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, it’s a bit of a mixed bag. CONTENTS: Net operating margin printing industry | All…
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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 for a new episode of ‘brand colors in real life’. And the redesign is also…
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 than perfect packages on the shelves in the supermarket. But how do consumers look at…
“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 study, to know what was tested and how. It was a long search. Eventually, I…
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 that our color memory is biased, even when the reference color is still visible. And…
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 with others, it was the same issue again. When it comes to converting blue from…
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. Next to the envelope and letter, there is also a leaflet and a small agenda…
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 Media and Journalism, examining both brand colors / brand guides (300+ / 156) and print…
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’. The goal was to get an idea of how people use color guides in daily…
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 few questions, among which what the reference is and how reliable that reference is. And…
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 a dominant position, you can’t neglect these guides. But usage can differ: some only use…
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 mail from somebody who is quite familiar with Milka, stating they would never tolerate a…
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 results are intriguing: almost 1 out of 3 professionals (and 1 out of 4 in…
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 in marketing. It is so nice that I have to share it with you. CONTENTS:…
The previous article about color memory started some discussion on LinkedIn, with a number of people strongly defending very tight tolerances. Packages should always look exactly the same, also with reorders, with e-commerce in mind. Let’s put it to test and do a few real-life checks of the visual appearance…