Colour Theory

There is a lot of potential for creating an effective ident when it comes to colour theory and its effects on a piece of media. In my ident, the colour red is utilised as much as was possible to sell the brand of Strode College and Strode TV with red being the primary colour of both of their logos.

The Colours and what they Represent

The colours of the rainbow are the colours mainly used in colour theory and the connotations of colour, as well as others outside of the rainbow. Here is a brief overview of what the different colours represent:

Red: The general demeanour of the colour red is one associated with aggression and all that comes with, associated with the masculine planet of Mars, and things such as violence, aggression, warfare, passion, sex and danger. Red is coincidentally the colour of the Strode TV logo and in all honesty, I do not believe the college or the logo to be associated with any of the above except of course for one aspect, that being passion. I conveyed my passion in the ident through the enthusiasm I had when making the ident, and I would like to think that such an ident would encourage others to follow their passions or at least find something that they enjoy at the college and for that reason, I believe red was suitably implemented into this ident.

Orange: Orange is seen as a combination of red and yellow, taking qualities from both and thus becoming its own unique midpoint between the harshness of red and the youthful excitement that comes with yellow. Due to this, orange takes on the characteristics of a colour that is associated with joy, sunshine and a tropical climate. The colour orange is also associated with enthusiasm, fascination, creativity and overall a positive and happy person.

Yellow: Yellow is seen as the colour with the most energy and vitality, while lacking the aggressiveness of red. Yellow is associated with happiness and sunshine, often seen as the most positive of all of the colours. A good example of yellow being associated with happiness would be the character Mr. Happy from the children’s television programme ‘The Mr Men’ who is a completely yellow character. Yellow is seen as the most energetic colour and definitely stands out more than any other, with yellow also representing brightness.

Green: Green has a high-profile in the modern day due to climate change and the urge to be “more green”. Green is of course associated with nature and our planet and is also seen as the most neutral colour, being the fourth in the rainbow and thus the median colour. The colour green is associated with new beginnings and growth as well as renewal and abundance. And so further down the spectrum, we see the calmer colours of the rainbow representing more mellow traits.

Blue: Blue is the polar opposite of red, and so the traits associated with blue are completely different with those associated with red. The differences of the colours are highlighted in media, particularly in computer games like Super Mario Bros. where Player One is usually blue and Player Two is red, signifying polarity between the two by using the two polar opposite colours. Blue is the most mellow of all of the colours, being associated with calmness and serenity and is considered by psychologists as the most mentally calming colour for the brain to process. Other words to describe blue would be tranquility, reliability, stability, security, peace and order.

Blue is easily the colour with the most representation in media, with most logos being blue for many companies who aim to come across as trustworthy and safe to invest in. Blue is also the colour used to represent the United Nations, the European Union and NATO, which tells us that blue is associated with unity and togetherness and of course, peace among nations and thus the world. An even clearer example of this being implemented would be after the break-up of Yugoslavia. After a horrific conflict in mainland Europe, the countries eventually stopped fighting each other after the Dayton Peace Agreement in 1995 and new flags were conceived for each of the new sovereign states. The most multi-cultured and least homogenous country was Bosnia and Herzegovina, which had three constituent people groups being Bosnians, Croatians and Serbians. Because these three groups of people had been at war with each other for roughly four years, a neutral flag was conceived to avoid any nationalistic implications from the flag’s design in what was a hostile climate.

The main colour of the flag that was decided was blue, with some saying the colour was chosen to imitate the flag design of the flag of the European Union to de-nationalise and centralise the new state. None of the people groups were particularly pleased with the new flag because it was not and still is not as representative of their people group as they would like, but the use of the colour blue, the colour of peace and tranquility, strangely enough appears to suppress nationalism to an extent and retain a somewhat unified state in spite of its ethnic divisions and divisive ideologies which sadly have survived almost thirty years later.

Purple: Purple is an enigmatic colour and my favourite colour which I unfortunately did not manage to include in the ident prolifically. Purple is unusual as it combines blue and red and both of their characteristics, resulting in purple being viewed as both a powerful colour and a serene one. Purple is historically associated with royalty and thus has a prestigious nature is not commonplace in the commercial world due to its elevated platform that has been manifested by historical and hierarchical influences. When it comes to standard colour theory, purple is associated with royalty, luxury, nobility, wisdom, power and ambition.

Black: An antagonistic colour, frowned upon due to being the darkness that some believe can only be remedied by the lights of the colour white of purity and innocence. Black notoriously has an antagonistic presence in media, being associated with villainous or brooding characters like Darth Vader, Venom and Batman to name a few. Culturally, black has been tied into the gothic styles of Bohemia which over time evolved into the punk and goth movements of the 1980’s where black would be the colour of choice for many, and in the modern world, this image has been retained and is very popular among the youth, more specifically the demographic would encompass the rebellious, leftist anarcho-liberalists who have grown more and more distasteful of their governments and economies, hungry for change in both the economy and society that they live in, with black being frowned upon by the religiously-influenced Neo-liberalist ideologies as well as Christian Theocracy and Conservative Capitalism made popular by countries like the United States of America.

In Christianity, white is seen as the pure colour, a cleansing light to extinguish the satanic darkness conveyed by the colour black. This tends to be why there is such division between these two types of people and greatly represents the struggle between Republicans and Liberals in the USA and how colours can signify their differences of opinion in social and economic politics.

When it comes to colour theory however, black is associated with power, wealth and elegance with executive vehicles for example often being painted black to signify the presence of an important figure inside, take limousines for example for heads of state. On the other hand, with the antagonistic stereotype of black coming through, black, or even darkness can be aligned with evil, death and mystery.

White: The complete opposite of black, white is associated with innocence and purity, an untouched canvas. Jesus is seen wearing white in media-representations of Christ and so is God. And so we are to believe that the honourable and kind-hearted individuals wear white to convey their innocence, untouched by the aforementioned satanic darkness of black. White is also associated with cleanliness, rejuvenation and kindness, and depending on who you ask, some will say that the portrayal of white in media is responsible for some prejudice in the modern world.

When red was shown in my ident, it was to convey passion and energy, and to spur on our potential students to go after their ambitions head-first and focus on something that they love. Words like love, passion and terms like head-first all align with red and its aggressive and passionate connotations, and so I feel that colour theory was handled well in my ident.