The bright primaries of prior years are long gone from fall color trends that impact fashion, retail, consumer trends, as well as marketing and brand identity design. Find out which colors you can expect to see everywhere from runways to retail this summer and fall.
4 Ways to Put Fall Color Trends to Work in Brand and Marketing Design
The Pantone© Fall 2015 Color Report is out and there is something for everyone in this year’s top ten fall color trends. Look for these colors to show up on the runway and in retail showrooms, and take advantage of these four marketing ideas that can help you turn fall trend colors into new business.
If the only consideration you took into account when choosing which colors would represent the brand of your business had to do with choosing your favorites, you might have done your business a disservice. When it comes to shaping buyer perceptions and influencing behavior, color matters.
“A picture is worth a thousand words.”
Color has the power to evoke meaning. Whether it’s calling up a deep-seeded memory or tying itself to a strong association, the meanings we assign to colors can even provoke physical responses (hunger, anxiety, calm, passion, energy, etc.)
You probably already know that most people begin to form judgments based on first impression s of people, environments, products, brands, etc., within just a few seconds of initially seeing it. But did you know that anywhere between 60-90% of that snap judgment is based on color alone? (CICICOLOR Institute for Color Research via colorcom.com)
Why Color Matters in Branding
Color is the first thing the mind recognizes before absorbing anything else. (colormatters.com) Think about some of the strongest brands you know; chances are you can instantly recall the color or colors tied to their logo or name. In fact, color increases brand recognition by up to 80%. (University of Loyola, MD study via colormatters.com)
People Will Even Tie Their Own Personal Identity to Color
Walk into any college or pro sports stadium and you will immediately find thousands of people on hand who not only give meaning to specific colors, they tie their own identity to those colors, too. You might not have customers who see themselves in your brand’s colors yet, but wouldn’t you love to have fans like that?
Top 10 Fall Color Trends
Source:
Reflecting Pond • Pantone© 19-4326 • RGB 32-66-83 • HTML 204253 • CMYK 87-61-44-41
Cool blues like this Reflecting Pond are often associated with stability and credibility. It says: You can count on us!
Stormy Weather • Pantone© 18-4214 • RGB 96-111-117 • HTML 606F75 • CMYK 63-45-43-18
Despite its name, Stormy Weather is actually a calming, cool gray that would be a likely choice for brands that want to suggest constancy, dependability and luxury.
Biscay Bay • Pantone© 18-4726 • RGB 0-142-167 • HTML 008EA7 • CMYK 93-24-29-2
Full of energy, this lush, elegant teal has just enough blue to stay grounded along with plenty of green to give it life. A brand represented by Biscay Bay will never be boring!
Dried Herb • Pantone© 17-0627 • RGB 139-144-104 • HTML 8B9068 • CMYK 45-31-65-10
This olive green could bring anything from the herb garden to a safari or military-camouflage to mind. Dried Herb is also a great choice for environs like spas that want to bring patrons a sense of peace and earthy connection.
Desert Sage • Pantone© 16-0110 • RGB 168-188-170 • HTML A8BCAA • CMYK 36-16-35-0
This winning gray-green is also a great choice for brands that want to serve up proof-of-life alongside the stability of classic gray. It might be soft, but it’s no shrinking violet, and Desert Sage has staying power on its own or as an accent to bolder complements like Marsala or Reflecting Pond.
Oak Bluff • Pantone© 16-1144 • RGB 217-174-104 • HTML D8AE68 • CMYK 16-31-69-0
Oak Bluff is a great choice for fall trend color inclusion, conjuring up late summer sunflowers and early autumn leaves. Sunny enough to bring a lot of warmth into fall’s cooler months, but soothing enough to keep its energy on the mellow, comforting side.
Cadmium Orange • Pantone© 15-1340 • RGB 248-161-122 • HTML F8A17A • CMYK 0-44-52-0
Cadmium Orange is a big, bouncy, optimistic color that is playful without losing its sophistication. A great accent that will bounce off more somber fall trend colors companions like Stormy Weather or Reflecting Pond or work together with Cashmere Rose and Amethyst Orchid to create a cotton-candy-flavored palette perfect for the nursery or toddler’s room or party.
Cashmere Rose • Pantone© 16-2215 • RGB 205-138-168 • HTML CD8AA8 • CMYK 18-53-14-0
Whether this color evokes memories of the 1980’s or the 1960’s, this soft, warm pink can hold its own among the list of fall fashion trend colors. This uptown, luxe hue is a great choice for retailers selling to women.
Amethyst Orchid • Pantone© 17-3628 • RGB 138-115-180 • HTML 8A73B4 • CMYK 50-60-0-0
If fall color trends had royalty, Amethyst Orchid would wear the crown. This beautiful, intriguing hue leans toward the creative, sensual side. This color shows a fearlessness that bold marketers should embrace, particularly since it could easily skew either masculine or feminine depending on which colors are paired with it.
Marsala • Pantone© 18-1438 • RGB 171-94-95 • HTML AB5E5F • CMYK 33-73-60-4
Marsala – the 2015 Pantone Color of the Year – is the lone hold-over from spring trend colors’ palette. Perfect for fall, this sophisticated-yet-earthy red-brown is rich, robust and grounded. As a red, it will work to draw the eye in marketing, especially when set against lighter neutral Desert Sage, or you can use it to amp up the energy level of your marketing piece by pairing it with its warm siblings, Cadmium Orange and Oak Bluff.
4 Ways Marketers Can Employ Fall Trend Colors in Branding and Design
Give your visual brand identity a fall trend color make-over.
You can use color to reinforce visual elements of your brand identity, such as your logo, in more than one way. Yes, you can tie your brand’s logo and titles to one color for all time, and begin to “own” that color in the mind of your customers. But you can also keep other elements the same and change colors with the season, similar to Google’s approach of changing up the logo you see nearly every day when you go to their main search page.
A change of color has merit in that our brains tend to ignore what they have seen before. Sometimes injecting a bold color change brings new attention and awareness, because the brain receives a signal that something is new or something has changed, and merits notice.
The one caution when updating elements of your brand identity with one of the fall trend colors is to remember that the palette will change again for spring, next fall, and so on. If you are infusing a fall trend color into your brand identity palette for the long haul it needs to embody the associations that will resonate with your target audiences over the long term, not just for one season.
Infuse fall trend colors into fall marketing campaign collateral.
While your brand identity’s visual representatives may never change, your marketing collateral must. People tend to ignore the familiar and notice what is new. Don’t let your marketing pieces get stuck in a rut! Experiment with fall color trends one by one or create your favorite combination for use in your fall marketing campaigns.
Update customer-facing spaces.
Adding accessories in fall trend colors is a great way to update your customer-facing spaces on a small budget. When designing areas where customers or clients will be present, keeping backgrounds and large furnishings neutral will allow you to consistently update accessories. Your customers will perceive that you are continuously investing in your organization’s maintenance and appearance. Their brains will signal, “Something here is new, pay attention!” and that may give you the ability to sell them on something new or stimulate word of mouth referrals.
(While we are primarily referencing physical spaces such as lobbies, offices, restaurants, salons, and other retail or client spaces, you could also update your public-facing digital spaces with trend color accents as well.)
Offer new wares, accessories or impulse buy items in fall trend colors.
Fashion-savvy consumers will be looking to add items to their closets, homes, offices, etc. in fall fashion trend colors. Their friends will be looking for these items after admiring them in the possession of their fashionistas friends. Retailers will be marketing wares in fall trend colors for several months. Take advantage of emerging trends by adding time-limited, seasonal “must-have” items to your product line-up each season. This can help boost average ticket, drive word of mouth referrals and create a sense of anticipation among your customers as they wait to find out “what’s next?”
You might also like: the Psychology of Color Infographic by WebpageFX.
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