Aspects of Color in Advertising

The aspects, or qualities of color, refer to colors and color combinations that evoke certain emotional responses. We use many words to describe the properties of individual colors and to compare and contrast them, but light and dark is the basic distinction. Without sunlight or artificial light, there is no color. We depend on light for color, which we use in countless combinations to express our ideas and emotions. The following aspects of color contain color combinations that exist in harmony with each other, and are in spectral balance. Spectral balance occurs within the eye as thousands of waves of electromagnetic energy of different lengths bounce off (or are absorbed by) the chemical components of any object. Light waves reflect red, yellow, and blue, and the rods and cones in the eye's retina simultaneously mix and sort these reflected colors into thousands of tints and shades, which work to offer endless possibilities for specific color use. Color is both simple and complex. It means different things to different people in different cultures. Any two people see no color the same way. Color is personal and universal, sending messages full of endless variations.

Hot
It refers to red in full saturation on the color wheel; this is red at its strongest. Hot colors project outward and attract attention. For this reason, red is often used in graphic signage and design. Hot colors are strong and aggressive and seem to vibrate within their own space. The power of hot colors affects people in many ways, such as increasing blood pressure and stimulating the nervous system.

Cold
Cold refers to fully saturated blue. At its brightest it is dominating and strong. Cold colors remind one of ice and snow. The feelings generated by cold colors-blue, green, and blue -green-are the direct opposite of those generated by hot colors; cold blue slows the metabolism and increase one's sense of calm. When placed next to each other, cold and hot colors vibrate like fire and ice.

Warm
All hues that contain red are warm. It is the addition of yellow to red that makes warm colors substantially different from hot colors. Warm colors, such as red-orange, orange, and yellow- orange, always contain a mixture of red and yellow in their composition and encompass a larger apart of the emotional spectrum. Warm colors are comforting, spontaneous, and welcoming. Like an Arizona sunset, the warmth of these hues radiates outward and surrounds everything in reach.

Cool
Cool colors are based in blue. They differ from cold colors because of the addition of yellow to their composition, which creates yellow -green, green, and blue-green. Cool colors, such as turquoise blue and verdant green, are seen in nature. Like spring growth, they make us feel renewed. Soothing and calm, these hues provide a sense of depth as well as comfort. Cool colors are like a swim in a refreshing, tropical pool.

Light
Light colors are the palest pastels. They take their lightness from an absence of visible color in their composition, and are almost transparent. When lightness increases, variations between the different hues decrease. Light colors open up the surroundings and suggest airiness, rest, and liquidity. They resemble sheer curtains at a window and send a message of relaxation.

Dark
Dark colors are hues that contain black in their composition. They close up space and make it seem smaller. Dark colors are concentrated and serious in their effect. Seasonally, autumn and winter. Combining lights and darks together is a common and dramatic way to represent the opposites in nature, such as night and day.
Pale
Pale hues are the softest pastels. They contain at least 65 percent white in their composition, and have a diminished hue, which is most often referred to as soft or romantic. Pale colors, like ivory, light blue, and pink, suggest gentless. They can be seen in the clouds in a soft, early light, or in the lavender colors of a misty morning. Because they are calming colors, pale hues are frequently used in interior spaces.

Bright
The amount of pure color within a hue determines its brightness. The clarity of bright colors is achieved by the omission of gray or black. Blues, reds, yellows, and oranges are colors in full brightness. Bright colors are vivid and attract attention. A yellow school bus, a bunch of colored balloons, the red of a clown’s nose, never goes unnoticed. Exhilarating and cheerful, bright colors are perfect for use in packaging, fashion, and advertising.

Powerful
The most powerful combinations, full of excitement and control, are always associated with the color red. No matter what color it is combined with, red can never be ignored. It is the ultimate "power" color-forceful, bold, and extreme. Powerful color combinations are symbols of our strongest emotions, love and hate. They represent emotional overdrive. In advertising and display, powerful color combinations are used to send a strong message of vitality and awareness. They always attract attention.

Rich
Combining a powerful hue with its darkened complement can create richness in a color. For example, deep burgundy results from adding black to red, and like a fine old wine from a French vineyard, it signifies wealth. Burgundy and deep forest green used together with gold suggest affluence. These dark, sumptuous colors-used in textures as diverse as leather and taffeta-create a dramatic, unforgettable effect. They will always reveal a sense of wealth and status.

Romantic
Pink suggests romance. Pink is white added to red in varying amounts and is the lightened value of red. Like red, pink arouses interest and excitement, but in a softer, quieter way. A romantic color scheme using pastel tints of pink, lavender, and peach will read as gentle and tender. Combined with other bright pastels, pink evokes memories of dreamy June days and full bouquets of delicate, summer flowers.

Vital
Vitality and enthusiasm are best promoted in design and graphics by using the hue most commonly known as vermillion, or any of its many tints and shades. By using color combinations with this red-orange hue at the center, a feeling of vigor and warmth can easily be created. These combinations are youthful and playful and are often seen in advertisements displaying energetic lifestyles and personalities. The combination of red-orange partnered with its complement, turquoise, is active, easy to be around, and is very effective when used in fabrics, advertising and packaging.

Earthy
Rich, warm, and full of vitality, earthy color combinations frequently use the dark, vivid red-orange called terra cotta. Terra cotta suggests subtle warmth, like polished copper. When used with white, it projects a brilliant, natural combination.

Earthy hues reflect fun-loving youth, and call to mind leisure living. As part of an analogous scheme, these warm, earthy tones generate exciting combinations, such as those seen in the décor o the American West.

Friendly
Color schemes that convey friendliness often include orange. Open and easy, these combinations have all the elements of energy and movement. They create order and equality without a sense of power or control. Orange along with its color wheel neighbors is frequently used in fast-food restaurants because it projects an inviting message of good food at a friendly price. Because it is energetic and glowing orange is the international safety color in areas of danger. Orange life rafts and life preservers are easily seen on blue or gray seas.

Soft
Light -valued tints without high contrast are the most comfortable to use when creating soft color combinations. Peach, as part of a muted palette, is delicious and appealing in its color message and workable in any setting, from restaurants to store displays to fashion. When combined with tints of violet and green, it becomes part of a subdued but magical secondary color scheme. They soft and relaxing colors are often ideal for home décor. The combinations are cheerful and outgoing, while at the same time calm and inviting.

Welcoming
Color combinations using yellow-orange or amber are the most welcoming. Yellow combined with a small amount of red creates these radiant hues, which are universally appealing. In full strength, yellow-orange or amber can be likened to gold or the precious spice saffron. A monochromatic color scheme of saffron used with white is one of classic beauty and is very inviting. Combinations made with pale amber are warm and congenial. This hue can be used in a variety of applications that call for creamy tints to express festive and cordial environments.

Moving
The brightest color combinations are those that have primary yellow expresses life-giving sun, activity, and constant motion. When white is added to yellow, its luminous quality increases and the overall effect is one of extraordinary brightness. Color schemes of high contrast, such as yellow with its complement violet, mean activity and motion. These palettes generate movement, especially within a round space. It is almost impossible to feel despondent when surrounded by a combination using yellow or any of its tints.

Elegant
Elegant color combinations use only the palest tints. For example, a whisper of yellow combined with white makes a pastel cream, which can be used to create a warmer version of an all-white room. The presence of natural light produces subtle shadows and highlights architectural details, which help to fashion an elegant setting. Palettes that combine hues similar to the color of eggshells and linens are compatible with most other hues and offer a workable alternative to achromatic white or noncolor schemes. In fashion, elegant linens, silks, and velvets in creamy tones give the impression of ease and opulence by creating a look of classic understatement.

Traditional
Traditional color combinations are often copied from those with historical significance. Conservative colors of blue, burgundy, tan, and green in their grayed or deepened hues, express traditional themes. For example: green, in both its full hue and grayed shades, always signifies possession. Hunter green combined with deep gold or burgundy, or in combination with black, suggests richness and stability. Hunter green is frequently seen in the décor of banks and legal offices, where it suggests permanence and value.

Refreshing
Color combinations that are considered refreshing usually include cool blue-green paired with its complement, red-orange. Blue-green, or teal, is fresh and invigorating. It is frequently used in its full hue to depict travel and leisure. Refreshing color combinations sparkle with lightness while providing a sense of soothingcalm.

Tropical
Tropical hues on the color wheel always include turquoise. Blue-green is lightened turquoise by the addition of white and is the warmest of the cool colors. Staying with the lightest tints of the blue-green family will increase the feeling and message of tranquility. Using red-orange, the complement of turquoise, is perfect in any of these combinations. Like flowers in nature, these color schemes enhance any setting and create a serene and stress-free feeling.

Classic
Classic color combinations are indicative of strength and authority. Intense royal blue is the centerpiece of any classic grouping of colors. It stands out, even when combined with other hues. Classic combinations imply truth, responsibility, and trust. Because of its proximity to green, royal blue evokes a sense of continuity, stability, and strength, especially in combination with its split complement red-orange and yellow-orange.

Dependable
One of the most widely accepted hues is navy blue. Combinations using this color are interpreted as dependable and reliable. They also carry an undeniable message of authority. Police officers, naval officers, and court officers wear color combinations that include deep, secure navy blue in order to command authority through their appearance. When accented with red and gold, navy becomes less stern, but still communicates firmness and strength.

Calm
In any stressful environment, combining grayed or lightened tints of blue will produce a calming and restful effect. Lightened blue is at the center of color schemes that reassure and are considered truthful and direct.

Regal
The fullness of blue combined with the power of red creates blue-violet. It is the darkest hue on the color wheel and contains no black to diminish its innate power. Combinations using this color symbolize authority and regal inspiration. Likened to the deepest blue-black plums of summer, blue-violet combined with its complement, yellow-orange, creates a most striking color scheme. This lush combination suggests royalty and is seldom used outside a daunting environment.

Magical
Elements of surprise and magic are often associated with violet. By itself, violet conveys its own unpredictable personality. With its secondary partners, orange and green, violet in any tint or shade becomes part of an exciting team, which is slightly offbeat. When used with chartreuse and yellow-orange, it is whimsical and clashing, even loud. In combination with its true complement yellow, violet has spectral balance and can be enjoyed for extended periods of time. In fashion, it is considered and immature color and is used to bridge the gap between child and adult.


Nostalgic
Color combinations using lavender are often thought of as nostalgic. They are reminiscent of the Victorian era and can remind us of dreamy moments, poetry, and romantic ideals. More delicate and less passionate than pink, lavender has red and blue in its violet makeup. When combined with other pastels, lavender is the prominent hue, even with its muted accents.

Energetic
Color combinations that are energetic often contain red-violet, also known as fuchsia. It always sends an unmistakable message of activity. Fuchsia, or magenta, has such as exuberant personality that in order to be workable it is often combined with its complementary hue, chartreuse. A clash combination using fuchsia and yellow or green will be exciting for the moment, but will invariably limit the overall effect of the combination and lessen its workability. Yellow-green, when paired with fuchsia or magenta, heightens the enthusiastic personality of this energetic color.

Subdued
Unlike an energetic color scheme, a subdued or grayed scheme has little contrast. Mauve, a blend of magenta, gray, and white, is a diminished color. The addition of minimal gray and white to any brilliant hue results in subdued and delicate variations, including grayed blues and grayed greens. Mauve combined with other tints and shades appears to be understated and dull. A spark of color in the form of its complement, or a more vivid tone of the original hue, must be added to bring these mellow hues back to life. To maintain the subdued nature of similar colors, shades should be used sparingly.

Professional
In the world of the business professional, color is evaluated with scrutiny. In fashion, the word "professional" has come to mean grays and tonal blacks because these colors lack personal characteristics and are truly neutral. Warmed grays, however, are perfect backgrounds for brilliant hues such as red, teal, or orange. Schemes based on achromatic gray combined with vivid accents become accented neutrals. Gray in unexciting but practical. It sends a sober message, with a minimum of humor.

Color Trends
WHAT ARE COLOR TRENDS?
Professionals in the fields of color research, color merchandising, advertising and marketing, as well as the related professions of graphic design, fashion, interior design, and industrial design, make selections and reach a consensus on which colors will be successful and fashionable for the coming years. This color forecasting translates into "color trends." For example, the orange shag rugs of the sixties and he avocado refrigerators of the seventies were some of the products that reflected the "color trends" of those decades. Along with the current economic and cultural directions of trade markets, product negotiation, median incomes, and social status, decisions about color trends are also based on psychological insight into the use of color. Color choices are vitally important to all retail sales, products, and services. In every industrialized nation, color is big business. Choosing colors that result in changes for consumer markets is a highly specialized field. An organization involved in setting color trends that impact on a number of industries is the Association for International Color Directions (AICD), located in Alexandria, Virginia. The AICD holds international conferences and workshops to ensure accuracy in tracking predictable color trends. The marketing arm of the AICD, the Color Marketing Group, forecasts ahead three years, allowing ample time to implement the design and manufacture of key industry products in new and definitive colors. A second organization, the Color Association of the United States (CAUS), located in New York City, specializes in color predictions for fashion, interior design, and environmental industries. A panel of eight to twelve color specialists meets annually to determine the ongoing impact of the current trends. Color trends are closely linked to the economy, and, as a result, advertising and marketing strategies are affected whenever a new color or color combination emerges on the world market. The color trend becomes part of the media vocabulary, sending a "color message" to the world via television and print. As consumes become comfortable with color in daily life, analysts look for newer and more exciting color combinations to stimulate their emotions and product needs. This is often interpreted as "something new" or "in style." A color scheme that is compatible with one industry may not be pleasing or workable in another. To offset this situation and maintain the accuracy of choice, color analysts will make parallel or specific recommendations for fashion, industry, or interior environmental use.

COLOR TRENDS THEN … AND NOW
In general pastel tints of green, blue, and orange, prominent for decades in most interior products, have recently given way to brilliant colors and warm, subtle shades. Soft and medium tints have been replaced by hues of vivid reds, yellows, and the jewel-like tones of sapphire and amethyst. These hues are seen most often in upscale products such as evening wear and expensive fabrics for the home. They carry an aura of wealth and cultural diversity. Gone are the dark and sophisticated grays of the recent past, they have been replaced by burnished warm metallics of gold and copper, combined with rich, reddish hues of burgundy, terra-cotta, and rust. The colors prominent today and for the coming years are not flat pastels but the vibrant tones of magenta, turquoise, and gold. They are used in some manufactured goods, interiors, and fashion. It is accurate to say that reds, greens and blues in fully saturated color and warm, lustrous, dark shades like burgundy, hunter green, and navy will be strong choices for the fore-seeable future. Red brings excitement to wardrobes, accessories, and luxury items and is a favorite of both men and women. Vibrant deep greens will be used interiors, and places of business. Dark blues and warm terra cottas will be major color players in restaurants and public places. Accented with a contrasting bright white or creamy yellow-orange, these colors generate a feeling of warm elegance, and enhance interior space.

INDUSTRY
Automobiles continue to reflect deep vibrant hues of blue-green, reds, and warm metallics, a color development indicating an upward economy. When the economy is unstable or on a downward slope, automobiles are usually painted in nondescript but safe colors, such as grays and tans. Another factor in the equation of color choice in industrial products is the emerging presence of women as "major purchase" buyers. Women now buy automobiles as often as men. Long in demand by the industry, conservative colors are changing to include the more active turquoise and warm metallic. This trend is also reflected the collateral and complementary color schemes of automobile interiors. Refrigerators, washers and driers, dishwashers, and major domestic appliances continue to remain sterile white or warm utilitarian pewter. These "noncolors" are becoming increasingly popular as more women spend less time at home. Instead of light pastels, bright glossy white will be used as a dominant hue and as an accent in domestic environments.

FASHION
According to color marketing groups the line between male and female color preference has disappeared. All colors in fashion are now acceptable for men's as well as women's clothing. Men confidently wearing brightly colored accessories evidence this trend. Continuing in this direction fully saturated powerful reds and violets with bluish undertones are the predicted color choices for both sexes. Forecasters say clothing color, regardless of the season, will be bright with increased sheen, making the matte noncolors of the past obsolete. Although black remains the "color of choice" in apparel for the young adult woman, vivid accessories and outerwear is acceptable. Lots of sparkle and beading in fabrics offsets black's usually hostile personality, giving it a more lively appearance. Brilliant silks and taffetas in magenta, nuance in this field, blue-green, violet, and red-orange in full saturation compete with the current reds and blues.