Color and Identity

Over the weekend I flew on the airline JetBlue. True to their name, the color blue figures prominently on their planes, their advertising, and the uniforms of their flight attendants.

Blue is an obvious color choice for an airline -- representing the blue of the sky and providing a calming effect that helps time pass more quickly -- appreciated on long flights. Fortunately, they wisely avoid the negative, overpowering influences of too much blue by using it in small batches. Instead of blue seats and blue interior walls, for instance, the inside of the airplane is a neutral, conservative gray with splashes of blue on the TV screens (built into the seats - a cool feature), the pillows, and a wall or two. In this way the blue is significant, special.

The word "blue" is also a part of the airlines identity. It's in the name but also each plane has "blue" in its name (Big Apple Blue was the plane I flew on to New York City). By using the color name you can get some of the same effects as using the color itself. Interestingly, the original idea for the uniforms was black, but when the name JetBlue was chosen for the airline, "there was no way to do a black uniform." So, while you don't have to slather everything in your chosen color to create an identity tied to that color, you probably need to use those splashes of color alongside a weaker or more neutral color - black is not a weak color.

"Color can be a very subtle but powerful part of your marketing efforts. You can evoke a sense of your company's personality with color, and carry that consistency through every facet of your business. -- Think Personality: What Color is Your Personality?