colour

Airports are always looking for new ways to make money, improve wayfinding and make the airport experience more enjoyable. This example from Taipei creates some interesting ideas. I don’t know whether the airport is generating revenue from Hello Kitty branding these departure gates or whether they’d doing it purely as something fun. But consider for […]

Nice use of colour in the seats at Hamilton Airport in Ontario. Image Credit

Pantone are pretty good at picking colour trends or perhaps its just that people follow what they say and therefore create products in those colours.  Either way we’re likely to see lots of turquoise in 2010, both in products and retail outlets. “Turquoise evokes thoughts of soothing, tropical waters and a languorous, effective escape from […]

Sotheby’s are planning an auction on Nov 17 in Geneva which will feature a collection of some 400 lots of rare natural-coloured diamonds and historic jewels estimated to fetch in excess of 29.5 million. One of the most anticipated pieces is a pear-shaped fancy vivid blue with a modified brilliant cut weighing 5.96 carats – […]

New Balance has a long history, at least by US standards, starting in Boston in 1906 when William J. Riley discovered that he could apply the balance system he saw in chickens to arch support in shoes. New Balance have always been proud of their somewhat quirky start & their history so its perhaps not […]

Much has been written & researched about the psychology of colour and its application to retail environments. The general rule of thumb being to choose colours which support both the shopper experience & the psychological headspace you want to draw out in the consumer, then use them judiciously – by which I mean don’t splash […]

The Singpore Agency for Science & Technology & Research has developed new technology that can identify the gender of a person. The technology uses complex algorithms to differentiate facial features of males & females. So what, I hear you say … well consider the application for marketing & for retail. What if you could change […]

Lets face it, drugstores & pharmacies normally look pretty average. Not so the new design for Conde Lumiares in Spain. The old store design looked pretty typical, low suspended ceilings at a single height, conventional aisles etc. After alteration the 2 metre ceilings became 5 but at multiple levels through the store. The idea of […]

Ever wondered why time flies when you’re having fun, and from a business perspective what does it matter? Trying to avoid the psychobabble (and if you’re into that aspect then see this article), here’s a potted rundown: Time is subjective. Sure there is objective time but the point is that there is ample evidence that […]

Missoni joins the list of designers opening hotels.  Today they officially opened in Edinburgh, Scotland and will be opening later this year in Kuwait then South Africa. The Missoni hotels are actually run by Belgium based Rezidor Hotel Group who set up a licensing agreement back in 2006 with Missoni to open around 30 hotels […]

Only in China would Barbie become a mixture of high end luxury fashion & a lifestyle concept. For most of us, Barbie is something we believe we leave behind in childhood however the reality is that those Barbie Doll fantasies continue with us. Anyone who has been around a bride, particularly those from less affluent […]

Frank Mayer & Associates recently launched an innovative new Shopper Information System called SlideBuy. What this unit basically is, is an digital information screen which slides on shelves so it doesn’t displace product. It’s touchscreen, so it can contain any volume or type of information about products that you want – static or video. It […]

There’s not many airports where you see the old shoeshine stand, but you do at JetBlue’s home in Terminal 5 at JFK. Inkeeping with the whole design aesthetic of the terminal, they’ve taken the famous “Egg” chair designed by a Scandinavian contemporary of the original T5 designer Saarinen (Arne Jacobsen) and transformed it into a shoeshine […]

A recent article in CIO solved the mystery of where some of the most iconic tech brand names came from. Ipod – apparently this one came from Steve Jobs originally conceiving of Apple’s MP3 player as a hub to other gadgets.  They hired a copywriter who started to research all different kinds of hubs and […]

The May Fair Hotel in London has launched its own channel on Youtube as part of its marketing effort to show its classy, prestigious but unpretentious. I’m not sure that the best example of this is to showcase an interview with Paris Hilton as a “typical guest”. It suggests that a subtext of their strategy […]

JetBlue’s strategy is not news to most people – a low cost airline distinguishing itself by actually giving a damn about its customers, listening to them & talking to them. Saving money where they can but not compromising on the things which are really important to their passengers – which they know because yes, they […]

The Airports Council International forecasts that 7 billion passengers will use the world’s airports by 2020. However at the current pace of construction and considering all airports in the pipeline, they will only be able to process 6 billion. China responded by announcing that it will construct 48 new airports in addition to Beijing (ready […]

A rare 7.28 carat pink diamond was found by Rockwell Diamonds in Northern Cape Africa. It recently sold for US $1.054 million or US145,000 per carat. Diamonds of this colour and quality traditionally only come from the Argyle mine in Western Australia, or at least this is the only mine which consistently produces them. The […]

A University of California study has suggested that colours can be associated with body postures. Blue was associated with a relaxed figure, red with an angy or violet figure, re/yellow with a dancer and blue/green with a welcoming, thinking or searching figure (depending partly on the tone).