In a previous post, I already covered the fact that not all black is designed equal. ‘Black’ can be composed in different ways when going to print. And this is becoming very relevant when designing food packaging. A brand of breakfast cereals I recently discovered shows you why. In a…
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Where does innovation start? You can find all kinds of complicate theories on that, but it is simple: innovation starts with observation.
After having seen how my color memory messed up with a package of Kellogg’s, I thought that it happened again when the cans of Coca-Cola seemed much lighter and a bit more yellowish than usual. So, I thought I had another nice example of how my color memory failed. Until…
Are professionals better at judging color? Your immediate response will probably be: “Of course, they’re professionals!” It would seem no more than logical. But based on some tests, the answer might not be that straight forward… And I guess not everybody will like what I’m going to show you in…
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 to what the average consumer would do according to some people – I would certainly…
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…
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…