, and “atre-preneurs”. Learning and experiencing more and more about the function, properties, and effects of color can help us in this endeavor, which ultimately will support not only our bottom line, but our ability to offer more effective service to our Clients, as well as enhance our creative efforts.  Color know-how is another tool in the kit we can bring to our work, our art, our business, and our Life!

This article is a round-up of sorts, a quarterly review of Color Muze since its debut in May of 2010 on Artistically Speaking Talk Show, powered by Rebecca E. Parsons, creative entrepreneur extraordinaire, and master decorative artist, Lyna Farkas.

In May we discussed ways to add ease to our glazing life!

By keeping base coat and glaze colors close together in hue (color), we can effect easier, smoother blending of the glazes over the base coated surface. This can make any joins, overlaps, or other undesirable drama created by drying glaze edges less visible.

In order to create the sunset sky requested by the Client for their daughter, the ceiling below received five successive application of colorwashed glaze. The base coat is purple, and four of the five glazes are hues of purple, including the almost white clouds, with a fuchsia pink added for intensity. Because all of the glazes were related in hue to each other, as well as to the base coat, they blended easily, and created the sense of depth and airiness desired by the young inhabitant, and an immediate tie-in to the rest of the purple  painted room.

Sunset Sky, Purple Style

We  talked as well, about using the base coat color itself as one of the glaze colors, which was done in this breakfast room. What could have been a daunting challenge: blending fast-drying latex glaze over a domed ceiling that sloped into wall sections, became a gratifying creative endeavor by tinting clear glaze with the chiffon-colored base coat paint, and using it as one of several glazes blended together with sponges over the surface. Use of the base coat color softened the mix of the other glaze colors, so that the treatment texture and color flows smoothly over the entire surface with no breaks, streaks, or heaviness to mar its subtlety.

Breakfast Room Dome Flow

Perhaps inspired by June’s golden sunlight, we talked about gilding, and how we can make our leafing lives easier by choosing our base coat color with care. Whether we are using “schlag (combination metal leaf),  or the real thing (gold), we may be working under time restrictions, material limitations, or other challenges on a site. By choosing a base coat color related to our leaf color, we can camouflage any tears or holidays in the always precious metal leaf we are applying.  Here is the original Cross for All Saints Episcopal Church in San Francisco, which was stripped down to its original wood, primed to seal the surface, than base painted in an ochre color, to coordinate with the 22 carat gold leaf applied over it.

Simulating Clay Bole

Clothed in Gold

Ochre , black,  and red are some of the colors of “clay bole”, used historically as a surface preparation for gilding, “There are many shades of bole that may be used including ochre, red, black, orange, blue, and green, imparting various tonal affects under the layer of gold leaf. “ — CHARLES DOUGLAS GILDING STUDIO, (Please click  for further information on GILDING).

Celestial Gold

July found us Muzing about the Color Wheel, and some of its many applications to the work of the decorative painter.  “As the Color Turns” ,  Color Muze article #1 in Cre8tive Compass Magazine discusses primary, complementary, analogous and “neutral” colors, how we can use them, and why “neutral” may be a relative term! Please read the article here.

In August, we heated up our Muze, with a chat about how to use tints and shades to create highlights and shadows.

A tint of a color is created by adding increments of white to it, and a shade, adding black.

Tints and shades were created from the wall color and used to highlight and shadow a subtle “Mid-Century Retro” design in a guest room.

Tinkertoy? No..."Mid-Century Retro" Style

In the color-saturated logo below, a tint was mixed from the white, red and yellow used in the rest of the painting, while just a pinprick of black was added to both the yellow and the red to create shades of each. Creating even a hint of highlight and shadow can create dimensionality to make your treatment, design, image or mural pop, and add life, and even drama to your walls, ceilings, furniture, and floors!

Top 1 Oil is TOPS

We  offered up some advice on how to use color “tactics” in laying out your website’s image thumbnails, in order to catch the eye of visitors and surfers.

In this set of 7 thumbnails introducing  decorative treatments on a website, a balanced, yet not symmetrical distribution of hue (the “color of a color”), value (lights to darks), intensity (saturation, or concentration of color), texture, and detail creates a pleasing composition which catches the viewer’s eye without giving away too much about the image as a whole. Create thumbnail images and layouts that entice your site visitors to  click to see more.  Compose your webpages,  like you compose your canvasses, walls, rooms, and everything else you consider Art and Design!

As always, we continued our Muze on the relationship between Color and Light, with the help of Donald Kauffman and Taffy Dahl, creators of Donald Kauffman Color, and their beautiful book: Color and Light: Luminous Atmospheres for Painted Rooms.

Say the authors:

“Glazed walls refract the light—bending each ray as it moves through two different mediums, from the translucent layers to the more opaque undercoat. (Whenever you glaze a wall, if you make the undercoat lighter and warmer then the topcoat, it will create a more luminous effect.)”

What a luscious, luminous world we have as finishers, decorative painters, muralists, artists, artisans and humans, to explore!

Please join our Color Muze exploration on Artistically Speaking Talk Show, and Cre8tive Compass Magazine, “where we honor your passion, and your vision, in this community we are co-creating”– Rebecca E. Parsons

Here’s to a Color Full Journey!

And thanks for visiting…we are all in this thing called Life, together.