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

Since its unveiling last month the Olympic logo has caused much comment from the design world and the public, so,  I thought I would chuck in my two penneth worth and add my comments to the fray.

Radical. Inelegant. Brave. Brash. Original. Outdated. Unreadable. These are some of the words that have been used to describe the design community’s reaction to the unveiling of the new 2012 Olympic brand logo.

Controversial it certainly is. The unexpected colours and design combine to make one react with shock. The logo is expected to ‘evolve’ the closer we come to the Olympics in versions of other colours – blue, green and orange. All use the colour yellow which reinforces a message of optimism and confidence and therefore is a good colour to use in this context. However, the first noticeable thing about the unveiled version is well, how very PINK it is.

The Olympic logo – girl power?!

Traditionally the ultimate ‘feminine power’ colour this particular strong magenta hue shrieks at us like the over competitive mum entering the parent’s race at school sports day elbowing her way to the front and claiming the prize – and indeed this colour might not look out of place championing a female only Olympics!

Psychologically we associate pink with the ‘female’ qualities of nurture and care, it is also a physically soothing colour. Some products that we associate with the colour pink might often be female orientated – even household, medical or skin related such as cleaning agents, plasters, face creams and stomach preparations etc.

For example, one such product – Vanish Oxi Action  has a very strong magenta pink container appealing to the female/powerful/cleaning mode of our psyche. This deeper hue of pink has undertones of red and blue that subconsciously underpins its qualities of strength and efficiency.

In another example of girl power, the company ‘Sheila’s Wheels’ aims its services at the ‘pink purse’ communicating its female only car insurance products through the use of a bright version of this colour. A division of the company Esure, the Sheila’s wheels product developed from research and strong opposition to the EU directive that would have seen women forced to subsidise men through their car insurance premiums. Women were found to claim less, are responsible for far fewer driving convictions and in short have an attitude towards their cars, driving and other road users that is often far more considered than those of their male counterparts – in short we care more.

But, apart from the mistaken use of the colour pink, where I think this logo misses the mark is in its use of colours from 3-4 different colour palettes thereby presenting mixed messages. The design style (text and shape etc.) belongs to a psychological ‘colour personality’ (winter) whose qualities are technical, efficient, forward thinking, powerful, and logical; not perhaps wholly representative of the qualities we might associate with the Olympics?

A group of colours that I think equate more with the values we associate with the Olympics would be from the springpalette. Psychologically these warm, light and clear colours far better convey the qualities of movement, high energy, speed, extroversion, optimism and excitement.

Tip: Colour is the first and most significant part of your message. Think about capturing the core value of your business and reflecting that in the colours that you use for your branding. Take a look at some of the meaning and effects of the different colours here.