What is Semiotics, and how can choosing a colour for your brand have more effect than just a nice appearance?

Semiotics is to do with how we interpret things. We are constantly interpreting shapes, colours, Buildings and sounds. Colour semiotics can be analysed and then used to provoke consumer feelings and behaviour. 

Colour has an effect on us all on a subconscious level, due to our associations that we develop at such a young age. Colour can affect our mood and feelings toward something. This is why it can be used so effectively in branding and advertising. To brand a company effectively, the company logo and colours for the graphics standard manual should be considered carefully.

So what colours do what?

Warm colours such as oranges and reds can provoke stronger and more passionate feelings such as anger or warmth, whereas cool colours like blues can encourage feelings of apathy or sadness.

Take for example carmine red. Carmine Red is known to activate your pituary gland. Red also activates your heartrate to make you feel more excited, aggressive, and proactive. Red provokes a very strong and fervent response. This is why red is often used as a danger sign.



Because red creates such a strong effect, if used well it can be a particularly effective marketing tool.

Take coca-cola for example. Coca-cola is one of the largest global brands and is a great example of a good use of colour.
Because carmine red incites excitement it encourages you to have anticipation and strong expectations around the brand. Red also is such a bold and daring colour.

However culture has a very large impact on semiotics. Having grown up in a western society I have learnt that red is danger, blood and death. We learn these associations through the country we grow up in and the similar views of people around us, however if you travel to another country you may find that colors symbolize something very different. 

In china red is used to symbolise power

In china red is used liberally and is associated with power and being rich.

Semiotics is very much down to personal interpretation. 

People are drawn to certain colours because they may respond well to that colour. Someone with a very busy lifestyle may pick blue as a colour they like because they find some peace and calm in it. Because of this, semiotics is used widely in the interior design industry.

Despite not realizing day to day, we are always interpreting colour. Colour will play a huge part in how much someone will trust a company, how fun or serious they perceive a company, how attached to it they may feel.

Need a Logo designed? Feel free to visit our website to get in contact!

The colour and shape of these logos have all been carefully selected to portray a style appealing to potential customers

Blog by Alice Parlett

How Thomas Heatherwick uses materials to his advantage

Heatherwick is an English designer that caught my attention with his new designs for the London bus. After visiting an exhibition of his I became particularly interested in his work.  He designed the London Olympic cauldron and the Uk Pavillion building in Shanghai.  Heatherwick uses some really interesting forms and shapes in his work but what strikes me the most about him is his use and knowledge of materials.
Thomas Heatherwick is an inspirational designer who is able to create amazing buildings, furniture, and even handbags.

Heatherwick set up the heatherwick studio in 1994 which is known for its enthusiasm for materials, texture and prototyping to create really elegant and stunning forms.

Take, for example, Thomas Heatherwick’s crazy extruded aluminium seats. These seats were designed purposefully to have these distorted edges. This defect naturally comes from the metal extrusion process.        

I really admire Heatherwick because he pushes manufacturing process to the limits. He has the unusual talent of being able to know his manufacturing processes so well that he is able to create such beautiful architecture and designs that are functional as well as aesthetically interesting

See our previous blog on designing for manufacture

"Is Industrial Design about cool concepts or mass manufacture?"

A magic pen!

A magic pen!

I came across this pen on the internet when trying to find a way to match a colour I had drawn to a pantone for one of my products. I thought this was such an inventive solution

This pen is incredibly clever with its ability to scan in a colour. Not only does it do this but it can then mix its three colour cartridges to create the same colour. Impressive, right?

Clever Pen to scan colour from objects

As a designer I am always using colour, and I know from experience it is really hard to sometimes create the exact same colour as what I see. Hours spent mixing paint to the perfect hue no longer needs to be spent! All you need to do now is scan an item with the top of your pen. The colour is then displayed digitally and the colour is mixed with its three cartridges.

Colour scanner pen Components

Another great thing about this pen is also its size. It is so compact that you can just bring this anywhere and have any colour. Carrying a pen in your pocket is considerably better than carrying a pack of 50 pens in your rucksack!

Can scan from any different Hue

As impressive and useful as this is, I personally think great art has a lot to do with the artist creating an impression of what they see before them. If every artist had this tool I think that the art world would be significantly different!

Well done for Jinsun Park for inventing this! 

http://enpundit.com/scan-and-draw-color-sensing-pen/

Another image that I have come accross is this;   

Spray paint any colour!

This spraypaint bottle has a pretty similar idea behind it in the sense that you have three different cartridges. I like this idea alot as you can change the amount of each cartridge to get your desired hue. 












If you want to see another clever design see this! or check out our other blogs
Blog By Alice Parlett