Print Marketing 101: Lesson #6
Color and Ink
Hot Color Trends for 2010 -- Color Marketing Group Weighs In
A color that used to be strictly for fashion is the Group's pick, set to be the year's biggest star for everything else. What is it? The leading international organization of color design professionals says its GRAPE.
Officially called "Mardi Grape," it is "a sophisticated crossover between purple, brown and gray. It comes from fashion and has European roots."
According to CMG's president, James Martin, "Purple has been with us for awhile now, but the big story is that we're seeing purple as a neutral for the very first time. The purple is browner and grayer, a neutral we can love long-term."
CMG also predicts these trends:
- Red - Strong with pink intuition; bright and clean with energy and excitement -- a clean pop to go with neutrals.
- Orange - A rich, sophisticated color that moves away from earth-based colors to an optimistic orange, seasoned with a touch of gray.
- Yellow - A greener, more natural yellow, softened with gray.
- Green - Optimistic and uplifting, a clear and bright accent green with a slight shift toward blue.
- Blue - A saturated blue with gray influences; rich without being too luxe.
- Beige-Brown - A true chameleon to complement darker hues, it can be either matte or metallic.
- Neutral/Gray - Gray with a touch of purple, drawing inspiration from mineral, concrete and steel.
The Color Marketing Group, the leading international non-profit association of color design professionals, has been accurately predicting color trends for more than 45 years.
Marketing Benefits of Color
Color can have a huge impact on the success of a printed piece. In a recent article, titled The Profit of Color!, the Color Marketing Group compiled these facts from various marketing studies:
- Color increases brand recognition by up to 80 percent
- Color ads are read up to 42 percent more than similar ads in black and white
How Color Motivates
Color’s ability to produce dramatic marketing results is due, partly, to the physical and emotional reactions it creates. For example:
- Cool colors – such as blue, green, white, gray and silver – are thought to have comforting and nurturing qualities.
- Red, pink, yellow, gold and orange, which are considered warm colors, convey emotions like optimism, excitement and anger.
- Neutrals, including white, ivory, brown and beige help “quiet” other colors that might be too intense if used alone.
Culture, Symbolism and Color
From culture to culture, a single color can have a drastically different connotation.
- White represents cleanliness, purity and simplicity in Western cultures, but is associated with death in Eastern countries.
- Green is believed to be a lucky color in some Western countries, and is often associated with wealth, fertility and environment. In China, however, green signifies disgrace.
- Yellow represents “mourning” in Egypt, but in Iran blue is the color most linked to this activity.
- Blue is thought to be the best universal color, with the most positive – and fewest negative – cultural associations.
For a description of the ink combinations we offer, go to Color and Ink Options.
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