Edmund Jacobs, Production and Colour specialist at Konica Minolta South Africa, says that given that visual perception is the main sense that humans have by which to make sense of their environment, it’s clear that choosing the right colours is, or should be, an essential consideration for any business.
That simple truth applies whether your business is creating its corporate identity, rethinking its logo, painting its offices, or designing and printing marketing materials to promote its products and grow its customer base.
From a purely scientific point of view, colour is simply one aspect of an object that is created by the forms or wavelengths of light it reflects or emits. But for humans, there is so much more to colour than a dry scientific definition. When we see a colour, it triggers a variety of chemical reactions in our brain, leading us to experience an emotional response. In fact, our brains are designed to react to colours and, while much of this response takes place subconsciously, every human being experiences it when they see or engage with a colour.
Choosing the right colours is vital for any brand, because colour ultimately creates a frame of mind in the person viewing it. Colour consistency is also integral to building and maintaining customer trust and loyalty. Consistent use of colour ensures familiarity and can strengthen your relationship with your customers and help entrench your core values.
Such colour consistency has become a little more challenging as the world has become increasingly digital. While technology advances mean it is somewhat easier today to achieve on-screen colour consistency than was the case previously, customers will engage with your brand on different devices, with different resolutions and screen qualities; which makes it difficult to stay 100% true to your colour identity on a screen.
This is why a multi-media approach to customer engagement and marketing is so important. Digital channels offer the immediacy that consumers expect, but there is little that can match the consistency and tactile customer experience of high-quality printed collateral. Whether it’s a leave-behind customer brochure, a perfectly designed and executed piece of product packaging, or promotional posters or banners, printed materials afford a business absolute control over how their customers will experience their brand.
The bottom line is that colours influence our moods, and when your brand is in front of a prospective customer, you want that mood to be as receptive as possible to all that your brand stands for. It’s also vital that the colours you choose for your brand align with the messages and promises of that brand. So, if you’re in the business of providing unforgettable outdoor experiences, your visual brand identity should align with that experience promise. Similarly, if you’re in the business of creating or enhancing outdoor, nature-filled experiences for people, a predominantly red logo is probably not the most effective way of raising the receptiveness of consumers to your offering. On the other hand, if you operate a fast food restaurant, choosing a predominantly red brand identity makes perfect sense. That’s because science tell us that when humans see red, our heart rate increases and that boosts our appetite.
In the end, choosing the right colours and delivering them in a precise, consistent and carefully considered way across all engagement channels has the power to strengthen your brand, cement its market leadership and grow your customer base. So, colour choice should never be informed by personal taste or individual preference. It’s not an aesthetic decision, it’s a business one. And it’s imperative to understand the impacts every colour can have, research the appropriate colour combinations to support the message you want to land and, if necessary, enlist the guidance of experts in the field of colour use and application, to ensure that colour optimisation for your business never ends up being a grey area.
KONICA MINOLTA SOUTH AFRICA
+27 11 661 9000
https://www.konicaminoltasa.com/en-za
