“Lucinda is amazing! With my Greek heritage, I wanted to imbue the magic of the ‘Oracle of Delphi ‘ — it turned out gorgeous!”  ~Elena

The visuals that your brand conveys, from headline graphics to the subtle color nuances and emotional subconscious placements, are a bouquet of brand synergy.

The emotion behind your brand visuals accentuates the impact factor.

Your brand is an incredible entity of your business. It has personality and breathes life into your entrepreneurial presence.

The brand visuals are like the cloak of your brand. Is yours a flowing, semi transparent material studded with elaborately sequined curvy patterns? Or is it a hand woven crimson-nutmeg wool shawl that enfolds warmth and comfort, trimmed with cream stitching and adorned with a hood for sacred space?

Maybe a it’s an charcoal-gray leather ruched vest with a thick cloth tailored belt and designer riding boots? Bamboo-canvas retro Mary Janes? Lace-up Kate Spades?

{My clients get to answer this question: “If your brand could put on an outfit, what would it wear?” when they take my Brand Revealer Questionnaire.}

Graphic design takes a lead role in your brand perception.

Have your brand visuals created by your designer who is intuitively poised to align the many subtle nuances that is the future of your business. Your designer also designs your visuals to speak to the hearts of your right people, your potential clients.

Your brand visuals drive your marketing, pushes business forward, and allows you to naturally glow in your marketplace.

When you get well-defined in all the elements of your brand, including the visuals, you grow and flourish brand value and most of all it is the conduit for your business growth as your right people will be inspired and motivated to buy from you.

If your brand visuals aren’t connected to your voice and essence, there is a subtle disorientation that happens and things don’t feel lined up on an intuitive level. It all needs to be tuned into your message’s essence and deeper story through your website and any other promotional materials.

Your brand thrives on consistency and coherence. Your designer needs to understand what that looks like on a profound level – what you’re saying to the head and the heart, so your finished piece makes sense at a core level.

The four main brand attributes that deliver impact:
Color, Continuity, Connection, Core Essence.

{These are the brand elements that will speak to their heart and subtle emotional level as a state of being, the value that will be received by your client — that which in turn creates memorable impact, and transactions. It’s infused in your brand essence.}

1. Color

Color is a key component that conveys your essence. Deeping on where the range of the hue falls in the color wheel, its brightness, the color can convey different aspects. Also if the color is beside another color it can have different effects, too. Combinations can present a collaborative montage of essence.

The psychology behind individual colors usually conveys some of the following:

• Green – Charm. Youthful. Growth. Abundance. {Here’s a quick example of differing specific values/hue tints: Deep green – mystery, richness. Celery green – energetic, eco-friendly, and some more of the above.}
• Blue – Depth {think the color at the core of a flame}. Trust. Authority. Calm. Peace.
• Red –  Enthusiasm. Exhilaration. Desire-fire. Intensity. Passion. Conduit.
• Purple – Intuitive. Free-spirited. Aspirational. Dignified.
• Yellow – Optimism. Cheer. Friendliness. Energy. Warmth.
• Orange – Magnetic. Bold. Confidence. Eastern spirituality {when appropriate}.
• Pink – Sweetness. Femininity. Soft. Nurturing.  Security.
• Brown – Approachability. Organic. Earthy. Reliability.
• Gray –  Timeless. Solid. Practical. Simple. Humble.
• Black –  Power. Sophistication. Elegance. Cosmic. Depth. Mystery.
  

2. Continuity

Keep the artistic style succinct within the frame of continuity.

Your colors, along with artistic elements such as your social media icons or your headline graphic fonts, say a lot about your brand styling. Your consistent image will create recognition, back up your voice and language, and cultivate connectivity your clients will begin feeling comfortable with, like swinging by a familiar café when they come to hang out on your website. They’ll find a comfy seat, sip some latte, and then ultimately buy some dark roasted organic beans from you.

Which leads me to the next point…

3. Connection

When people land on your site, they need to know why you are there for them. They need to feel what your values are about. Your visuals can speak to the heart.

How do your visuals speak to their human emotional needs, which creates the lasting impact and change their life was in need of?

You won’t be able to resonate on a soul level to everyone. And you don’t want to. Your right people will get the authenticity that you are. Your designer/brand strategist should have you filled out a detailed questionnaire that gets to the spirit of your brand at its core intrinsic level, and pull out the elements that need to be illuminated so your right people feel this connection, and use you as their resource or service provider.

The many elements from font choices, stock images, custom art, etc. connect your specific client type to your brand.

4. Core Message Translation

This is about the succinct relevance in the feel of your message. Keep it to the point and keep it on-topic to your brand. In my 10 Mini-Manifestos of Brilliant Design, point #4 is “Brilliant design maintains a core message translation.”

What are you laying down? What is the feeling behind it?

Are you about empowering others, and therefore need a powerful and inspiring brand? Are you a life coach who connects to your clients in an intimate loving way and need an open-hearted brand with warm splashes of light play, hues and swashy inviting fonts?

Or are you a life coach who shows up to challenge your audience to take the next step of their evolution? To push them into a new territory of the adventure of their life like a tough-loving papa with more edgy, exciting, torch-lighting visual branding?

Your core message essence needs to be conveyed in your brand message and its visuals. Here is the Light Rae Design brand as an example of my core message translation:

“Light Rae Design illuminates brands for transformational entrepreneurs so they gain the recognition and identity within their realm of right people. Lucinda of Light Rae Design brings her intuition, strategy and comprehensive design expertise so you can get your brand and web space empowered and on target.”

My brand and its visuals have a core message of “transformation.” I’m an alchemist in my work as I take the vision of a company and infuse it into manifested graphic and website design. Many of my clients are also transformationals in that they change the lives or businesses of their clients. My brand and work is a change-agent in the potential of the path paved before my clients and the people they will attract. After learning about my business more, you would find that these elements in my tagline are my core message, and it conveyed in my brand visuals, voice, and mission.

The symbolism and essence of my logo in my brand visuals are also translated on my website.  It’s on topic for my target audience, relevant, and continuous across the landscape of my brand.

Here are a few more examples of how to stay true to your visual core message:

If you’re a creative… flowing elements that dance around on the page or website might be lovely and just what you need to show your ever-expanding flow of ideation.  But what if you are a slightly more rebellious type of creative? You make bold statement-based impact art; your brand would look different in your brand with edgier bright or high-contrasted graphics and brand elements. All depending on exactly how your message needs to be conveyed.

If you are an inspirational life coach… and you are about empowering others and perhaps through heroism — you’ll want to represent and instill confidence and inspire self-righteous leadership in your people’s own lives. What does that style look like? Depending, you’ll want to match up the correct blending of colors and font choice to instigate your motivated action in your potential client.

A business coach empowering larger corporations? Imbue power. Authority. Solidity. Results. Understated, but bold. Put that in your brand image.

A tantric relationship coach helping couples/individuals fulfill an inner sense of intimacy? Sensuality. Silky. Warm. Deep. Compassionate. Softness. Weave it into your gorgeous brand visuals.

A yoga instructor for a boutique spa? Aligned. Enfolding. Opening. Aesthetically pleasing. I needs to flow identity and appearance.

How do the subtle ways of your deeper story get conveyed in your brand image?

Carefully plan your branding and design strategy. Having an expert work with you will ensure your brand identity aligns with the value you’re proposing. Remember it’s about the experience conveyed and the emotional impact your service/product is beautifully veiled in. If you make them feel connected and a part of something, your business will blossom along with your clients’ satisfaction.

How do you feel your brand story’s visuals are presenting itself to others? Are you in alignment?

Razzle Dazzle Rose. Sensual Sherbert. Flamingo.
Peach. Tickle me Pink. Wild Strawberry.

The color pink represents compassion, nurturing and love. It relates to unconditional love and understanding.

Pink gives and receives nurturing.

It imbues the passion of red with the purity of white. This creates an intimate and romantic vibe mixed with caring loving-kindness. The deeper the pink, as in heading towards magenta, the more passion it exudes on its way towards red.

Pink brings in gentle insight while bringing forth empathy and sensitivity. Pink brings about energy of faith with a sense of expected peaceful resolution. In this, pink relieves and brings more peace to the heavier emotions such as anger and aggression, revenge and resentment.

Pink is intuitive. Feminine. Positive. Quietly optimistic.

With those who aren’t strong in their sense of personal empowerment may need to be careful of using a ton of pink since there is a weakness already. In the negative sense, pink can represent a lack of will power or low self worth. Pink looks for validation and appreciation.

Pink shows up to remind us of the sweetness and innocence of our inner child. It’s uncomplicated and thrives on keeping things simple. Use it to keep things calm, but keep a sense of adult responsibility, especially used in business branding to avoid a vibe of immature.

Pink is excellent when mixed up with other bolder colors. Remember pink + gray in the 80s? There’s a blend of timeless, aloof sophistication with soft, loving peacefulness. Opposites attract. Also try color scheming it with dark neutral blue, deep greens, or black.

Pink is one of those colors that depending on the shade gives off greatly different meanings.

Blush to peach reminds of us our skin and can be sensual. Quietly energetic. When you mix in a little more orange, it heads towards salmon which depending on how much, can be quite energetic.

Rose Pink is the color that is at the edges of light coronas. It’s the color of unconditional love and universal oneness. This version is more evolved in experience, feminine and intuitive.

Magenta with a tinge more blue in this pink, magenta allows for more confidence and wisdom. It naturally feels more responsible and together in its nurturing. It’s like where pink is the little girl, magenta is the mamma.

Hot Pink inspires a more passionate and playful love. Much because it’s an intense pink with more red it in. It’s generally warmer in hue than magenta and it exudes a fiery glow and emanates happiness and a love of life.

Pink and your brand: do they connect?

If you want to represent a gentle, receptive product or service (depending how deep your pink runs) paint a little pink on. Eye-catching bold magenta when used over consistently as a main brand visual color in your scheme can be striking. Try black and white photography or graphics with splashes of bold pink or magenta text. Classy, stated, femme and flirty.

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Pink affirmation:

“I know that love is my birthright and I receive all the love of the universe to flow into me now.”

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How does pink have an effect on you? Please leave me your intuitive feelings/thoughts below.

Birthdays are interesting thing, where there is a lot of focused, pointed energy swirling down into your spirit from your family, friends, the world, the universe.

From you.

However big you allow it to come in.

It’s all aligned coming from the place where your physical body merges into this earthly existence.

It’s your day of planetary and celestial alignment. The weather feels like it’s meant for you. (“Those clouds are just the right amount for me, that breeze is perfect…”  is that just my optimism?)

The butterfly that lands on the flowers near you feels an omen from the divine.

Social media lights up where Facebook becomes alive with many of your friends posting blessings and sweet wishes all over your wall like love graffiti. People are @-ing you on Twitter. Your loved ones acknowledge you with little cards and sentiments.

Your sweetie has extra big love for you and that certain sparkle in his eye.

Your kid makes you last minute extra gifts from little twigs taped onto bark forming into the word “LOVE.” Sharpies on printer paper love notes. (My son astounded me this morning with toothbrush foaming up his mouth, shoes on, and hair wetted and slicked to the side, ready for school. “Who is this kid?”)

You feel this sort-of alignment. With everything.

A sense of heightened inner awareness.

What if we could feel like this every day?

What if everyday could feel like our birthday?

But sadly, sometimes birthdays bring up reverse effects when they feel all alone, lacking many friends, perhaps growing older without life going as planned and noticing the clock is winding down in an unfulfilled way, feeling a little depressed. Sad. Unloved.

I’m sad this occurs in our world. Sad when people aren’t filling themselves up to their greatest potential and instead relying on external source to depend on their appreciation.

For me as I’m still young and I find that numbers still don’t count so much, or at least they don’t bring me down so much, I’m finding that birthdays are still awesome. And optimistic I will always allow them to be.

Having a heightened awareness that the world has you in a big giant hug, if you allow it to, is incredible.

Life isn’t about just one day out of the year where we are truly allowed to feel special.

Divine Spirit, Creator, I Am That I Am, All that is, Source, The Beloved, God, Goddess… (insert deity of your choice here.) WANTS IT FOR US EVERYDAY.

Every moment of each day of the year. We are children of the DIVINE. We are ALL THAT!

Our Pure Self wants us to feel loved and special every day and every moment all the time.

Today, make this your birthday. Not an un-birthday, not a biological birthday, but a birthday of the stars. A birthday of being in alignment of all the love that’s always available for you. All the love that is always available to receive and fill your heart and spirit with all the time.

Today, make this YOUR birthday, too. But do me a favor? Not just today, but everyday, okay?

The world needs you to be shining.

Make it a practice of receiving and filling your spirit with the love that you are naturally imbued with.

You are so deeply worthy of love every moment. You are so loved.

Happy Birthday! ♪ ♫

I was recently blessed to attend an evening with Howard Wills and his lovely family at Yoga Soup in Santa Barbara.

I brought my nine-year old son with me, as I had been wanting him to experience the empowered bliss, the peace, truth-talking, and epic sparkling stillness that happens in a roomful of ones receiving natural healing from the divine being of Mr. Wills himself.

(Retrospective sidenote: My little one was like warm sweet honey for 3.5 hours of talking, mediation and kirtan. He was open and gazing into my eyes, my soul, like I haven’t witnessed since he was a baby. The love, forgiveness and energy was being basked in and deeply received.)

Howard Wills

We were running a little behind schedule, since I wanted to arrive several minutes before the start time. We arrived right at show time, and people were casually milling about, no big rush happening.

I was giddy and buzzing about, multi-tasking while removing my shoes at the door, scanning the room for familiar faces, half reaching for my wallet and talking to my boy about the location of the bathroom so he could feel more comfortable when we were about to hurry up and get a good seat… yes, all at once…

Preparing to go into the gathering room, Howard, like a humble great king, walks into the lobby towards me. Giddy, I practically run into his arms and tell him how happy I am to see him. He greeted me like an old friend, whether he remembered me, or not.

His energy is like a giant rock, and simultaneously the ever-expanding universe, at the same time.

Howard’s grounded sense of total expansiveness fascinated me the first time I went to one of his events the year before.

While waiting for my son outside the restroom, and also trying to get back into my body from the freeway driving and anticipation of the evening, I noticed little angel cards and the table beside me. My hand gravitated toward them, and I did what I normally do when angel cards present themselves to me. I began swirling these little cards a couple times sun-wise with an intention of selecting the card of what I’m supposed to receive on a deeper level, from the whatever is pertaining to me, in one profound little teacher of a word.

{  FREEDOM  }

“Okay, freedom is cool…” I thought.

I had no idea that Howard would be talking about Freedom as a sort-of-theme throughout the entire evening.

Howard talked about creating Freedom through sheer simplicity.

I laughed and had a profound inner sigh when he spoke about how important it was to SLOW DOWN and instead of doing 50 things per day, do 2 or 3 things per day.

I could be “free” from my incessant unending and insatiable daily to-do list? Really?

That was the first freeing thought Howard instilled in my mind. It resonated on all levels. My body started breathing slower, my mind eased up, and my spirit was saying “thank you! thank you!” for this dumbfounding soul recognition. Even though I live a spiritual life and am driven to make it the best it can be, doing too many things and not focusing on the 2 or 3 deepest and most important things in a blessed day kept me from not noticing the deeper experience of being in the human form.

I didn’t even realize I was keeping myself from being readily and easily present from doing too much.

It was keeping me from appreciating the wind blowing in the grasses.

From noticing the way the morning accumulated Central Coast fog drips off the rain pipe.

Most importantly from the fleeting things of the slippery thing called time, in our lives like my young child’s sense of humor and divine their simple wisdom in their toothy young simple grins… I don’t want to miss another moment of life being caught up in frivolous driven complexity.

But how, when I find fulfillment through playing Creator and continuously love to manifest my downloads and ideations into something tangible?

How was I to be the best, most present mama, entrepreneur, gardener, wife, author, dancer, meditator, and more?

2 or 3 things a day. 

So I made a quick list on the fly… {for now it’s the top-end of three things.}

1. Be present for my family and my beloved homemaking (every day).
2. Narrow down my work tasks, acknowledging them and validating an accomplish-able checklist for the week, as I go. Still working on what one day looks like.
   
3. Make time for Lu (me). She feeds the fire for all around her.

The idea of… Slowing. The. Heck. Down. has been resounding in my soul since he seeded this idea in all of us, lucky enough receive it.

“Healing is really just achieving freedom.” says Howard.

He talks about the ability and importance to transmute karma and negativity through peacemaking with yourself, and your ancestors, back through time, because we are deeply connected to our past through our bloodline. It’s rooted in our subconsciousness.

Forgiveness and making complete peace while accepting fully the great love we have for each other is a true clean path to freedom.

Healing comes from this peacemaking, not as much as being strict about diet, exercise, association, or any of the usual things many of us believe is what it takes to head towards greater health. They are good, too, but the peacemaking is the driver to ultimate healing, and freedom.

Check out The Prayer of Freedom on his website and repeat it faithfully and regularly. Profound things can happen when you recite the words of the enlightened and imbue this energy into your daily practice and consciousness.

Howard has a couple cds on his website under products that I highly recommend. I’ve used the speaking one as a call and response prayer on my iPod for driving, hiking, napping, meditating, whenever I can, and just purchased the ocean waves where the prayers are silently embedded in the background and I will be playing in our home, for falling asleep to, waking up to, and wherever whenever possible.

It’s time for freedom.

For my freedom, for your freedom, and for the freedom of our ancestors.

For the freedom of this beautiful world.

 How do you find and create freedom in your life?

Cosmos. Obsidian. Licorice.
Midnight. Onyx. Raven.

Black doesn’t draw attention to you. When worn as clothing, it’s been known to create a slimming effect. Beloved inspiration Georgia O’Keefe once said, “There’s something about black. You feel hidden away in it.”

Black, or dark, is like being back in the womb. Nurturing. It’s quietude.

Black is all colors absorbed into itself.

It can feel safe or hidden, when you imbue this energy, if you want to feel foxy or more stealthy invisible. Black creates a psychic protective barrier, by absorbing the energies coming at and around you, as black is the absorber of all light. Since black is an absence of light, as no wavelengths are reflected within it, to some it brings the realm if the unknown and people find it to be menacing, as there are those are afraid of the dark. The unknown has been perceived as fearful, and in thus black, and darkness, got a bad rep over time construed by false perceptions.

Black is the shadow side.

Shadow does not mean bad, just as Yin isn’t *bad*. When you open your eyes wide in the dark, the kind of dark that is thick and transparent and black, you can find space for your subconsciousness to be present. You can notice deeper parts of yourself as you merge with the oneness of the empty realm.

Imbuing Black {Darkness, Deep} in Meditation:

In a very dark room, gaze into the empty blackness. Get into a heightened aware space where your body is relaxed and you can allow yourself to merge with the open empty deep darkness. Be one with the distance and notice how the dark comes up in your face and then back out into the distance again.

If you do it with night night sky, notice the stars, but gaze between the stars and beyond them.

You’re looking into the depth of your own soul.

This can be a powerful meditation to notice your thoughts and allow them to just be absorbed back into the empty and  vast compassionate space. If your thoughts wander, you can focus on a simple mantra, any word you choose, or your slow in and out breaths. If the mental convo comes back, try the phrase “empty the mind” to gently move them out.

Find deep inner nourishment in your experience. Try this mediation for at least 10 minutes and get in touch with a deeper part of yourself.

The emptiness is rich with freedom.

We don’t have to be afraid of the dark, or of black.

The Color Black and Your Brand:

How the does the color black affect us physically and mentally?

• allows for a feeling of inconspicuousness
• creates a restful emptiness
• imbues a mystery and evokes a sense of potential and possibility
• maintains open power and presence

Black is an obvious in many brands, as it easily fills the role of elegance, sophistication, and makes a statement depending on how it is applied. Since black and white are prevalent in graphic design and brand visuals, usage is influenced by other elements, such as the emotions of its typography or pairing with other colors. The black can act as a neutral foundation, especially when used in and as text. However, when black is used in larger amounts, it imbues the mysterious and deep essence of black.

Black is often a bold and professional choice for many brands.

Remember when it’s mixed with white, it becomes gray, and mixed with other colors, it deepens the other color from browns to navy to maroon, but it is still no longer black. Black has a uniqueness to it, that with no other color involved, including white, it can only be true to itself.

When added to other colors, the colors shift into the rich shadowed jewel tones.

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“Without black, no color has any depth.
But if you mix black with everything,
suddenly there’s shadow -
no, not just shadow, but fullness.
You’ve got to be willing to mix black into your palette
if you want to create something that’s real.”
~ Amy Grant

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Black affirmation:

“I am full of mystery, potential and deep presence. Simultaneously empty and full, I am safe.”

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Please share in the comments, below, how black affects you. How might it work or not work for your brand?

You’ve got the jewel greens that imbue rich mystery and lush landscapes. There’s celery and olive greens where a little more yellow is mixed in, and you head towards eco-friendly earthy version.

Arugula. Isle of Pines. Relentless Olive.
Grasshopper. Lime Granita. Minted.

In the color spectrum, green tends to be the most balanced. Green isn’t too warm nor cold, but the middle of the road harmonious balancer color. Because of this, it’s often favored by well-balanced people.

It has associations with health and harmony. Green can do a little magic to align our lifestyle with our lives and our brands.

Green is the master of the life force of our tangible earthly realm. It is the color chlorophyll, which is in every leafy green thing, that is alive and powered by the sun creator.

Green is the color of life.

Green powerfully conveys the energies of growth, nature and our desire to expand and increase. In this sense green is a representative of transformation and new growth.

Do you think this psychology had any influence on the color of money?

It’s the color with which the Creator has painted this beautiful world. It exists with blue to represent our mother earth. Think “Green thumb”. According to Wiki “The word green is closely related to the Old English verb growan, ‘to grow’. “

Green has been  a symbol of fertility and was once the preferred color choice for wedding gowns in the 15th-century. Before that it was the favored eye shadow for Egyptian women. Can you imagine their exotic eyes donning the green allure?

Green stimulates the senses…

(But what color isn’t sexy? Oh. Is that just my perception?) Remember if you got green M&M’s what their message was? Kinky. Perhaps silly?

Green radiates compassionate love. {Note, the distinction from passionate love.}

Many meditate on the color green being around the heart chakra and associate it with unconditional love.

So why don’t we give leafy boughs instead of red roses on Valentine’s Day? Because green is about expansive, accepting, humanistic love, not night gown-ripping romance. Green is a kind-person color, a “do-gooder” kind of color. It imbues a warm heart. Passion is in there somewhere, veiled by integrity and honor first.

As a quick recap my post about the four ways of capturing your brand’s essence to empower your brand attributes, we touch on each color, and green is:

• Green – Charm. Youthful. Growth. Abundance.

Green is eco.

Since green symbolizes nature and the natural worlds, it’s an obvious eco-friendly winner that speaks of solar energy, fair trade, and organic phytonutrient-rich green powder.

Green architecture. Green cars. Green Planet… (oh, my.) Green signifies the ability to embrace and sustain changes that improve our world through ecological awareness. Advertising campaigns and companies sell *green* products, and people FEEL GOOD knowing their doing their part. Ties back into the whole feel-good essence the green hue imbues.

So. Green and Your Brand: Do they connect?

As a recap, bring green energy into your brand visuals when you want to:

• Represent balance and temperance
• Be a catalyst for change or growth in others
• Share your sense of compassion towards humanity
• Exemplify an eco-conscious vibe
• Convey the freedom to pursue new ideas

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The life of God within me radiates and shines forth from me
in a constant stream of Light to all.
The One Life flowing through me
is Life to all who come near.
The One Power operating through me
is flowing into everything that I contact.
Life radiates from me.
– Ernest Holmes

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Green hue-imbuing Affirmation:

“I create positive transformation in myself and others.”

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If you liked these thoughts on how green can imbue your life and your brand, please kindly be the green good-doer and share below!

This part 3 of 10 on the color Orange, in the 10-part series of how color effects our lives and brands.

In the post about Empower your Brand Attributes, I talked about the four main attributes, and color was one of them. Here a recap on orange on how it’s essence can affect your brand visuals:

• Orange – Magnetic. Bold. Confidence.

Orange doesn’t mind getting in your face.

Its near opposite on the color wheel is blue, which is all about depth, while orange is laughing out loud along with the midday sun. Orange lives to be bold and joyful.

Orange takes pleasure in it’s smoldering fire of sensuality and it’s the color of the 2nd chakra that represents creativity and sexuality. (It’s also connected to your power and money/abundance potential, which we talk about in a bit utilizing orange in branding color scheme.)

Orange keeps you glowing on a chilly night.

It’s citrus-sunshine juiciness. It’s sexy warmth.

Orange at the Moroccan marketplace dances in hanging rugs and bundles of dried peel fruits. It’s in exotic Indian cuisine. Eastern spirituality beholds orange in adornment by Hindi gurus and also represents the Buddhist ways of wisdom and dignity.

Orange is of the loyal honey bee and its amber royal jelly. It’s the harvest essence — jack-o-lanterns, falling leaves and autumnal pies; orange is simply edible.

Emberglow. Coral. Surprise Amber.
Rejuvenate. Luscious Peach. Copper Harbor.

Spread on the marmalade, tie up the laces, and go for a creative jog amidst that burgeoning sunrise. Orange has a purposeful spontaneity!  It’s uninhibited and often encouraging its own exhibitionism.

Step outside the safety zone of seashell beige and put on the vivid of sea coral orange. It imbues confidence. The energy of za-zingggg.

Orange makes a new dawn in attitude.

Ever-enthusiastic, orange also relates to social communication, stimulating reciprocating conversation. A warm and inviting color, it is both physically and mentally stimulating – gets the talking and thinking going.

Orange and Your Brand: Do they connect?

Orange stands for money and power. You get to own that essence when your brand imbues this vivacity.

It’s been said orange psychologically is considered a trigger of ‘inexpensive’. What you see is what you get. That, I believe depends on cultural reference and I see it as more impulsive than inexpensive. If we are in our essence of empowerment and have embraced orange, we are able to attract the abundance we need. Therefore there’s nothing about orange that cheapens the experience.

Really, it’s not just about WYSIWYG; orange stands for face value. It’s not afraid to bare its soul before you in the nude.

Also, ever noticed how many online color schemes there are of orange combined with blue to convey orange’s face-value with lasting dependability of blue? They are complementary colors as well so they’re readily paired together. As they say, opposites do attract.

You may have observed restaurants have used appetite-stimulating orange. Many have used softer tints of orange, such as apricot or peach for a more sophisticated whetting of the appetite. Also, deeper versions such as terracotta, for their decor as they are more subtle than red, yet still increase the appetite and promote conversation and social interaction, which in turn encourages a good time and to eat and drink more.

It’s often used in advertising as it doesn’t do well being ignored, and it calls to the attention demanding to be seen.

As perhaps the most flamboyant color in the scheme, it sometimes is rejected by our culture and used in smaller doses. While the attempt of the hush takes place, it’s never stopped demanding respect while standing on it’s own.

Orange aids in the renewal of ideas and frees the spirit of limitation, allowing us to be ourselves.

Since orange calls to mind feelings of ambition, excitement, warmth and enthusiasm you can grab your audience in a friendly way while using this color.

Is that what you need for your brand? Do you need to convey your message in a more subtle way? Or are you about excitement with a tasteful side of joy?

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Naked like a flame
the wildest color you can name
It’s in the sunset that shocks the sky
fully clothed-in-it, the Monarch butterfly
Orange is brave, orange is bold
so obvious in a marigold
Orange is an orange and also a mango
Orange is the music of the tango
It’s the fur of the fiery fox
the brightest crayon in the box
And in the fall, when the leaves are turning
Orange is the smell of a bonfire burning

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Orange hue-imbuing Affirmations:

“I am self-reliant, creative and bring enthusiastic energy into whatever I need.”

“I have a right to feel and have pleasure.”

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While you’re here, be that encouraging (and sexy) orange and retweet/share below if you were inspired on how the orange essence effects your life, your brand.

This is part 2 of the 10-part series, an intuitive approach to color, and how it affects our lives and brands.

Here we talk about beloved blue, two parts: Aqua (just for a moment) and Deep Blue. There’s also Powder and Sky Blue which have a different more innocent feel, too, when mixed up with white, but where not covering that here today.

Aqua is about mischievous purity.

There is something a little curious there as deep/royal blue begins to mix with yellow and tease out the subtle green essence of the blue. It’s a more earthly blue than deep blue as it is of the waters, and closer to where the light hits, closer to the surface.

Aqua is creative, a transformation somewhere between deep blue and yellow-green, and completely energizing while staying honest. It’s the main color of the Light Rae Design brand color scheme and I have been in love with aqua for years.

I’ve had a longer relationship with the deepest color I know of, true royal blue.

As a child, I would hold up a small deep blue glass box to the light and gaze at the transformed room in front of me. It was a little one’s meditation of sorts as the room merged into a hushed stillness of transcendental blue. Get fascinated by the places you can dive into just by visually being submerged into color. Then put your feet back on the earth and get clear and strategist-savvy on what works best in your business branding.

Is blue for you? Do you love it in your personal life, but maybe it doesn’t work so well for your brand?

Deep blue, a true primary blue, embodies depth. It’s the realm around the mountains of the sea. It becomes the heart of the ocean speaking to our subconscious unknown knowns, among murmuring depths. It is also the boundless sky. It is the unifying color of our planet when seen from space, or looking out at space from the ground.

Blue dances in the shadows. Blue laps at the place of ever-sincerity.

Blue is weightless with no horizon in view. Blue is unwritten.

It’s also the deepest color there is.

Blue is dark depths of the ever-expanding universe. Blue is consciousness.

Blue is resounding the ever-expanding OM.

It’s unwavering and elusive at the same time. It’s sometimes almost not really… quite there.

“Have you ever looked closely at a flame? The reds and yellows are easy to see, but deep in the center of the flame is blue. You can easily avoid the blue, miss it altogether if you just look at the surface colors. But always blue is there, deeper than where your vision stops …”
– David Deida, from The Blue Truth

Splashy. Cerulean. Indigo. Sapphire.

Jetstream. Icelandic. Cote’Azur.

Put your foot in the salty brilliantly lit Fijian splashy. aqua waters. Hold a deep cool lapis lazuli in your hand and soak in its depth. Transfix on the otherworldly sparkle of a sapphire. Journey into the realm of the deep subconscious universe.

Blue and Your Brand: Do they connect?

Blue is also known as a very trust-worthy color in business. Banks LOVE blue. So if it’s cosmic and expansive, what else is it imbuing?

Since blue is seen as trustworthy and committed, it’s particularly fabulous for business-related websites because of the stability factor. Thinking about the color schemes of certain social networks. Twitter. Facebook. Skype.

When you head towards the navy (mixing black, which imbues power and more structure) it begins to take on that more uniform-y dependable vibe. It maintains an authority place, without getting arrogant. Blue is humble, like a dear long time friend and ready to stand by your side.

There is openness and unspoken communicative factor that is conveyed in many blue hues.

The depth is ready to reveal its heart of goodness as objective presence. Blue holds the space.

Blue is not only a sincere handshake, it is a meaningful sacred bond and a meditation of the now.

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“Limitless, the sky is.
I don’t know where to start or end.
The sky is one big circle.
Having almost transformed, the soft ripples and waves
are an indigo bridge
between below and above.”

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A blue hue-imbuing Affirmation:

“I am of the color blue: open and vast, full of possibilities.”

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Notice the nuances throughout the different shades of blue. How does it work on not work for your brand color?

{This introduces the 10-part series, an intuitive approach to color, and how it effects our lives and brands. Starting with yellow.}

Someone I admire recently tweeted about being into yellow and also dancing. It made me grin. All, very. . . yellow, no? It inspired this post and series. Just like yellow does.

The color yellow is just like a little joyful dance.

I recently published my post on “Empower your Brand Attributes” where I gave a rundown of the basic psychology of brand nuances that want to be infused in the deeper meaning of your brand. YOUR specific color, that is.

I talked about the four main attributes, and color was one of them. Here a recap on yellow on how it’s essence might effect your brand visuals:

• Yellow – Optimism. Cheer. Friendliness. Energy. Warmth.

I’ve had a mixed relationship with yellow over the years from the perception that it doesn’t seem to honor the quiet places. It’s timelessly happy and bright, and at times can be shallow. The deeper more contemplative realms that make us human aren’t as aware in yellow. If you mix in the shadows, yellow gets brown really quickly. In this I’m skeptical, but also full of great adoration for that kind of purity.

When yellow is as light, it can be the warmth of the sun, the metallic of the gold element, alchemy of the spirit. This is the yellow I fall easily in love with.

It’s the golden heart.  <3

Color description names has stepped up over the years. I’m a big-sweet-tooth-in-a-candy-store over swatches at the local paint store.

Just listen to this music…

Yellow lotus. Saffron. Provence crème.Viking yellow. Lemon chiffon. Dahlia. Solaria.

Don’t they permeate a sensuous experience?

Smell those flower pheromones. See the exotic landscapes with the late afternoon sunlit hue reflecting off the canal waters. Touch that delectable dessert with your tongue. Listen to that Solaria. Whatever that is.

There is a vibe that is consistent throughout the undulating nuances, even though they vary, they are all in the family of yellow.

Yellow and Your Brand: Do they connect?

Yellow brings in optimism and a care-free innocence. It’s pure positivity. Is that your business? Is there a splash of yellow in your brand? {Make sure you read the other color series posts to see if your brand *feels* like another color.}

Or the hue can be slightly put on an more exotic flair of curry and saffron, or soak in the essence that of cuisine in Southern France. Either way still affects that vibration of yellow energy.

Can you feel that?

There is something naive and alive about yellow. It’s forever summer. Forever in it’s moment. It’s opposite in the color wheel is blue, who often is very deep and contemplative. Yellow just *IS*.

Yellow can be a little front and in the spotlight. Bouncy. Yellow is “hello, sunshine!” It’s a good morning. Yang. It’s not hiding in the shadows. Not afraid to show up and be cordial and when it’s in the mood. And it usually is in the mood to be real.

Yellow likes to do a little happy dance around the house.

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“Yellow, yellow like the sun
yellow yellow, everyone!
bright yellow from heart, mind to soul
feel the light from head to toe!
bam bam boom boom !
embrace the yellow or be a bafoon
banana, bees, lemons…”

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A yellow hue-imbuing Affirmation:

“I am of the color yellow: bright and vibrant everywhere I go.”

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Get your yellow on. Let it shine in your heart, your brand, {if that actually is the appropriate color for your business} and your life.

Let me know your thoughts — what does yellow do or not do for you/your brand?