Blog post 7: Branding

Look around you. What do you see? Furniture, school supplies, food, or appliances- all these things, believe me, went through the process of color branding. Right, color and branding are two different words linked because it offers an instantaneous method for conveying meaning and message even without words! As a future advertiser, these things are essential to my knowledge for time will come when I will be the one to create my own brand of product or service.

According to an article at Color Matters, color creates a positive effect on every company that tries to open up or launch a new product. Colors has this power of attracting consumers and it is just so amazing! Actually, our minds are programmed to respond to colors. For example, we stop for red light and go on green. 

"Color plays a a vital role in the world where we live in. It can sway thinking, change actions and cause reaction. Color is a powerful and important communication tool, too. It is tied to religious cultural, political and social influences. Color is a meaningful constant for sighted people and it's a powerful psychological tool. By using color psychology, you can either send  positive or a negative message. It can also encourage sales, calm a crowd, or even make an athlete pump iron harder."

People see color before they absorb anything else. Below is a photo of brands and how it is colored.

Color is the visual component people remember most about a brand followed closely by shapes/symbols then numbers and finally words. For example, the real McDonald's is easy to detect in the image below.

Many of the most recognizable brands in the world rely on color as a key factor in their instant recognition. On another research, it has been reinforced that 60% of the time people will decide if they are attracted or not to a message - based on color alone! Based on a recent Maryland study at the University of Loyola, color increases brand recognition by up to 80%.  I think, the reason why companies are very successful is: effective color branding.

But how does consumer react to such? As I've read in an article by Jeanette Mulvey, consumers have a humanlike relationship with brands. In what way? "Consumers' relationships with brands are not all that different than relationships with people. Some you genuinely care about… others are in your life because you need them."

For marketers, understanding the difference between the two kinds of relationships is essential to making sure you know how to deal with customers. How consumers react to experiences with the brand, both positive and negative, depend on how they related to the brand in the first place, researchers said. Ironically, respectful and fair treatment by a company means more to those who choose a brand based on value than to those who have an emotional relationship with a company. The researchers think this may be because the brand has already met the expectations of those in an exchange relationship — the consumer got what they paid for — good and respectful treatment goes above and beyond. For those in communal relationships, who were already expecting to be treated positively, the same treatment doesn't have as much of an effect.

So if you are about to start up a new business, or if you are about to launch an event, or endorse a product, be sure to choose the right colors. It does not only give you an assurance that people will remember you, but it will also give you the credibility in doing or creating such product or service. Keep in mind that as advertiser, your main concern is about how people will think about you/ your product.

Blog post 6: Brain and Colors

Before I start this blog post, let us play a game. 

How was it? For sure most of you would find this activity easy, but for some, it may really be hard. Yes that is because of your left and right brain. But how do our brain affects color recognition, Which parts of the brain is responsible for such activity.

The truth is, both our right and left brain worked during the game earlier. The photo on the left shows what our left and right brains do, and although not directly stated, it includes color recognition. Did you know that our right brain is best at expressive and creative tasks.

But one thing that I want to know about is how being creative is seen in a youngster. I mean, as soon as a mother gives birth to an infant, parents can already develop a baby's creative mind. How? Well, as I was reading through some articles on the internet, a post about "Your Baby's IQ" caught my attention.

The said article cited some tips on how to better develop a child's young mind. Most of the tips presented were kind of usual and traditional. Those tips were really done by  a lot of moms out there. But I would like to give emphasis on the tip called the "so-called intelligence boosters". It was mentioned that in the first years of your child, he/she needs activities that can boost their creative and playful side. As stated, "The pressure picks up after birth." There are several ways to enhance a youngster's mind: you could play DVD for babies (which are instructional and easy to follow), you could also give him toys, and you could also play with flashcards. Yes, toys and flashcards are very important in developing a baby's mind. Since the baby is a  playful and naughty one, you could pick quite big toys and bright-colored flashcards. Play with your baby, teach him sign language and make him feel loved.

But do you know why mothers prefer things and toys which are bright in color? Well, that is because a Answers.yahoo,com, bright colors are really good at stimulating a child's mind. Probably, it is also why baby television programs  contain bright-colored characters and backgrounds. That is-- to let the child easily familiarize themselves with colors.
The baby's mind is in the process of familiarizing himself with the colors around him. Putting pale-colored things around the baby might not help at all because the baby only appreciates bright colors. From an answer posted by Jennifer in

At first, I was really amazed  by how a baby memorizes color easily, knowing that the baby only has a small brain. Now, I actually learned that through proper development and care, the baby may get smarter and be more creative. By this way, his/her right brain, which is responsible for visual abiliities, gets trained better.

How come we have geniuses? How come we have "the greats"? Maybe, it's because of great IQ that were given at birth, or by studying.  But although colors are just "a part" of the whole process of knowing one's intelligence quotient, we must focus on this skill, too. How can a/n teen/adult know his/her Color IQ Score? Well, here's a link of Color Test Challenge. Take this test and see how well you do in Colors!! Enjoy~

Blog post 5: Your Favorite Colors and What It Says About You

Have you ever wondered how and why people have different color preferences? I mean, if you ask a bunch of people about having favoritism in colors, would they give you the same answers? Definitely not. People have their own reasons why they like a certain color. Some would say that they like the color red, or pink, or blue. Yes, there are a lot of colors from the spectrum to choose as your favorite color, but people seem to be limited with choosing one. Most people would probably pick the most common colors of all, the ones found in an 8-colored Crayola Crayons, to be their favorite.

According to an article by Preachy Perfect, people have either two reasons why they have favorite colors. The first reason is that certain colors naturally evoke specific emotions in most people. Going back to the other blog posts I've had before, there are different emotions that the colors symbolizes. Now, it's just up to people how they control and manipulate such emotions when they visualize a color. People choose their favorite colors with something they enjoy.

For example, my personal favorite is the color blue and yellow. I liked the sun so much that it was actually the cause of my blurry vision. I enjoyed looking directly at it when I was a kid. Now, whenever I see something as bright as the sun, which are the yellow colored clothes, shoes and accessories, I feel so light and glad. However, my love for blue started back when I was on my second grade. Our designated grade color then was blue, so having blue stuff for school somehow motivated me to always use my school supplies. There was a feeling of being boyish, because almost all my girl friends liked pink. But that love for blue may also came from my love for light things, just like how I feel the warmth of yellow.

Another reason pointed out by Preachy is that certain colors remind people of other things that they like. They say that oftentimes, societal influences give a direct impact on what colors we favor and disdain. Just like how any child is attracted to something when they were young. If you give a little girl a pink bear, most likely, her favorite color would be pink, until the time she grows up and change her tastes. In the same way, if you love to travel and see trees, there is also a high probability for you to pick green as your favorite.

When I was a kid, I loved watching the all-time favorite television program, Sesame Street. Big bird was obviously big and was a funny creature, so  I liked it. Somehow,  its color influenced me too in having yellow as my favorite color, since having it in my coloring book is really amazing.

But do you know how your favorite colors tell something about yourself? Another article with the title Your Favorite Color: What It Says About You by Annie B. Bond, a color expert, says that our color preferences serve as a key to understanding our personalities. How? That is for us to find out.

Someone who is gentle and sincere may prefer green as their favorite color. Do you know the term "green-thumb"? Well, I think that term was coined next to green as being known for nature. Just like someone who loves the leaves and the green landscapes, he/she probably has the skills to make plants bloom and grow better than other people. Consequently, having some hands-on experience with plants give him/her the idea of liking the color green.

Did you know that people with shrewd personalities actually likes the color yellow? You want to know why? Actually, the same article says that yellow shows intelligence. Something or someone that has to do with the mind can be sparked by the color yellow. On the other hand, a cheerful and bubbly person with a sunny personality is often associated with yellow. Not because it is next to the color of the sun, but because it gives other people an idea of being free and happy. So knowing a person who loves yellow, it's just two things: intelligence and happiness.

Well, I won't elaborate too much on each color. After all, we are still the one who has the last say with regards to judging other people's personality. Their favoritism for colors are just one of the factors you can consider when thinking about the way how a person reacts on different things. I mean, it;s up to us whether our perception about someone changes as we discover their favorite colors. With that, I'll leave you with a quote by Ted Grant. "When you photograph people in color, you photograph their clothes. But when you photograph people in black and white, you photograph their souls!"