In my discussion of PLP artifacts #4 & #5, I noted that an opportunity to explain a design decision to a client arose while moving through the design process. Because rhetorical situations in which you are corresponding with individuals with different backgrounds or expertise are unique but also common, this would be useful for me to practice. Below is a message I drafted to better educate the figurative client to why the color palette to their brand identity was changed. I call this message a “client debrief”. This is one side of a conversation that likely would not occur in a written format, but rather verbally as part of a pitch meeting.
The Message
After the most recent updates to your brand identity design, you may be wondering why we changed the color palette. Here is what the initial palette looked like:
The initial palette, while dynamic and classic, was too basic. The main colors implemented were variations of red, yellow, and blue; these are primary colors that are essential for creating all other colors.
One way you can visualize the primary colors is by referencing their position in the color wheel.
This color wheel graphic does a good job of exemplifying how primary colors mix to create secondary colors, and how secondary and primary colors mix to create the tertiary colors. It also delineates between the warm and cool sides of the wheel.
The team came to the conclusion that this would be off-putting to your target audience, individuals who are making use of your product to do highly specialized, skilled tasks. At first, we thought the palette may convey and encourage simplicity, and communicate that your product is easy to use and will make writing easier. However, on a symbolic level, your product is more synchronous with a palette that emphasizes secondary or tertiary colors as well, to relay that it seeks to further elevate the user’s great ideas. In other words, the product does not supply the building blocks for the end result (as a palette of exclusively primary colors may evoke), the user does that hard work; then the product steps in to give it that extra flourish. This is why we chose magenta, a more complex color than the red of the original palette, as the integral color to represent the brand and paired it with a turquoise and a bold yellow to form a well-balanced, triadic color harmony.
What is a triadic color harmony? There are several standard color harmonies, or schemes as they are sometimes called. A color harmony describes the relationship between the colors of a given palette. The standard color harmonies are monochromatic, analogous, complementary, split complimentary (aka “compound”), triadic, tetradic (rectangular), and square. These harmonies reflect an arrangement of colors that are traditionally thought of as aesthetically pleasing when combined.
A triadic color scheme is very popular when there is a desire to convey high energy emotions. As one can see from the equilateral triangle shape when charted on the color wheel, a triadic scheme uses colors that are equally spaced from each other. This means that it is considered to be very balanced. It is also associated with vibrancy while less dramatic than complementary schemes. These qualities of the triadic scheme make it a great vehicle for conveying your brand personality traits of authoritativeness, empowerment, creativity, and dynamism.
Another way that you could contextualize the difference between the two palettes is their respective similarity to the RGB versus CMYK color models. These two color models are both modes for mixing colors. RGB is an additive model, while CMYK is a subtractive model. This is a bit of a complex aspect of color theory to explain so I will not go into detail here. If you would like to learn more, a great resource is linked here and cited below.
Another difference to note is how these models are applied. An RGB colorspace is used when the colors will be represented on a screen. A CMYK colorspace is used in printing when the color is represented with ink. The thing to keep in mind about these models as they apply to your brand’s identity is that your new palette resembles the essential colors of the CMYK model.
The CMYK model relates to your product, because everyone wants to ensure that their work is fully proofed before printing it. The representation of CMYK colors in your brand identity creates an analogy relating your product to a method applied to the final, presentation stage of the writing process. Thus, these colors reflect the product’s efficacy in moving users one step closer to their end goal of “printing” or, more symbolically, disseminating their message by any means. Like the CMYK colorspace, your business prepares user’s ideas for the permanency of ink by ensuring their work is appropriately rendered, or, in the case of your product, refined and edited.
We are confident that you will love this color palette as a visual identity for your product once you see it applied to your brand assets!
For more info about additive and subtractive color models:
Schinkel, Steph. “Color Theory: Additive and Subtractive Colors.” The Paper, The Paper Mill Store, 20 Oct. 2017, https://blog.thepapermillstore.com/color-theory-additive-subtractive-colors/.