Secrets of Signature Color

Iconic colors are powerful brand allies. Here's how they're created.

Red hot
Though it's a relatively new brand, Target has successfully leveraged red to signature color status. Here Larsen redesigned What's inStore—a tabloidsized newsletter that keeps team members up-to-date on store happenings. The publication prominently uses red to reinforce the brand.

Some colors are practically synonymous with a brand. You hear the word UPS and the color brown immediately pops to mind. The same holds true for Target and red. A few colors even take on almost magical qualities. Tiffany blue, for example, is so enchanting that the company's website includes this frequently asked question: "Are Tiffany Blue Boxes available for purchase?" (Sorry, they only come with the merchandise.)

So why do some shades form a strong connection with consumers? It's a mix of picking the right color, using it consistently, and putting some marketing heft behind it. Or more simply put, signature color is equal parts art and science and ad budget. It's also an opportunity to help your clients forge an immediate and emotional bond with consumers.

Making a mark
Not surprisingly, it's the household names that tend to come out ahead in the color game. "I think it takes quite a long time to develop a signature color," says Paul Wharton, vice president of Creative at Larsen in Minneapolis. As he points out, many companies that "own" a color were either the first in a category or went wildly off color from the competition. ING, for example, leveraged orange to make a splash in the United States. The color works because it's appropriate for the ING brand and a big departure from the corporate red and blue used by many old-school financial institutions.

ING, however, isn't the only relative newcomer vying for attention. A few younger companies, Wharton says, are quickly developing signature colors, including Cingular with orange and Target with red. What determines how rapidly a color takes hold? "It depends on how much money and effort is put behind the color and how widely used it is," Wharton says. "In order for a color to become your signature color, you have to use it a lot." Target, for instance, memorably pegs many of its marketing efforts to red; this kind of consistency is a key ingredient in signature color.

The basic premise sounds simpler than it is in practice: Pick the right color and really stick with it. "You have to make sure it doesn't get diluted," says John H. Bredenfoerder, incoming president of the Color Marketing Group and design director of Landor Associates' Cincinnati office. He cites the old American Express green card, for example, but observes that the company is now more readily associated with blue. This switch may have lessened the signature color effect.

The right choice
When you're picking a color for a new company, you're taking the first baby steps toward signature color. The best place to start is with the brand itself. Take the time to uncover its essence, figure out the target market, and study the competition. "A company chooses a color to reflect its image of itself," says Leatrice Eiseman, director of the Pantone Color Institute. "You have to do a lot of homework before you arrive at a color."

Once you know a brand's key traits, it's easier to find a color that matches those qualities. Successfully completing this step, however, means keeping up with trends in color psychology. "You have to be on top of how color has changed," Eiseman says. "Has the public perception veered?" Brown, for instance, used to be a simple earth color, but now it's perceived as more elegant. To keep up with general color trends, Eiseman suggests reading color forecasts, looking at retail window displays, and even buying a subscription to a fashion magazine or two.

Bredenfoerder also believes it's important to examine the regional aspects of color. If a product or service is going to be sold in a particular area, take a look at what colors are associated with the region's college and professional sports teams. In addition, different sections of the country simply view color differently—think about the palette for homes in Miami versus ones in Santa Fe. Knowing the local landscape helps ensure the color you choose comes across the way you intend.

While you're still in research mode, you'll want to figure out exactly how a color needs to perform. Will it show up on store shelves? In web ads? On television? Or all of the above? "You need to make sure the color works across mediums," Wharton says. Some potential choices, such as yellow green and paler tones, don't do well on computer screens, where color reproduction varies from one monitor to another. If it's a retail product, the color needs to stand out against nearby packaging.

Staying fresh
Even when a color hits a home run, it takes some work along the way to keep the batting average high. A brand needs to stay fresh and current, which sometimes means tweaking a signature color or pairing it with new shades. Landor, for example, has worked on the Secret brand, and Bredenfoerder says special effects are one way the deodorant's trademark blue stays exciting and up-to-date. The platinum product features silver and foil finishes while the sparkle packaging lives up to its name.

New York design firm Parham Santana was charged with the enviable task of refreshing the Barbie brand. As part of the effort, the firm looked key change was the introduction of a signature stripe, which pairs Barbie pink with an orange, a lighter pink, and an orchid. "Stripes are timeless. Barbie is timeless," says executive creative director Maruchi Santana. "Pink alone can get boring." By itself, she notes, "it's not fashion forward." Additional colors also make it easier to create packaging that sets off pink products—staples in the Barbie line.

Tinkering with a proven brand, however, can be risky business. Santana suggests conducting permission studies before making major changes. "You're asking consumers how far you can go with the brand," she says. "Can this brand lead somewhere else than it is leading now?" These focus groups can help you figure out whether changing an established color is a viable option. Santana says it's also important to give consumers ample time to live with a change. With retail brands, it can take time for new packaging to hit shelves and buyers to notice the updated look. Don't be tempted to tinker—even though you may have done the refresh a year or more before it hit store shelves. If something is really wrong, consumers will let you know.

A bold move
If there's a common mistake with signature color, it's going with the safe choice or the accepted colors within a market segment. "A lot of brands never get remembered because they look like every other brand," Wharton says. "Being bold is critical if you really want to establish a color. You have to be willing to step outside the comfort zone." Eiseman urges designers not to disregard their own natural instincts when it comes to color. She says those gutlevel feelings are based on talent and ability.

Eiseman also says it's important to remember that no matter how good the color choice, it's ultimately up to the client to make the signature status happen. In other words, it's not all about the color. "Some colors start just because someone likes it, but it's what they do with it that's magical," she says. Tiffany, for example, expertly and consistently applies its trademark blue. Plus, those famous boxes help reinforce the upscale feel with their simple and beautiful design.

Unfortunately, it's impossible to guarantee a particular color will hit the jackpot. "There is no magic bullet," Eiseman says. "As a designer you have to believe in the color and create a rationale that speaks to your client. You have to be passionate about it." Not every client will buy into a daring color choice—no matter how much ammo you have to back it up. But it's still worth trying for those projects where everyone says yes. After all, you just might be creating the next Tiffany blue or Barbie pink.

Name That Color
For a color to truly achieve signature status, it should come to mind almost as soon as you hear the brand name. See if these companies make the cut. How quickly can you think of the right color?

1. Home Depot
2. Coca-Cola
3. IBM
4. Starbucks
5. Buffalo Wild Wings
6. Mary Kay
7. GAP
8. Nickelodeon
9. Jack Daniel's

Recommended resources
Color Harmony: Layout—More than 800 Colorways for Layouts That Work, by Terry Marks, $25, Rockport Publishers
Color Index, by Jim Krause, $19.19, HOW Design Books
Color: Messages and Meanings, A Pantone Color Resource, by Leatrice Eiseman, $39.99 www.pantone.com
Color Management for Logos: A Comprehensive Guide for Graphic Designers, by John Drew and Sarah Meyer, $50, Rotovision
Understanding Color: An Introduction for Designers, by Linda Holtzschue, $55, John Wiley & Sons
Color Marketing Group: This nonprofit organization predicts color directions and trends. www.colormarketing.org

About the author
Michelle Taute is a freelance writer and editor in Cincinnati who specializes in design topics.

This article was originally published in the October/November 2006 issue of Dynamic Graphics magazine.

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