Artshak Blog

Branding: Why colour in branding matters

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 23:09:00 GMT

Ever wondered why colour in your brand is so important?

Well aside from being visual, people emotionally connect with colour and research reveals people make a subconscious judgment about a person, environment, or product within 90 seconds of initial viewing it. Between 62% and 90% of that assessment is based on colour alone.

It follows that colour selection is a key element of building a strong brand for your business. Every colour has a different feel and various associations. By choosing a colour or a combination of colours for your brand identity, you will take on those associations. So when developing your logo, branding and marketing materials, whilst the content and messages are essential, don’t underestimate the power of colour. Your colour choices could be sending a specific message to the people who view your brand, so it is vital to choose a color that will represent your identity effectively.

Consider your market and your audience in your business. Consider cultural perceptions and differences in cultural interpretations of your branding colour palette. For example in the Western world, white is considered the colour of purity and peace, however, in some parts of Asia white is the colour of death. Ensure the colour you select will give the right messages and evoke the response you’re looking for in the markets your service caters for.

Whilst individual colours aren’t tied to any particular industry, be mindful that similar industries often use same 'colour palettes'. Childcare centres often use primary colours, fast food outlets use reds and yellows and holiday companies use medium blues pales yellows and/or oranges in their palettes.

At the end of the day, the colour you choose should take into account all of these aspects and reflections. However, it IS important that your chosen colour/s should be something you like, not just something you worked out through a formula. The brand colours tell others something about your service and become a part of an identity that you should get behind and enjoy. Select something that sends the correct message, represents your service and ethos, and ideally is something that you LOVE as well.

A good brief!!

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 01:36:00 GMT

A design brief outlines the aims, objectives and milestones of a design project in writing. This is a critical part of the design process – design is not just about creating a great logo that looks fabulous, it takes into account the vision, culture, idea and audience of the company or product and helps to establish the "right" approach.

It develops trust and understanding between the client and designer - always a good thing! A good brief serves as an essential point of reference for both parties.The more clues you give about your design tastes, the more likely your designer will be able to produce something close to your aims. Remember, professional designers will not reproduce the ideas you send them... but will use them as the start of the design process to create something unique and effective for you and your business.

Food for thought

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 07:34:00 GMT

Often at Artshak we get asked to create and design something that's never been done before, have brand spanking new ideas and produce something that will "wow" everyone. I came across a quote the other day from one of my all time favourites in the industry - and to sum it up nicely:

"The secret of all effective originality in advertising is not the creation of new and tricky words and pictures, but one of putting familiar words and pictures into new relationships."
Leo Burnett

Three fundamental points for website content

Mon, 21 Sep 2009 05:25:00 GMT

As designers we often get asked to make things look "sexy". When it comes to websites, more often that not – no amount of design will rescue the content. In our view, three fundamental principles to establishing an effective web presence are:

1. Clear Purpose: Each section of the web site must have a purpose that is clearly understood by the site visitor. Purpose is the foundation of each site section. For example, a section for your site can include “About us” – this is where your company and brand, mission and values is clearly outlined. Unique branding which is reflective of your company, is what will set you apart to those researching you on the web. Having a clear purpose helps you create content for your sections and it helps the site visitor understand what your site is about. Make sure your web site clearly defines its purpose. Don’t let your customers try to figure it out for themselves.

2. Create Action: Nearly all web designers/developers will agree that navigation is one of the most important aspects of good web design. However, there are those that view navigation as only the links and buttons to find information that visitors are looking for. The true importance of navigation is ensuring that the site visitor knows what is expected… what action is required. In other words, if you want the customer to contact you, make it obvious and simple. A good rule of thumb is to be able to locate the information within three clicks.

3. Relationship Focused Content: A relationship is required for any transaction to occur in business. In the physical world this relationship is taken for granted. Someone walks into your store or company, talks to you or a sales person, experiences the environment and purchases good or services. In the virtual world there is no person to help create a relationship. This makes it absolutely necessary to focus your content on creating and enhancing a relationship… a connection between the site and the user, especially in today’s environment where consumers are researching online.

With these points in mind, together with strong branding, your website can be a valuable business tool no matter how large or small your business.

Designers responsibility

Mon, 21 Sep 2009 05:25:00 GMT

We are excited to finally be writing our first blog. For those of you who know us, Artshak has been growing over the years and extending it's services across the board. We like to challenge ourselves so you the client, our client will end up with a result that works. In order to achieve this we are striving to continually refine our skills and grow in our professional development.

Recently we attended an AGDA seminar held here in Brisbane and listened to speaker David Berman Interestingly David noted that, "95% of designers who ever lived, are alive today. Designers have the power to decide what their profession will be about; helping to sell more sugar water to children or repair the world."

With this in mind - we like to consider that our designs at Artshak will make a difference – a positive impact with social responsibility behind it, that not only works for you our client, but will leave your consumers with a positive message reflecting an ethos that is unquestionable.