Louis Cheskin - Use of Color

Use of Color

Published in 1951, Louis Cheskin's groundbreaking Color For Profit initiated a scientific approach to color and design. Cheskin's philosophy rotates around three core concepts:

1. Good taste has little to do with how well a design sells.

2. Asking customers what they think of a package design is not a useful way to measure effectiveness. Surveys and polls don't measure unconscious reactions; and what consumers do, not what they say, is what matters. Research shows that most people who claim advertising doesn't affect them tend to buy widely advertised products.

3. Colors have symbolic meanings: "We associate red with festivity, blue with distinction, purple with dignity, green with nature, yellow with sunshine. Pink is generally associated with health... White is a symbol of purity. Black expresses evil." Preferences for pure colors are often associated with the poor. The rich tend to prefer tints. And while women generally prefer tints and men deep shades, both are attracted to fleshtones.”

From: The Louis Cheskin Animal Coloring Book by Jack Szwergold.