Catching sight of some of the TV advertising and media for McDonald’s recently, I am fascinated by the latest strategy of the brand to place itself in the market as a more wholesome option for ‘fast food’. A sponsor for this year’s Olympic Games, McDonald’s aims to promote balanced options for its ‘Happy Meals’, including fruit, vegetable and dairy choices.

The last few years has seen McDonald’s image suffer as a result of unfavourable publicity and claims that alerted the public to its food being a leading cause of obesity. McDonald’s has since been working to rebrand itself as more health conscious by offering more healthy food options.

The two colours we associate with the global brand are red and yellow.  The combination of red (energy, speed, activity) and yellow (emotions, confidence) directly communicates to us that in McDonald’s restaurants we can be instantly satiated; get, eat and go. So far, so good.

Except…that it might not have escaped your notice but McDonald’s have also been busy updating their restaurants and have been changing the familiar red shop fronts to a very dark green. Presumably the thinking behind McDonald’s decision to get (heavy handed) with the green in their restaurant design is to influence our perception of the restaurant as offering wholesome food?

We associate particular variations of green with balance and health. However, my thoughts are that the colour green used for the new shop fronts is far too dark and heavy, and there’s far too much of it. The colour is not attractive enough to draw us in, as like a dark green sludgy pool, it looks entirely unappealing.  The McDonald’s yellow ‘M’ logo along with ‘McDonalds’ name in white (hygiene, purity) now look entirely incongruous.

Who are McDonald’s now? What do they want to be known as – a fast food restaurant offering healthier alternatives or a wholefood restaurant? Interestingly, the food promotions page on the website http://www.mcdonalds.co.uk/ukhome/promotions.html show a palette of colours that work far better to convey a more wholesome message, and has fresher appeal whilst still keeping in the ‘spirit’ of the brand. Using some of these colours in the design of the shop fronts would have updated it successfully whilst still working with the red and yellow logo.  The ‘healthier’ values of the brand would have been maintained whilst keeping visual integrity.

By sacrificing the well-recognised  red and yellow shop fronts, will McDonald’s be in danger of losing the public perception of the brand as a bright, lively place to get fast food?  Instead, increasingly unrecognisable, will it eventually become overlooked on the high street altogether?

What is colour? Why does it have an effect on us and how can we use it to influence the world around us?

Exploring Colour in Your World – A one day introductory workshop in to colour psychology with Bernay Laity Saturday July 21st 2012  Click here for more information and to book

Continuing the theme of ‘red’ I wanted to talk about the effect of colour in branding and design.  When we think of ‘Mega-brand’, Virgin, the colour we will associate with any of its products, is red. But how do we perceive this colour in relation to the brand – does red accurately convey the values and qualities of the Virgin ‘empire’, the third most recognised brand in the UK?

The Virgin Brand

Diverse and independent, Virgin’s businesses are licensed and branded under the Virgin group banner. The customer franchise is strong and applied to a vast range of businesses across sectors including music, finance, leisure, travel, communication and cosmetics.

Customer service oriented and fun, the Virgin ethos believes in delivering quality, innovative and value products whilst being authentic. The company values are listed as such:

• Fun – enjoyment and humour
• Value for money – simple not cheap
• Quality – attention to detail, not expensive for the sake of it
• Innovation – challenging convention, but not for the sake of being different
• Competetive challenge – responding to consumer needs, not being irrelevant
• Brilliant customer service – delivered by empowered, professional people

Colour cohesion is important in brand design to communicate authenticity. Research in to the relationship between marketing and colour has found that colour increases brand recognition by up to 80%. Taking a look at some of the logos for different Virgin branded products and services, it’s apparent that as much diversity exists in the colours of the different brands as in the Virgin group itself. Criticism exists that Virgin’s multi brands don’t make a comfortable fit visually or culturally. Are we becoming confused as to who Virgin are anymore?

Because overall the ‘business personality’ of Virgin would appear youth-orientated, fun, confident and with its roots based in music, communication and travel; I would be looking at hues from a light, clean, fresh palette of yellow based colours to mirror these qualities (spring).  I would choose different hues within this group to express the individual qualities of the brand products maintaining both visual and brand integrity.

While the colour red fits the bill for expressing any qualities in branding relating to action, courage, movement and energy;  the qualities of fun and value for money are best represented by the colour orange, a hue combining red and yellow linking physical colour red’s action with yellow’s confidence. Orange relates to our feelings of comfort and enjoyment. There seems to be confusion in what the Virgin red is? (Slightly orangeish Pantone Warm Red C would work best).

‘Quality’ is best represented by the colour purple, and ‘innovation’  best represented by turquoise blues. Some gravitas is required within these brands, particularly in Virgin’s finance venture – Virgin Money. We want to trust that this fun, forward thinking brand can be trusted with our money, so slightly stronger (spring) blues ought to be considered to communicate trust and efficiency!

Learn more about how colour affects branding and our daily lives in our one-day workshop – click ‘Exploring Colour in Your World’ Satuday July 21st 2012

Did anyone catch last weeks ‘presidential’ TV debate? If not live then you almost certainly can’t have failed to hear about it in the rest of the media!

One of the points that I often try to make about colour is that it is – to quote Angela Wright, ‘the universal non verbal language’. We use colour to communicate. Everyday we make choices (mostly subconsciously) about what colours to wear that whether we realise it or not, express how we feel.

Each leader David, Gordon and Nick all wore ties in their respective party colour of course, and one of the things that struck me as interesting when reading about last weeks debate was that each of the party leaders also appeared to exhibit qualities in their behaviour which reflected their party colour!

Perhaps previously considered the underdog, the overall impression was that Nick Clegg’s polished performance had ‘come out on top’ with a confident address to the viewers. A more noticeable colour, the positive aspects of the liberal party colour yellow express qualities of confidence, optimism and positivity.

Contrast this delivery with the overriding opinion of Gordon Brown’s performance in the Labour ‘red corner’ as being ‘aggressive and attacking, repeatedly interrupting and becoming increasingly frustrated’. These ‘behaviours’ are most synonymous with the negative traits of the colour red whilst David Cameron in the ‘blue corner’ was described as ‘statesmanlike, holding his nerve under a barrage from the Prime Minister’. Cool, calm and collected blue can appear authorative if a little predictable and safe.

Purple Power – Gordon Brown and team tapping in to the potential of purple

Last week I had the opportunity to visit a recently completed project that I worked on last summer. Applewood is a respite care facility built in the community in Tadworth, Surrey by Surrey County Council for children and young people with disabilities aged 5-18 years. Accompanying me was Susannah Mathieson, National Account Services Manager for Dulux who was interested to see how I had used colour on this project.

When working with colour psychology the key to selecting a palette of colours is to identify the ‘colour personality’ of the environment. What is it used for – who will be using the space and how? A family of colours is then selected accordingly that best captures, expresses and supports the required qualities of the environment. The brief from Pat Williams, manager of Applewood was to create a bright, lively, fun and ‘funky’ living accommodation that would inspire the young guests who will be able to stay at the facility for between 2 and 6 nights

To convey these qualities and the feel that Applewood wanted to create I specified colours that had warm, clear and bright characteristics. The ‘personality’ of this family of fresh spring colours captures perfectly the qualities of youth, vitality, energy, creativity, activity, motivation and fun! It also identifies particularly well with professions, institutions or businesses linked with children and ‘youth’.

I then looked at the individual colours to select the ones which would best support an activity or create an ambience within each particular room. For example in the recreation rooms where the youngsters would be perhaps socialising and conducting activities I specified yellow to encourage optimism and confidence. Other colours I specified for the Applewood palette were green, turquoise, purple, orange and blue. Each of these colours selected contribute to an upbeat and engaging environment both for the young people staying at Applwood and for the staff working there.

Interior Designers – Would you like to learn how to apply the power of colour in to interior design? Our courses may be just what you’re looking for! http://www.incolourconsultancy.com/interiors_training_in_colour.htm

For so long now we’ve all been hidden under a blanket of grey cloud and torrential rain, bereft of any decent periods of warmth and sunshine that it has inspired me to write about the colour yellow. My hope is that although we may not be enjoying the benefit of much sun at the moment, this newsletter article might help to bring about the warm memory of it to your imagination.

Light has such importance to us and there are those that for whom the lack of it can set off a form of depression and other uncomfortable symptoms in the ‘Seasonal Affective Disorder’ condition. We perceive the sun as yellow and its welcome appearance we find uplifting. In India the Hindus wear yellow to celebrate the season of spring. At a more primal level we recognise the importance of the sun to our own survival and the lifecycles of other plants and animals without whose growth and sustenance we too would not be able to survive.

Although I will quite often meet people who are a little nervous of wearing yellow, many appear quite happy to choose it as a decorating colour. Yellow appeared to be quite popular as a decorating colour in the 80′s and 90′s in kitchens, living rooms and even bedrooms. A designer that I recently met had told me that yellow was still by far the best selling colour within the Designers Guild paint range.

Yellow is an emotionally stimulating colour, it relates to our self-esteem, confidence and optimism. In a country not best known for its quality of light it is understandable that we should reach for the uplifting properties of yellow in paint can. However, as an emotionally stimulating colour its effect as a bedroom colour might not be so relaxing or restful. I have been told of a story relating to a hotel room many years ago that was decorated in a predominance of yellow and which happened to also be the room in whose occupants seemed to fall out with each other or cause problems for the hotel staff in some way! An over use of the colour in this room had the unfortunate effect of over-stimulating the emotions of those who stayed in it

However, yellow is a great colour to use in hallways and entrances where it will appear welcoming and friendly, as it will in other areas of the home or any property where an upbeat energy is required. From warm creams and buttery yellows to mustards and gold, the addition of yellow perhaps even with accessories can instantly add warmth and brighten up a room.

Bringing the sunshine in

In an office yellow can enhance confidence and positive communication and so can make an ideal colour to consider using perhaps within a sales environment.

**Tip** The same ‘rules’ apply when using yellow as with other colours – be wary of the over use or strength of the colour if you wish to create a harmonious scheme.

Useful paint colour references for yellow

Crown - http://www.crownpaint.co.uk/colourexp/products/

Dulux - http://www.dulux.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ColoursLandingView

Designers Guild - http://www.designercolours.com/colours/colourcard.php?man=18&ordered=y

Farrow & Ball - http://www.farrow-ball.com/productlist.aspx?cid=PC&language=en-GB