We associate so many products with the look of their packaging. Replace the words, and even the pictures, with random symbols on some traditional brand products, and many people can still recognize them. Many candy bars, cereal boxes, even bread wrappers - though updated over the years, maintain their original colors.
Few people of my generation could forget the bold orange box of cereal featuring the ever-changing athlete de jour (think: Mary Lou Retton, or even farther back, Bruce Jenner) following some particular monumental achievement. Even without seeing the name "Wheaties" displayed across the top of the box-front, many would quickly recognize this supposed key component of the aspiring athlete's breakfast.
Lots of calculated planning goes into package design - especially the colors. Psychologists join marketing researchers from a variety of backgrounds to determine how various colors affect people. The orange of Wheaties box above, they have discovered, conveys aggressiveness. What a great connotation to use with a product geared toward athletes-to-be as they stroll the grocery isles with their parents and sit down to their daily "breakfast of champions." Odds are good, they reason, that if you become a fan of a given product as a child, you're a fan for life.
Colors convey messages. Whether the color covers the wall of a restaurant dining room or the packaging of your favorite foods and beauty products, odds are they have influenced your decisions whether you realize it or not.
Check out the contents of your pantry, refrigerator and even your bathroom cabinets and see if you notice prominent colors for particular categories of items, or even the lettering on your favorite products. According to dailyinfographic, here's what the "experts" believe the following colors are conveying to you:
Yellow: Optimistic and youthful
Red: Energy, increases heart rate, creates urgency
Blue: Creates the sensation of trust and security
Green: Associated with wealth
Orange: Aggressive, creates a call to action
Pink: Romantic and feminine; used to market products to women
Keep these color messages in mind the next time you're watching TV or perusing a magazine - paying special attention to the ads - and when you're shopping in your favorite stores. You may be surprised at the ways these things "speak" to you.
(Mary Lou's Wheaties box from eyeseyeseyes.wordpress.com)
I remember those Wheaties boxes! I never liked the taste. I can remember getting my mom to buy a cereal more than once even though I couldn't eat it just because the commercials were so cool.
ReplyDeleteHaving a degree in p.r., and working as a graphic designer, I must admit that I apreciate good design and aesthetics. It is a very real thing, and as long as we are aware of it, we can still make good choices!
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