O
n the inside of the consumers’ head, there is a whole different world going on.
n the inside of the consumers’ head, there is a whole different world going on.
In the subconscious the words (or signs) are not based on colours and styles. Here deep the human brain there is no reflection of the latest fashion magazines. In this context colours are values and human reactions upon them are almost more important that what the fashion world calls “a trend”. To study this psychology colours are signs and symbols on values – even for money, but not as brand statements. Shopping is going to start matching the consumer need on a way more intellectual level as the new decade unfolds.
Let’s look at a couple of colour cases from the last decade:
Clear as White: It came slowly in the house décor magazines, walls, floors and furniture, spreading to clothing and cars. It was white all over like the perfect Christmas pastoral. But it was not a religious white, not the spiritual colour of white. The white was non-emotional financial human being white, clean clear sterile white like a hospital or a laboratory, purified from individual and personal human expression and feelings. The key to all this lies in the focus on the liberal freedom for the individual; you can do what ever you like as long as it lies inside our rules. But to be a part of the society and live between other people, you have to follow the rule. White all over means to being emotionally clean, to express you self through financial and materialistic things. You are white as the white part of the yin yang symbol, and the black part is only for the ones that are on the outside. All the big fashion houses, furniture companies and car producers made us white. But as the consumer takes back their identity the colours are slowly returning.
Indigo Blue Jeans: If there has been a revolution in fashion, it has been the jeans’ way from working cloth and blue collar cheap garments to the cat walk fabric, becoming a natural part of everyone’s dress code from high class to lowest class’ in society. We have become much more casual in our dressing, and even bankers have loosened their ties. The jeans culture has gone through a revolution and now the clear visual signs for different social classes disappeared. You could become rich in a day, but money does not give you style or class. Yet now by changing the fashion into something everyone could relate to, being trendy and having style was accessible to everyone.
Black as Leather: Black leather is a medieval expression for power, but it in the modern world it has a sexy or kinky symbol linked to it. For us as humans in the western world it has been through our cloth and dress code and by the thing we purchase that we are able to express ourselves. Therefore values of leather and iconic representation in our mind play with this idea about stepping out of the common thought and being in opposition to the white. A power play with strength running behind it.The human brain is emotionally responsible for making colours trendy, as shown above the single colours represent the basic emotions that are based deep inside the human brain. Colours have an unconscious influence on us; this is why the decoding of the colours is so important. Not because they are colours, but because they refer to something much more substantial in the human being, which is what consumer’s act on when they are shopping.
Green to Save: Green is not only the colour of hope, but also represents the classic story about going back to nature and all these hot topics on CO2 and climate change. Because after COP15 consumers have not changed there thinking on these issues. The only conclusion to draw is that we are responsible ourselves. Therefore we will be green and ecological, maybe even more than before, since now we know that there is no one else to take action on these questions, than you and me. And in that context green will be a very important colour and we will be so much greener over the coming years. But the emotional green will make the introduction of other colours and new values. Here colours like grey, brown, and blue for the few will find their way into our wardrobes.
Grey is an Anonymous Shadow: For years television has given access to anyone, no matter if they had something on their mind or a talent for entertainment. Just look at Idol, reality modelling programs, silly contests and talk shows. All of these shows differ from people with real talent, studied actors like Nicole Kidman or Al Pacino or great designers like Marc Jacobs, Vivienne Westwood or Tom Ford. They are in a different league. For all the rest there is plenty of space in the grey universe. And it is not bad to be there and to have a normal live with a normal job, a house and a car. It is actually much more secure – even financially. So grey will be back, because people do not want to stick their neck out and be on the front page. We want to be a part of the family and our closer community. Grey gives a feeling of anonymity, which counter acts the last decade of fame seekers.
Brown to Remind Us of Earth: Brown will expand in our wardrobes because we all belong to the earth, and brown is the natural colour of earth, leather and native history, and most of all because we belong to society and the close community. We want to be a part of something, not bright shiny stars in a media universe drained for content. We want to grow up and live in secure universes like a garden, we want to be taken care of by others and have roots in the earth and history. We will be happy, secure and brown, and grey in the media and entertainment context. It is only for the few stand-outs to show a different point of view.
Royal Blue to Echo Elitism: And blue is reserved for the real royal and upper class. In mass market that means the real stars that have something to offer the rest of the society. A bright and clear vibrant yet strong blue colour that states their status as being someone like royal ones have had for centuries. Blue is the spiritual colour of the church. You will not necessarily see it in church, since it is reserved for the abstract God. Instead you will notice orange, purple or even grey. Opposites and complimentary colours that still point to the blue as being the focus.
Yellow is the Last Colour for the Future: And yellow has a double function. Yellow is, on one hand, our inheritance of financial, social and environmental problems and even the original sinfulness of Man. But on the other hand it is hope, the colour of the sun and talking about brotherhood in a broader sense. Yellow is the colour of being responsible for the past and believing in the future.
It is important to discover what the colours actually reflect about human emotions to be able to make collections and design matching the future desires at the consumers heart (really known as unconscious brain). But the last question must be: what is the colour of the future? It is… green as an emotion, as an icon.
Grane Steinrud, Human Factor Specialist, The emotional LAB
This is written under the inspiration of Miles David’s legendary record ”Kind of Blue” because jazz is coming back.
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