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

Eyebrow raising research recently published in the Journal of Social Psychology confirms how the colour of clothing can have a powerful influence on how men perceive the opposite sex.

A survey of 120 male students conducted by researchers at the University of South Brittany, were asked to look at  images of a woman wearing a series of  red, blue, green and white tops. The woman was perceived to be the most attractive when wearing the red top. Furthermore, most thought that a woman wearing red was more likely to agree to sex.

Interestingly similar findings were reported from colour research by the University of Rochester (2010) which found that women were more likely to be sexually attracted to men wearing red. (See article Red Alert!)

While wearing blue will very likely communicate that you are trustworthy, green that you are even-tempered or ‘chilled,’ and white communicates a kind of ‘hands off’ purity (!); there is no doubt that any person, male or female is certainly likely to be noticed wearing red. Its physical effect is to increase stamina and energy, our ‘drive’ and motivation. Therefore any hopeful males (and females) will be subconsciously switched on to this strong colour signal that arouses interest and……yes, possibly passion!

Recent research from the University of Rochester suggests that men pictured wearing or surrounded by the colour red are found to be more attractive or sexually appealing by women. The study also noted that women perceived men wearing red T-shirts to have a higher status than those wearing blue T-shirts.

Superman – brains and brawn then?

Considered the ‘male energy’ colour, the impact of red is on the physical self. It motivates, increases energy, stamina and courage. Red is our ‘drive’ – our get up and go, so it’s perhaps no surprise that this colour might signal to the girls an alpha male quality whilst blue communicates logic, thought, authority and trust. We have quite literally a choice between brains or brawn!

See the full ‘Women attracted to men in red’ article as appears in Yahoo! Lifestyle

More about the study at the University of Rochester

Learn more about the ‘super powers’ of colour! in:colour training and workshops

Well it’s been a little late in coming but we seem to be sliding in to the typical spring ‘four seasons in one day’ kind of weather!

Have you noticed the effect of  rain when the brighter sun shines through it? It’s as if  everything sparkles with more clarity! The colours of  spring time flowers and leaves when they finally blossom will appear fresh and lively. These colours share some ‘characteristics’; they’ll have more yellow in them and appear clear and light. These natural colours perfectly capture the upbeat ‘feeling’ of spring; it’s life, energy and optimism. The youthful spring colour personality suits wearing this palette of colours that will support their natural vitality and zest for life.

If you’re a web/graphic/ product designer or branding expert consider using this light, fresh, clear palette. It accurately conveys qualities which relate well to any design concept or proposition that have the associated ‘youthful’ aspects of fun and energy. Some of these colours are quite ‘primary’ so they may work well in a design for a child or youth orientated product, or any design that needs to express fun, lively, sociable, friendly and confident qualities. Have a look at some of these Pantone references and see how well these colours work together then check the colour psychology effects here.

Red Pantone 032, 1787   Orange Pantone 1365  Yellow Pantone 106  Green Pantone 353, 359

Blue Pantone 285, 299 Pink Pantone 706 Purple Pantone 2715 Grey Pantone Warm Gray

Anther part of the spring colour palette are the light ‘Easter’ pastels. Other interior designers and home decorators and enthusiasts might enjoy this lovely blog site that I was recently introduced to  www.decor8blog.com where Leslie writes in her column about how she puts spring colours together illustrated with lovely pictures of inspiring colour story mood boards in the Color Me Pretty post. Enjoy.

Previous spring posts you might enjoy

Applewood – colour in the community

Sparkle in spring