The colors black, white, and red have been associated with
human feelings since the beginning of time. Black or darkness brought about
feelings of panic, white or light brought about feelings of joy, while red or
danger brought about feelings of danger, these assimilations were discussed in
The Rhetoric of black white and red by Caivano and Lopez. Although color does a
wonderful job of grabbing the reader’s attention, I believe we have forgotten
just how powerful black and white advertisements can be.
When the visual is left black and white the audience has the
power to determine the picture the way they see fit. The audience has the
ability to determine the color scheme, the background color and the color of
the text. With the use of black and white the reader’s imagination will allow
them to create the perfect image. With black and white images everyone will see
the image in a different way, whereas with color, the designer of the document
is telling you how to view the paper.
Take this advertisement for Olympus cameras, the Black and
white photo allows the audience to create their own canvas, and incorporate
colors if they see fit. The advertisement allows the imagination to run wild,
while thinking of all the images that can be captured with this device.
When thinking of street art most people would assimilate
graffiti with color, as would I. However, when the picture is captured in black
and white it allows the audience to once again fill in the space with the
colors they see fit.
There are many successful companies that have also built
their empires on the use of two simple colors, black and white.
Black and white images can be a very powerful marketing
tool. Unfortunately, this take on advertising is underutilized.
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