Colour is everywhere. It is how we see the world; it means different things in different cultures; and it impacts significantly on consumer behaviour. Green is said to be invigorating, while blue creates a biochemical reaction that calms you down. Yellow forces you to concentrate, and red excites and stimulates.
The strategic use of colour has enabled people to effectively advocate political reform. Iraqi voters dipped their fingers in purple ink to show that they had cast their ballots - the Purple Revolution. The Pink Revolution in Iran saw women wearing hot-pink coats, sweaters and scarves to protest laws that discriminate against them. The Orange Revolution saw Ukrainian citizens take to the streets to protest rigged elections using orange to represent their cause. Thousands of people wearing orange didn`t even have to open their mouths; it was immediately clear what they stood for.
Colour is an enormously powerful force, and hand-in-hand with technology that is making the spread of colour throughout organisations increasingly possible, it is one of the most effective ways to attract and maintain the attention of your target audiences, be they external customers, partners or your own staff.
Educators in the US are pioneering the use of "intelligent colour" to communicate with young people; photographers are changing the way they produce and distribute their work through the power of digital colour technology; and companies undergoing extreme colour makeovers are not only transforming their offices and image, but their business results as well. Even casinos use the power of colour, especially as research has shown that people tend to gamble more when seated under a red light, and make riskier bets to boot.
As you have only 2.5 seconds to convince someone not to toss your brochure or document away, colour has enormous value. Research done by Loyola University in Chicago has shown that:
* Colour increases the willingness to read by up to 80%.
* Brands with colour are identified more effectively by 70%.
* The use of colour improves decision-making by 70%.
* Colour emphasises important points and increases retention by more than 78%.
* Colour increases recall by up to 60%.
* Attention spans increase by up to 82% when viewing colour.
* People are 55% more likely to reach for a colourful mailer.
* When you combine the power of colour and customisation in documents, response rates improve by up to 500%.
* Using colour in marketing collateral increases the selling potential by more than 80%.
Barriers no more
The cost of printing in colour has been greatly reduced, with enhancements on the consumables front reducing the cost of colour printing still further.
Rob Abraham, MD, Bytes Document Solutions.
Thanks to intense and ongoing research and development, market-ready innovation and customer demand, the barriers to bringing colour into our business and home environments are coming down at breakneck speeds; and according to research firm IDC, colour is now the fastest growing segment of the document market.
Colour printing today is no longer a luxury reserved for one or two executives in the office. The cost of printing in colour has been greatly reduced, with enhancements on the consumables front reducing the cost of colour printing still further. Solid ink technology, smart ink, cheaper colour-capable paper, and low-priced colour printers that often cost less than their cartridges are making colour more accessible.
Technological advancements are enabling higher quality colour prints at lower prices, not only making colour accessible to businesses, but also making it an attractive option; while the speed of colour printing has improved dramatically and the page-per-minute output of colour printers is no longer significantly slower than that of their monochrome counterparts. Overall, colour printing is more accessible and easier to use in busy office environments.
The widespread use of colour is becoming a matter of mindset. Colour is the way we see, think and communicate and as the colour-capable revolution gathers speed, colour will become the norm, not the exception.
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