A good brand doesn’t have to take a lot of money, but it may take some time. After all, Marlboro wasn’t the United States number one cigarette in a day. The idea that most companies have in common is that they have created an image and kept with it. They have used the same look modified slightly overtime to infiltrate cultural aspects of society that have wide appeal.

Wikipedia defines a brand as “[…] a name or trademark connected with a product or producer.^[1] Brands have become increasingly important components of culture and the economy, now being described as “cultural accessories and personal philosophies”. Pepsi recently changed their logo and is now paying millions of dollars in advertising to reinforce it. So find something you like, that represents you and the clients you want and stick to it.

The great thing about this economy is that now there are people forced to be entrepreneurs. To go off and do what they do well and get paid to do it. A logo that fits you and your clients can make a difference between you and your competitor. Take for example a generic product verses a brand name. The generic item has the same old look, they have spent nothing on advertising, and you buy it because it’s cheap. When you have a brand name, you buy it because of its name. The name signifies luxury and status and is priced accordingly. You do have to have quality to back it up though. Consumers won’t buy an empty promise for long.

It is important to understand the difference between the two mediums. Your monitor uses RGB to display color. RGB stands for Red, Blue and Green. Your TV and scanner both use this color interpretation. The printer you have at home, as well as many other color printers, employ a process known as CMYK or Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black. Some printers use additional colors to hone in on even more colors.

All monitors are calibrated differently. If you have ever walked into an electronics store to buy a TV you know this to be true. It varies by brand and by the person who set the monitor up’s preference. Printers can also be adjusted by user preference, vary by brand, paper type, ink brand, speed and how many colors your printer uses. Paper itself has a variety of issues such as coating, age of paper, humidity and color.

To sidestep some of these issues you can do the following:

• Logo’s and branding – use a PMS (Pantone Matching System) Color Bridge. This book gives you colors if they were printing on different presses. Using this helps to avoid drastic color variations which happen with certain colors.
• Don’t be tied to a result. Unless the color is extremely off (may be indicative of printer or monitor failure) a print that is slightly off will still get the same message across. People’s perception is for the most part basic, ex.; blue is dark blue, blue and light blue, red can be burgundy, dark red, red or pink. Your client is not studying the brochure but gleaning content from it. If the overall feel is right that is normally what is most important.
• Your monitor may need to be calibrated or replaced. Pantone sells a device that calibrates your monitor. You may also adjust your monitor yourself to match your printer more closely.

Remember – Everyone wants their printed piece to look good. A printer wants the same thing. The closer that your print is to your monitor the easier for the printer to color match your piece. Bring a printed sample of your piece. Printers also normally charge extra for extra time spent (called pre-press), so be a precise as possible when explaining and showing what color(s) you want.

Color can bring up different emotions. Let’s start at the beginning of the rainbow, with R.O.Y.. Red, Orange and Yellow are all very strong colors. They bring visceral responses; think cherry red convertibles, orange juice, and yellow sunshine. They are generally associated with high energy despite scientifically being on the low energy side of the spectrum.

Our next set gives us our natural colors, Green, Blue, and Violet. They have a calming peaceful affect such as green grass and trees, blue skies and seas, purple rain and flowers.

Black, which is the absence of color, and White, the combination of all colors, as in white light, set each other off. As a twist both colors depending on cultures can represent mourning. Black and White is classic but unless trying to evoke the classic era of film or photography it is best to add some color.

In branding and design the most common used color system is called the Pantone Matching System (PMS). This system allows a designer to pick a color that can be repeatedly reproduced by printers using a PMS as a spot color. Digital printing uses a 4-color process to recreate the PMS and has some variation.* It is important to have consistent color to create a solid brand. It is equally important to select a color that represents what you are trying to sell. Colors because of their underlying connotations are good indicators of product function. Insurance companies and banks use dark blue because it represents tradition, dependability, and loyalty. Dark green is the color of choice for accountants because it is the color of money. Restaurants, food companies and florists use red because of it symbolizes life and love and has a tendency to stand out. Researchers have shown that red rooms make food taste better. Pink unlike its saturated counterpart is a calming low energy color and is very feminine.

Even though consistency is important if a color is slightly off it’s not the end of the world. When I was in school a professor taught the class a very important lesson. Our task was to duplicate Coca-Cola red from memory. In the end not one of the 20 of us got it right. We were all close and in the end that is all you need to be. Since color is in the eye of the beholder who is to say if it’s the right color or not?

Please feel free to email us if
you have any questions!