Dear Color Lovers,
Just a reminder that when viewing colors online the computer monitor colors may vary. Thank hue for your understanding. Enjoy
June 29, 2008
Does intense pink really make men (and boys) weak?
"I can't tell you how many times I have been asked this question, especially from mothers of teenage sons! Actually there have been studies done that both prove and disprove this theory. The first study, and the most famous as it received a great deal of media attention, was conducted by Dr. Alexander Schauss of Tacoma, Washington. He observed that after a period of "hyper-excitement" his blood pressure, pulse, and heart beat lowered more rapidly when he viewed a specific shade of instense pink."
Lee talks more about pink in her book, The Color Answer Book
DDI retail design magazine May Issue 2008
Pink in retail design
An Excerpt from New retail formats take flight at London Heathrow
Technology is also apparent at Thomas Pink, where a “Pink Business Bar” shows the latest stock results and news on a pink LED display. Customers can listen to music on a pink iPod, drink Pink-branded water and write on postcards with iconic London images.
June 18, 2008
An Event Design Magazine excerpt, September 2007
THE PSYCHOLOGY OF EXPERIENCES
SENSE AND MARKETABILITY
T A S T E
Taste Bud Trickery Nothing against taste buds, but about 90 percent of what we call taste is really smell. The scientific term for it is synesthesia. Designers can capitalize on this phenomenon by using scent to inspire food-based buying decisions. Hirsch suggests putting scratch-and-sniff stickers on marketing elements. “When they smell the scent, the customer will perceive the flavor and will be more inclined to buy the product,” he says.
To go for a pure taste bud assault, Hirsch suggests appealing to fat receptors in the mouth by serving sugary drinks and spicy foods. “If you want to make people more placid and compliant, go for a sugar and fat taste,” he says. You can get the opposite effect by stimulating the system with tastes like horseradish and bitter herbs. The powerful spiciness registers as pain in the mouth and nose, creating a state of alertness.
DO: Want to make a tiny footprint seem larger? Leverage the synesthesia. Hirsch says hints of green apple and cucumber scents can do the trick. Want to make a huge space feel more intimate? Think ribs. “Barbecue roasted meat makes people perceive a room as smaller,” says Hirsch.
DON’T: Exhibit near highly polluted areas. The air makes people aggressive. “Studies show that the more air pollution in an area, the more auto accidents there are because drivers drive more aggressively,” says Hirsch.
S M E L L
Subliminal Scent In his research, Hirsch found that introducing certain scents got people to buy more in a retail setting and gamble more in a casino. Scent also increases learning potential and attentiveness. A mixed floral smell, for example, increases the speed of learning by 17 percent. But pumping scent bombs into crowded convention centers or at outdoor venues is about as effective as tossing money into the wind. If you’re going to pump in fragrance (see “Aromatherapy” on eventmarketer.com), try pumping in a scent at a barely-there level, just above what the fragrance industry calls detection threshold.
“It doesn’t knock your socks off,” says Craig Warren of the Sense and Smell Institute. “But if someone cued you, you’d say, “ oh, I do smell something.’” Companies like ScentAir Technologies and Aromasys formulate and sell scents for branded environments.
Do: Pick stimulating notes like citrus and mint. “peppermint is a good performance booster,” says Warren. Most Floral scents make people happy. Vanilla takes the cake for most universally liked scent.
Don’t: Go for a rose scent, Warren says. “It reminds people of funerals.”
S E E
Color Currents Every color has inherent psychological and emotional meanings, says color specialist Leatrice Eiseman. Her “rich” palette, for example, combines brown, claret red, and olive green to convey quality and taste. Old school rich tones like purple an black have given way to hues of espresso, red wine, and martini olives. One way marketers can make the see-then-feel connection is to let go of the connotations and embrace new color trends. When a new color combination comes on the scene, about 10 percent of people will immediately adopt it, says Eiseman. For the other 90 percent, “what happens is, over time, the eye becomes more accustomed to seeing that color and even the person who is resistant to it when it first comes out ultimately starts to absorb it out of peripheral vision.” Being first on the scene to effectively combine current colors is an opportunity for designers to make a brand statement. “A lot of attendees are people who will say, ‘this is interesting,’ says Eiseman. “They will look at what you have to offer as something intriguing because they think you are very aware.”
Remember that no one uses each of the senses without the others. You can get the benefits of scent-induced environment without the odor by using color. Want the hypnotic, happy-making effects of a punchy lemon or lime scent? Try creating a vibrant yellow or green environment. “People can match colors and odors, and match both with moods almost spontaneously,” says Warren.
Do: Get three for the price of one. Bright tones like this season’s greens and yellows not only “smell” fresh, they get you greater visibility plus tap you into one of the hottest color trends. “You would be perceived as having the latest approach,” says Eiseman.
Don’t: Use your logo as the sole inspiration for your exhibit design. “You don’t have to remove the equity you have in that color,” says Eiseman. “But surround it with other [current] colors to give it a fresh new perspective.”
H E A R
Sounds Personal Sights and smells can remind us of happy childhood memories, but sounds can be stimulating, too.
Matthew Suttor, a composer and lecturer in sound design, says, “Visual memory can be faulty, so sound is very potent way to localize someone physically in a space, but also [a good way to create] a certain kind of environment.” Delivering sound to one person at a time can be especially helpful for making an emotional connection in an otherwise overcrowded, over stimulated environment. “We live in this iPod culture not where everyone can control not only the volume at which they listen, but what they’re listening to as well, “says Suttor.
Museums and galleries, for example, use interactivity to personalize the experience. (See the bird in the diorama and push the button to hear it chirp.)
“It’s the difference between a individualized auditory tour and a one-size-fits-all sound experience,” Suttor says. “ We’re a society of individuals and we want to be in control.”
Do: Remember that sound is more than music. Auto brands often experiment with unique sounds in their TV ads, a practice called conceptual sound design. The audience makes an association between the known object, the car, and an unknown or playful sonic effect. “We’re able to make an association between sounds and images that we read as being innovative,” Suttor says.
Don’t: Turn up the volume. Says Suttor: “People use volume as a way of selling things but it can also be a repellent.”
June 9, 2008
Do Fashion Trends Trickle-Down or Bubble-Up?
The influence can trickle down or bubble up, however, the trickle down effect is still the most-used way, especially as so many high-end looks now have become aspirational.
For example, I saw a kid of about 17 on the ferry yesterday that runs between Bainbridge Island where I live and Seattle. He had on a pair of jeans, not designer, a striped knit shirt that did not appear to be a designer look, maybe Old Navy, sneakers that appeared to be customized but I could not tell the brand and a very large Louis Vuitton duffle that was new and not a fake!!
His style sense ‘on the street’ might inspire a designer who saw his look to do other looks like that, still his clothing is already out in the marketplace, so it is not the individual pieces of clothing that is so inspirational, but the way that he put it all together. Very individualized, incorporating high, mid and low. It was the bag that he held very proudly— and wanted everyone to see.
Lee
June 2, 2008
Summer fashion trends from New York
Desicribed by Lee
The summer season 2008 has some really fun colors to chase the winter doldrums away. The Spring forecast from the fashion collections shown in New York has some vibrant tones guaranteed to lift every mood.
Included is a lively blue, a refreshing alternative to navy, while the sunniest possible yellow, sparkles with vitality. A yellow green, the color of a lime, brings a splash of citrus, while a delicious melon tone adds a special deliciousness. A brilliant tango red instills a scintillating energy and a pinkish-purple color, like typical bright spring flower injects some magic into the mix.
Lee states, ‘while it is fun and inspiring to look at the trend colors, the
ultimate challenge for most people is creating combinations for a ‘real-life” wardrobe.
As explained in Lee's book More Alive With Color: “We all know how the denim blues work with every other color. Another alternative hue is a shade of blue that looks like the sky on a gorgeous spring day that is a backdrop to every color that appears in nature. Think of any color of flowers—from cheerful daisies to pink roses or exotic purple orchids against the beautiful blue of the sky—would we ever say Mother Nature made a mistake is combining her colors?!
Sky Blue blends beautifully with cool tones and adds a balancing touch to warmer combinations, especially in the expected warmth summer. You can’t help but create beautiful combinations using nature as the inspiration. Variations of green, from the deep forest shades to pale khaki, also make a wonderful background to many other colors, just as they do in natural surroundings.
The deepest black or midnight blues as well as earthy browns also contribute to the shades that Lee refers to in her book as the Crossover colors. These are the hues that become the background shades in the wardrobe and are fashion classics.
Lee also explains how so many neutrals that are found frequently in nature will blend and harmonize with so many other colors. Think of the comforting shades of warm sand; imagine the quiet grays of stone and pebbles. But the Crossover colors are not all neutral or dark. Think to Mother Nature and she uses vibrant reds as accents in berries and flowers or ripe fruit, or the warming touch of sunshine yellow to make your day brighter.
Summer 08 includes neutrals like toasty tans and silver grays. But again, as Lee advises: “In this season of renewal, punch up those dependable basics with the vibrant bright tones to bring a sense of vitality to you and your wardrobe’.
For more information about Lee’s color concepts, her books, fanguides for matching and combining, online career training and enhancement training program utilizing color, please visit morealivewithcolor.com.
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