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Big Snow Threatens Deadline

Written by Street Level Studio    05 Feb   
Category: 
Design
Human Interest

On Super Bowl Sunday, the Chicago area was hit with a whopper of a blizzard. They say it was among the top five storms ever to blow across the area. Of course, with no way for everyone to navigate through 20+ inches of snow to get to work the next day, Street Level Studio had to deploy Plan B. The main component of the plan is to all work at home. We've gone to great lengths to prepare for this type of situation with remote access to digital files, up-to-date software on home computers, point people, conferencing, and sharing files. With that said, there is a different reality when the actual snow accumulation prevents access to our studio building.

As it turned out, a couple of us made our way in and indeed found our building smothered in snowdrifts. With a little elbow grease and teamwork, we managed to shovel our way in pretty quickly. As fate would have it, we had a really serious deadline to meet by the end of the day—two catalogs had to be completed for a client presentation the next morning, and being on-site allowed for quick action and a central point of control for everyone else who was snowed in.

At 4:59 that afternoon, PDFs were sent to our client with the completed job. At 5:03 we all received a satisfying "Thank you for a job well done" email. So, like the Post Office saying goes—"The mail always goes through," we can pretty much guarantee that the job will always get done on time, even with nearly two feet of snow on the ground.

Web Developer Zach was able to make it to the office, and he dug out a path from the back parking lot to the side entrance.

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Every color tells a story, and each of the roughly ten million colors that are visible to the human eye conveys a message by producing a chemical reaction in our brains. These messages are often tied to emotional responses, personal memories, and cultural context. They can impact our perception—when you assume that a yellow car on a city street is a taxi—and they can cause us to act—when that same taxi stops at a red light.

So, what happens when we boost this communication by giving the colors names? By adding in language, can we craft these messages and reframe these perceptions?

If you’ve ever opened a package of crayons, purchased a lipstick, or perused paint chips, you’re familiar with color names that fall out of the standard ROY G. BIV spectrum. These names hold a great deal of power, first and foremost, the ability to offer a fuller description of a particular color.

Pantone, the authority on color trends, chooses one “Color of the Year” to express the visual spirit of the year and to predict future trends. According to Pantone [1], the 2015 color “embodies the satisfying richness of a fulfilling meal while its grounding red-brown roots emanate a sophisticated, natural earthiness… [It is]…an earthy shade with a bit of sophistication… A matte finish highlights [its] organic nature while adding a sheen conveys a completely different message of glamour and luxury.” That’s a big message for one color to convey. Pantone has chosen the name “Marsala” from a wine originating in Sicily to perfectly encapsulate this meaning.

However, the most descriptive name isn’t always the most beneficial. According to Help Scout [2] citing this study [3], “when subjects were asked to evaluate products with different color names…‘fancy’ names were preferred far more often. For example, mocha was found to be significantly more likeable than brown—despite the fact that the researchers showed subjects the same color!”
This may even extend to purchasing power; for example, “It has also been shown[4] that more unusual and unique color names can increase the intent to purchase. For instance, jelly beans with names such as razzmatazz were more likely to be chosen than jelly beans names such as lemon yellow.” Thus, with the right color name, marketers can affect product appeal and even user choice.

Lilac Dew
Grape Scott!
Deep Eggplant