Brand of Colors: The Power of Meaning

Brand of Colors: The Power of Meaning

When my colleague Debbie Josendale, of 3C Marketing Group, asked me to consult on colors for one of her client’s visual identity, which encompasses its brand / branding, I was intrigued.  I had a deep purple color in front of me as a starting point, but knew that it was too dark and somber to represent what I understood her client’s message to be.

I read up on the client, I played with colors, I visualized, and knew that purple would be one of the colors involved.  And the obvious choice of a secondary “partnering” color would be its compliment, gold.

The symbolism, and associations of the chosen colors are also important in determining their meaning, resonance, and appropriateness for the brand and its story.  In a future post, we will  look at the color choices from the vantage points of:

The Energetic,  The Associative, and the Sensory.  Hint:  What does purple “taste” like?  How heavy does gold “feel”?

Read on to find out!

ENERGETIC: Relates to the “chakras“, or energy centers that some believe exist within the “aura“, but outside the body.

Vertex Chakra corresponds to Violet, standing for Wisdom, and Spiritual Energy, and influencing  the Pituitary Gland.

Solar Plexus Chakra corresponds to Yellow, standing for Knowledge and Intellect. It is the seat of tension and  influences the solar plexus and adrenal body

ASSOCIATIONS: According to studies, color-mood  associations are strikingly similar across individuals, groups and cultures. Does this imply a degree of  universality as regards to our color-mood associations?

Purple/Violet tends to associate with:  Dignity, Exclusivity, Royalty, Dignity, Exclusivity, Depth of Feeling, Wealth, Magic, Mysticism, Strictness ( if very dark, as in the original purple color i was shown at the beginning of this project).

Yellow/Gold: tends to associate with: Reflectivity, Luminosity, Happiness, Cheerfulness, High Spirits, the Sun, the a Bright Future, Hope, Wisdom, Expansiveness, not being Earthbound, Activity,  Communication, Air, Gold can associate with wealth. richness, money (gold coins!)

SENSORY: The association of colors with other sense perceptions is related to “Synesthesia“, or “The Unity the Senses”.  Here is what Purple/Violet, and Yellow/Gold tend to “sound”, “feel”, “taste” and “smell” like:

Purple/Violet: Deep, Minor Key (Sound), Velvety (Touch), Heavy, Sweet (Taste, Smell), Heavy (Weight), Cool (Temperature).

Yellow/Gold: Fanfare, Major Key (Sound), Smooth, Silky  (Touch), Sour (Taste, Smell), Light (Weight),   Warm (Temperature).

Does any of this jive with your experience? Does it incline you to dive more deeply into the multifaceted and dimensional  world of color?

After all, it would seem that color can affect your body, health, mood, feelings, and senses.  All of this effect from a phenomena of light waves!  Color is an effect of light, indeed, one could say it isn’t actually “there”.

And yet, there certainly is a “there” there, as regards to color, and color phenomena. Perhaps a subject for another post!

 

                       

Color for All Reasons II

Color for All Reasons II

The “meaning” of color can be assessed from a number of vantage points, and it can be fascinating to view your color choices through several lenses.  In this way you can determine which colors and color combinations are most appropriate, powerful and effective for your purpose.  Each “lens” approaches color from a different discipline  and can be effective in getting you where you want to go.

From an energetic point of view, in the chakra, or energy center system, violet is associated with the vertex chakra, and influences the pituitary gland. It stands for wisdom and spiritual energy.

Yellow is associated with the solar plexus chakra, and influences the solar plexus and the adrenal body.  Representing knowledge and intellect, is also the seat for tension.

The physiological and psychological associations of color can be complex, especially in the case of a mixed color such as purple (created of blue and red), but remain remarkably consistent across cultures.

Purple encompasses the strength of red, and the integrity of blue.  It symbolizes internalization, depth of feeling, dignity, wealth, mysticism, and magic.  As we know, it is associated with royalty, and exclusivity.  Purple can be mournful, lonely, pompous, conceited, unsettling, degenerate, morbid and narcotic, and can appear strict when dark.  Closer to red, purple can  become sensual, seductive, secretive, sweet. cosmetic and intimate.

Yellow, on the other hand, reflective and luminous, has been declared the happiest of all colors. It is associated with cheerfulness, high spirits, the life-giving properties of the sun, symbolic of a bright future.  Representing hope and wisdom (remember Apollo, the sun god, and his golden hair), it expresses expansiveness, communication and activity, However, when  too strong, yellow can become glaring and egocentric.  When paired with black, it can express danger in nature.  Think bumblebees!

From a sensory perspective, colors can evoke other senses, stimulating “cross talk’ between the senses, explored in previous posts about the phenomenon of “Synesthesia“,  or the “Unity of the Senses”.

For example, the color purple associates with deep sounds, in a minor key.  Its association with touch is velvety, and its “taste” (and “smell”  is heavy and sweet. Weight-wise, it “feels” heavy, while its ‘temperature’ tends to the cool.

By contrast, yellow ‘sounds’ like fanfare, and a major key.  It’s tactile associations are smoothness and silkiness, or sandy and crumbly when more ochre, or earthy.  It’s taste and smell associations are sour, its weight light, and its temperature warm, as you might expect from the “happiest of all colors” which evokes the sun!

What associations do You have with the colors purple, violet, yellow, gold and ochre?  Have You used this set of compliments in any aspect of Your life?

Are Your yellows luminous, sour, light or cheerful?

Are Your purples velvety, magical, sweet or narcotic?

Are they both wise? (!)  What have your colors done for You, and Your life?

If You feel so inclined, please share about it with us here.

We love to hear from You.

Remember, we are all coloring our way through this thing called Life, together!

Cacophony to Calm…Compensating with Color

 Cacophony to Calm…Compensating with Color

Can color “theory” heal?   If healing means balancing, compensating, and otherwise enhancing the quality of a space, object, light source, or even our bodies, then I believe it can.

Our April 17, 2011 Color Muze  on Artistically Speaking Talk Show, “muzed” about how color can be used to adjust our perception of sound, or the lack of it, and thus balance or “heal” an environment through our sense of seeing, and its potential effect on our sense of hearing.  This is an aspect of the phenomenon of “Synesthesia”, or “Unity of the Senses”, as IACC-NA (International Association of Colour Consultants/Designers-North America)  lecturer, Frank H. Mahnke, terms it.  The idea being  that our perception of color can associate with our perception of another sense, such as hearing.

Warm colors (from red to yellow-green on the color wheel), associate with loudness.

Image Source

Cool colors (from green to red-violet on the color wheel) associate with quietness.

This is reflected in our language, the way we talk about our environment, or even our feelings, in terms of color. I am not sure I have ever heard anyone refer to a quiet (or cool) red, though anything is possible!  On the contrary, I remember my mother describing feelings of anger as “Seeing red.”

By comparison, people may speak of a  quieting their emotions when they enter a room in which a “cool” blue predominates.

It is interesting to view the two together…(albeit different hues and values of red and blue).

Thus if we wish to compensate for noise problems in a space, we can add more “cooling” colors such as  blues, blue greens, perhaps even a cool blue-violet. Warm to hot colors such a saturated reds, and “hot” oranges or yellows will tend to exacerbate our sense of being in a noisy environment, which can be significant in any setting where concentration is important.

To relieve a “too-quiet” or tomb-like atmosphere in a room, and add energy, warmer (and lighter) colors may be applied, such as yellow-green, golden-yellow, reds, oranges or “hot” purples (red-violets).

It is fascinating, and fun to see the sound associations the Henrich Frieling, Director of the Institute of Color Psychology assigns to a range of colors:

Red– loud, trumpet

Pink – soft, delicate

Orange – loud, major key

Brown – dark, deep minor key

Gold-Yellow – fanfare, major key

Yellow – shrill, major key

Yellow-Green – high-pitched, minor key

Green – muffled when dull, shrill when saturated

Green-Blue – soft

Blue – distant, flute to violin

Ultramarine – dark, deep, more minor key

Violet – sad, deep, minor key

Light-Purple – weak, restrained

Crimson – powerful, stately

It really begs the question…what might a musician, singer, or music therapist have to say about this?  What about Sharry Edwards, pioneer in the study of Human BioAcoustic Biology…might she have a “color link” to her work and theories on healing the body through sound?

Perhaps a subject for another post…

Have you used color to compensate for too much noise, or not enough sound in your own or other spaces? Have you felt the effect of color healing in regards to your, or your Clients’ auditory environment?  What is YOUR experience with Synesthesia, in regards to the relationship of sight to sound, the visual to the audible?

If you feel so inspired, please share your insights with us here.  We love to hear from you.

Remember, we are all seeking the balance in this thing called Life, together.

Here’s wishing you healing wherever you need it most, in your Life right here, right now.  Cheers!

Synesthesia: Sense and Sensibility Part One

Synesthesia: Sense and Sensibility Part One

Our February 13th “Color Muze” segment on Artistically Speaking Talk Show, focused on the fascinating concept and phenomenon of “Synesthesia”, or “Unity of the Senses. I learned about Synesthesia through my color seminars at the IACC-NA (The International Association of Colour Consultants and Designers North America) from Mr. Frank Mahnke, President of the  IACC-NA and the Director of the IACC Education/Accreditation Programs conducted worldwide. Mr. Mahnke lectures on the  psycho-physiological effects of color, light and the human reaction to the built environment, as well as the role of color as information and communication in the field of marketing.

In my first Seminar with the IACC-NA, I learned about how colors (the visual) can provoke associations with our other senses, (smell, touch/the tactile, hearing and taste), as well as affect our perception of weight, volume, size and texture.  In the words of Mr. Mahnke , “It seems that the centers for processing sensory information are linked with each other, leading to crosstalk between the senses.” If this is true, and it would seem from the evidence of our senses that it is, then the concept of Synesthesia is an important consideration in any and every color decision we make, with potentially profound consequences emotionally, physically, aesthetically, and even spiritually!

Let’s look at some examples.

Considering Temperature: Painter, designer, teacher, writer and theorist Johannes Itten wrote about experiments that supported the thesis that we can feel a 5-7 degree difference in temperature in rooms painted blue-green, and red-orange.  When we consider the associations with blue-green (water, coolness), and red-orange (fire, heat) this would seem to make sense!  What experiences have YOU had temperature-wise, being surrounded by architectural color?  Does blue/green always feel cooler, and red/orange warmer to you?  Does it depend on the value, saturation, intensity, tone and context of the color?  And what about the color of that color- its hue?

What about Volume? We can see through experience, that lighter, cooler  colors seem to recede, thus making a room feel larger,  (giving it more “room”) while warmer, more saturated, and darker colors seem to advance, and take up more space in a room, thus making it appear smaller.  Have YOU had this experience? As a color designer, have you used these principles?

Can color affect our perception of weight and size? Darker, warmer and more saturated colors tend to seem heavier, and the areas they cover seem to be larger, while paler, cooler and more pastel colors seem lighter, and the areas they cover, smaller.  Thus a darker, warmer, and more saturated color will seem to bring a ceiling “down”, and the opposite for  a paler, cooler and more pastel color.  Can YOU see this effect in these two ceiling areas?  The effect may be complicated by the fact that the area surrounding both is in the hue range of cream to white!

The above are just a few of the infinite examples of “sensory crosstalk”, or Synesthesia, which I suspect pervades our daily lives far more than we are conscious of.

In a subsequent post, I will explore Synesthesia in terms of our five senses: the visual effect of color as regards to our sense of hearing, touch, taste and smell.  In other words, What scent does the color lime green conjure up?  What flavor would rosebud pink be? Does cobalt blue “feel” rough or smooth?  These are illuminating exercises to try for ourselves, and I am going to discuss just how to do that.

As an example, during her interview,  I queried special guest Rebecca E. Parsons (co-host and creator of Artistically Speaking Talk Show) about her chosen Word for 2011: SOAR.

“What color would you assign to this word, and the meaning it has for you at this time?” I asked her.

“Aqua” she replied, without missing a beat.  This only makes sense.  Rebecca lives in Florida, on island, near the water, and walks on the beach nearly every early morning.  The Aqua color of sea-blue water  which reflects the sky, with its associations of both airiness / expansion, and sublimity / depth would make it the perfect expression of Rebecca’s intention to  dive into her dreams, and Soar with them, making her cre8tive life vision a reality.

You can hear my Muze with Rebecca, as well as her complete extraordinary and  inspirational  interview with co-host Lyna Farkas on Artistically Speaking Talk Show on your computer anytime you wish.  I hope you will tune in to it, as well to Artissima, Blog of ArtiFactory Studio, for Synesthesia: Sense and Sensibility Part Two, and join our Color Full exploration.

What a luscious, luminous world we have as finishers, decorative painters, muralists, artists, artisans and humans, to explore! Please join our Color Muze on Artistically Speaking Talk Show, and Cre8tive Compass Magazine, “where we honor your passion, and your vision, in this community we are co-creating”

Have YOU had an experience with Synesthesia lately?

If you feel so inspired, share YOUR sense and sensibility with us here.  We love to hear from you.  Remember, we are all experiencing this thing called Life, together.