#记录我的2023#
▼ The following discussion of Leng Yun fashion circle is a discussion and summary of industry issues. These sharing are the fruit of collective wisdom. (They do not represent Leng Yun's personal views). I hope that this way can benefit more people in the industry!
First, the value and role of brand color strategy
1. Create a unique brand tonality
(Image source: Tiffany website)
There is a famous "7-second rule" in American marketing, which reveals the magic of color in product marketing - consumers usually only need 7 seconds to determine whether to buy a product, and in this critical 7 seconds, the influence of color is as high as 67%. This shows that color directly affects consumers' first impression and desire to buy. Many successful fashion clothing brands will establish their own brand colors, such as Tiffany's iconic Tiffany Blue, Hermès orange, LV's khaki brown, these colors have been deeply imprinted in the minds of target consumer groups, becoming an effective visual way to enhance brand awareness and recognition.
In the process of clothing design, designers need to invest a lot of time in the research and use of color. Compared with the choice of shape and fabric, the application of color often affects consumers' choice preferences more directly. If a show uses a unified color theme, it can often produce a stronger visual impact and make people unforgettable for a long time, such as Valentino's red theme display on the show in recent years. Magazine editors will also use a unified color card to shoot according to the prediction of the next season's fashion trend color, so as to lead and influence the majority of readers and industry insiders, and promote the consumption boom of certain colors.
(Image source: Little Red Book @960843375)
(Image source: Little Red Book @ 2621821248)
(Image source: Little Red Book @466441530)
The visual and psychological impact of color on people is complex and profound. Each color has its own specific psychological symbolism and consumer emotional expression. When choosing and determining their own brand color, brands will comprehensively consider the age, gender, cultural background, consumption scene and other factors of the target consumer group, and choose a color that can evoke the positive emotions of the target group and represent the brand value. For example, the BV brand chose a strong green color that represents youth, health and environmental protection; Valentino's Early Spring 2022 runway is a positive sentiment conveyed with its passionate dragon fruit colour.
2. Lead the fashion trend
Successful brands will also make brand colors run through various fields outside of product design in the construction of visual identity systems, forming a unified brand identity system. This application can cover the overall space design of retail stores, runway stage backgrounds, print ads, logos, packaging, and even employees' dress styles, enhancing the visual impact in all aspects. They are paired with replaced fashion trend colors and can cause strong consumer topics and memory points. Some classic and established brands will maintain the continuity of the brand color in different collections in the past, present and even the future, as the core identity element of the brand. Even with the change of creative director, this color memory is deeply imprinted in the hearts of old customers.
3. Create the scarcity of products
(Image source: Little Red Book @ 984842189)
(Image source: Valentino official website)
When choosing to establish their core brand color, brands need to consider the image and emotions that their brand positioning and brand style want to convey. For example, the Valentino brand has always given the impression of high-end, exquisite and gorgeous, and its representative signature color, the full and shiny electric rose, is very consistent with the luxury level and aesthetic style pursued by the Valentino brand. In contrast, the Armani brand pursues low-key and restrained luxury and timeless classics, and its most representative cold gray conveys a stable and restrained temperament. Different colors will evoke different psychological associations and consumption decisions for the target consumer group of the brand.
4. Social attributes that are easy to spread
In the construction and shaping of the visual identity system of clothing brands, the use and extension of color is an indispensable element. The choice of color not only directly affects the first impression and purchase decision of the target consumer, but also implants a unique brand emotion and value recognition in the consumer's mind. Designers need to invest a lot of time in researching and using color and connecting with the brand's core values. Strengthening the visual and psychological memory of target consumer groups by continuously promoting core brand colors in products and other areas is the key to increasing brand awareness and favorability. In the construction of the visual identity system of clothing brands, the selection and application of color is one of the top priorities.
(Image source: Original owner)
(Image source: 22ss international popular color Intercolor final)
In the use of details of color selection, high-end fashion brands also need to pay attention to the directionality of international popular colors. International popular colors are jointly discussed, predicted and formulated by color trend research institutions in many countries. In the report on predicting color trends, the changes in the current development of various levels of society, such as technology, economy, politics, culture, consumer psychology, etc., will be fully considered, and these changes will be transformed into predictions of color trends, so as to guide designers in various related industries to carry out creative design.
Among the professional institutions, the China Fashion Color Association has a color trend professional committee in many industries such as textiles and clothing, leather, toys, etc., which will actively summarize the trends of the Chinese market and propose the color development trend plan of the Chinese market to the International Fashion Color Committee. Once the quarterly forecast of international popular colors is released, it will be transmitted to downstream clothing brand enterprises, designers, fabric manufacturers, etc. through different commercial service organizations, and eventually affect the color choice of each brand. Even clothing brands in the low-end market will selectively absorb the direction of these international popular colors and organically integrate them into product design.
(Image source: Photo by Yunyou Lydia)
If you want to effectively convey and express this complex and changeable color visual information between different design, procurement, and production links, the most important standard tool is the color card. Through scientific color ratio and simplified numbering method, the color card enables complex color information to be expressed and matched in a standardized manner, ensuring the consistency of color application in all aspects of development and design. The unification of color cards enables collaboration on color applications within the brand and shortens color communication between brands and suppliers. At present, the most well-known and common color card system in the clothing industry is PANTONE, and the domestic color standard system has gradually formed, such as the domestic Coloro color system. The wide use of color card systems has also led to the commercialization of related services such as color research and development, color detection, and color information consultation.
From the perspective of the application orientation of color strategy, there are also certain differences in brands at different brand positioning levels. High-end luxury brands pay more attention to the uniqueness and vividness of color applications, and will consider the matching degree of color with their own brand pricing positioning and consumption scenarios, and will also maintain attention to international color frontier trends to form a balance; Low-end fast fashion brands pay more attention to the popular commercial value of color applications, and directly quote mainstream international popular colors to quickly respond to the needs of the mass market.
In the process of establishing a visual brand identity system, the strategic choice of brand identity color needs to fully consider the personality and positioning of its own brand, and it must be highly consistent with the core values and emotions expressed by the brand. While paying attention to the uniqueness of color applications and brand recognition, high-end brands also need to pay attention to the direction of international color development and maintain a sensitivity to cutting-edge trends. Brands of different types and positioning need to formulate color strategies that meet the core of the brand according to their own conditions, as a key part of the construction of visual identity systems.
Second, what are the different color strategies of different levels of brands
Let's take a deeper look at the differences in color strategies for different types of brands, such as luxury brands, high-end brands, and mass brands. Generally speaking, luxury brands should be more inclined to self-innovation and creation, while mass brands are mainly follow-up. Luxury brands tend to be high-profile, and they often express their brand culture through artistic co-branding. I summarize the color strategy of different levels of branding as:
Luxury brands – expressing the emotions and identities of culture and art
High-end brand - create a high-class and unique brand tone
Mass brand - pragmatic affinity
In color selection, popular colors as a reference are a strategy. We need to choose a popular color that suits us according to our own brand positioning, and then match, and also consider factors such as the continuation of popular colors. Yellow is the most appetizing color, and it also symbolizes youth and vitality. For example, we can recall that when we were in the food industry, the yellow packaging of Qiaqia was very good. The brand logo mainly uses red, and the yellow packaging undoubtedly has a strong impact.
In actual business, we also need to understand color trends according to different products and industries. For example, our customers are mainly foreign FMCG or wholesale customers, and our products are mainly accessories. Their color choices can be more messy, don't follow popular colors, but are more personalized. According to customers, in their respective markets, the order of color trends usually starts with clothing, then scarves, and finally accessories. Therefore, jewelry generally does not particularly pursue popular colors.
But in some brands, some popular colors start with accessories. For example, BV's green became popular from his bags. The choice of jewelry color is also related to the material, for example, the trend color used by some fashion brands is basically made of copper and iron, and stainless steel 925 silver is basically not used as a trend color. This also shows that popular colors cannot be used directly, and need to be adjusted and shifted accordingly according to brand positioning.
(Image: GUCCI)
In CMF design, there are four elements, namely Color, Material, Finishing, and Pattern, and the style of GUCCI maximalism that we are all familiar with is a good example. Since his appointment in 2015, Creative Director Alessandro Michele has used the ultimate artistic approach as the driving force of the brand, reworking the classic elements of the family period and strengthening the stylization to make it completely different from other brands. "Romantic neoclassicism" and "maximalism" are its main design directions. This highly recognizable brand style is formed by constantly expressing the emotions of brand culture and art through colors and prints.
High-end brands impress with their color tonality, such as Hermes orange, brown with Hermes orange, etc. In addition, there are some pragmatic colors, such as Uniqlo, MUJI and other popular brands, whose product colors combined with basic styles will form a pragmatic color strategy. These basic colors are more practical, not picky, and highly inclusive.
Third, how to carry out color planning in product design
In specific product design, how to carry out specific color planning is a problem worthy of in-depth study. At the executive level, determining accent colors seems to be a common strategy. We will also develop different color models according to different scenes and needs. In general, the brand's color strategy should not only meet the needs of visual effects, but also meet the positioning and market demand of the brand to maximize the brand value.
Here is a color planning model I drew for your reference:
(Image source: Color planning model drawn by the owner)
When designing color planning, we usually divide colors into four layers. Base colors include colorless and versatile base colors that are highly inclusive. Classic colors are the classic colors of each brand, which has a certain brand differentiation effect. These classic colors are market-proven and reflect the unique aesthetic preferences of the brand's consumers. Trendy colors can be used in a wide range of marketing to showcase the brand's fashion multiculturalism, adding, evolving, and discontinuing according to fashion trends, usually updated every six months or a year. Image color shows consumers the brand's new era image, with lifestyle guidance and sense of value, which is the main color of marketing.
The logic of this division is similar to Maslow's logic and principle of needs. The lower the layer, the more color meets the basic needs of functionality, and the higher the layer meets the spiritual, aesthetic, and emotional needs. For example, in the application practice of popular colors, you can take brands as an example. In color planning, the key colors are classic and pop. We usually match the primary color in small proportions (accent colors) and the base colors in large proportions (solid colors), and complement the color matching. Products in base colors are usually the most sold out.
(Image source: Original owner)
(Image: Jil Sander)
Such a model idea is also reflected in the designer's design, and the designer generally does not exaggerate in the use of colors, but tends to comfortable colors. The JIL SANDER 20aw runway model is a good example.
Fourth, how to implement color strategy in brand operation
1. Color display in terminal retail stores
In the implementation of brand color strategy, display and marketing are very important links. In the entire product structure, the more popular the product, the smaller the number of SKUs, and even limited editions will appear, thus creating a sense of scarcity for consumers. In fact, foreign studies have shown that on the basis of not increasing the cost of enterprises, changing the color of products can increase the added value of products by 15%-30%. This method can be applied to the renovation of explosive models.
2. Color co-branding and release in marketing promotion
Taking BV bags as an example, through the marketing of colors, BV green quickly became popular in the fashion industry, and the style may be the old models of previous seasons, but through the application of popular colors, this series quickly became a hit, winning considerable profits for the brand. Therefore, in terminal marketing promotion, many brands are promoted through the co-branding of color or art. This not only reflects the brand's leading trend, but also strengthens the brand's impression in the minds of consumers and continuously improves the brand's tonality, and the cooperation between LV and Kusama Yayoi is a good example.
(Image source: LV)
(Image source: Li Ning)
(Image source: Little Red Book @ 107101622)
(Image: Jil Sander)
As for domestic brands, they have also begun to pay attention to color marketing in recent years. For example, Li Ning cooperated with Coloro to launch a Chinese color series, which is colorful and attracts many consumers. Color is an intuitive element that can link the emotions and visuals between designers, consumers and brands. A good color strategy can quickly attract users, which in turn will generate interest in the brand and generate subsequent consumer behaviors such as purchase and communication sharing. At the same time, a good color strategy can increase the uniqueness and recognition of the brand, and better convey and enhance the core value of the brand.
The owner concludes
First, the value and role of brand color strategy
1. Create a unique brand tonality
Color is an important part of brand image, and a reasonable color strategy can effectively shape a unique brand tonality and enhance brand recognition.
2. Lead the fashion trend
Through a keen grasp of color and innovative applications, brands can lead fashion trends and become industry leaders.
3. Create the scarcity of products
Brands create product scarcity and further enhance product value through limited colors or seasonal colors.
4. Social attributes that are easy to spread
A good color strategy is conducive to the spread of the product on social media, arousing the attention and discussion of users.
Second, what are the different color strategies of different levels of brands
1. Luxury brands
It tends to use color to express culture, art, emotion and identity, reflecting its high-end and noble brand positioning.
2. High-end brand
It is often chosen to create a high-class and unique brand tone to attract fashion-sensitive consumers.
3. Volkswagen brand
Adopt more pragmatic closeness colors to meet the daily needs of mass consumers.
Third, how to carry out color planning in product design
1. Basic color: You need to understand and master the best-selling colors of brands in the market through sales data.
2. Classic color: It is necessary to have an in-depth understanding of the target user's aesthetic concept, lifestyle and color preferences.
3. Popular color: It is necessary to sensitively capture and extract the popular color that conforms to the brand's tonality.
4. Image color: It is necessary to create a unique, symbolic and highly recognizable brand image color.
Fourth, how to implement color strategy in brand operation
1. Color display in terminal retail stores
Through the matching and display of colors, you can create a brand atmosphere and attract consumers.
2. Color co-branding and release in marketing promotion
Increase brand awareness and influence by co-branding colors with other brands or launching new color themes.
Text arrangement: Zhang Huaikai
Text editor: Chen Chang
Art Editor: Li Ning