Strategic Insights
Brand colors IRL: The Kellogg’s Case (II)
When I went shopping some time ago, I noticed that a box of Kellogg’s Special K Fruits looked very different to me. The red in the logo looked much lighter than usual. So – contrary […]
Strategic Insights
Printing Industry Profitability: update
These are my favorite statistics: the financial ratios derived from the annual accounts that companies are required to file. The most recent figures were published earlier this week, time for an update. And this time, […]
Strategic Insights
Brand colors IRL: the Kelloggs’ case (I)
Kellogg’s is launching new packaging for several of its products. Well, at least in my country. With both old and new types of packaging next to each other on the shelves, it’s an interesting topic […]
Strategic Insights
New survey: the influence of color deviations, damaged packages on shopping behavior and brand loyalty
The package of a product is important: it not only ships and protects products, it also conveys the identity of a brand. Brands are very proud of their unique brand image, they demand no less […]
Strategic Insights
“Color increases brand recognition by 80%”: the real contents of the Loyola study revealed
“Color increases brand recognition by 80%”, it’s a quote that is often used in the printing industry, e.g. to demand super tight tolerances in print production. I went on a search to find the original […]
Strategic Insights
CONFIRMED: our color memory is seriously flawed (and what this means for brand colors)
Color is important, that’s something everyone in the printing industry agrees on. But how good are we, as human beings, when dealing with color? In this article, I will discuss two studies. The first concluded […]
Best Practices
Where ICC color management can (still) go wrong: the blue to purple conversion
It has been an interesting week. Tuesday my newspaper had an article on the (in)famous Yves Klein Blue. But the printed color was purple… Later this week, I noticed some images with better conversions, but […]
Best Practices
Brand colors IRL: the Red Cross case
At the end of the year, I receive lots of letters. From charities to be precise. And the one that stands out – from a color perspective – is the one from the Red Cross. […]
Best Practices
Brand colors IRL: creating better brand guides, as research shows most are flawed
In case you wondered: I’m not the only one with a special interest for brand colors in real life. Recently I came across two research papers by Michael Abildgaard Pedersen from the Danish School of […]
Best Practices
Your Color Guide and You: first results
In my previous article, I discussed the tolerances that the tools used in print quality control have. At least: in theory. To check this in practice, I launched a survey: ‘Your color guide and You’. […]
Best Practices
Brand color quality in print: the chain of tool tolerances
Color is probably the main quality criterium when dealing with print. And lower deviations are better, leading to some people demanding, defending a delta E 2000 of 2 for brand colors. But this raises a […]
Best Practices
Your Pantone color guide and you: a new color research
Would you like to be part of an interesting, crowdsourced color research? Then I have a few questions for you. I would like to get a better understanding of the use of Pantone guides. With […]
Strategic Insights
Brand colors in real life: the Milka case
The publication of the groundbreaking color study did generate some attention. Especially my plea for a more realistic, less fanatic approach to color tolerances in real life seemed provocative to some. I e.g. got a […]
Strategic Insights
Groundbreaking color study: 2 out of 3 see differences between identical packages, dE 6 won’t influence buying
You can find them in attics and basements: unknown treasures. At the campus of the AP university college in Antwerp, there is such a treasure. A groundbreaking study on the perception of color deviations. The […]
Strategic Insights
Real-life factors influencing color appearance in marketing
Right after I had published the article about real-life factors influencing color appearance in packaging, I opened my mailbox and found another very nice example. This one with a number of factors influencing color appearance […]