Colors speak loudly when it comes to brands. The professionals responsible for brand color from concept to final product need to speak the same language to ensure colors are communicating the correct message. You may think that ideal is hard to achieve. Take a look to discover how you can get the color management skills from leading companies to communicate brand color, maintain its integrity through the workflow, and save costs.
For some real-world insight, in the comprehensive rebranding of American Airlines, the iconic brand’s red, white, and blue signature colors were reinvigorated. A product of extensive market research, the update was made to evoke a “more modern, vibrant, and welcoming spirit” that represents modern American ideals.
Leading the project was Chief Creative Officer Sven Seger of FutureBrand, a creative branding agency that helps companies like American Airlines use color to enhance their brand. Seger, one keynote at the 2013 Color Management Conference, modernized the brand, creating a new livery and logo. The first in the last 40 years, this update effectively communicates the brand and remains consistent across different aircraft composite materials, ticketing kiosks, credit cards, and other substrates as well as online. Seger goes in depth at the conference as to how his team defined the American brand’s core message and created a design that saves their client resources by being repeatable across multiple substrates.
A further example of how the rebranding experts of FutureBrand approach critical color consistency is in the creation of a new visual identity for UPS that was carried across all of the brand’s products from vehicles to uniforms to packaging. They also helped their clients communicate the revamped look through the workflow of design, production, and implementation of the new brand. The rebrand included a “color palette designed to both complement and energize brown—the company’s signature color for over 100 years.” According to this FutureBrand case study, the rebranding resulted in 13% increased earnings and ranked in FORTUNE Magazine’s Top 50 in brand recognition in 2011.
Creative software company Adobe is one that is constantly putting out more innovative products to help designers maintain color from screen to print like Creative CloudTM, Photoshop® CC, and Illustrator® CC.
Adobe Senior Creative Director Russell Brown is an Emmy Award-winning instructor, Adobe Photoshop virtuoso, and host of a popular Web tutorials series, “The Russell Brown Show.” Brown utilizes creative Photoshop design techniques to get the most precise colors. Another all-star keynote at the 2013 Color Management Conference, he offers aesthetic and technical tips to maximize software for consistent color management.
Passionate about adding real tangibility to his work, he states that “projects aren’t real until we have something we can touch, like a print,” said Brown in a Photoshop.com interview. His zeal inspires what he calls “extreme printing,” or creating unique pieces with decals from images imprinted on different surfaces. “The possibilities are endless, and I am always searching for that next crazy way to work with images.” Brown shares his tricks and troubleshooting techniques to get the best color output from your Photoshop designs at this one-of-a-kind conference.