Does your visual image reinforce what you’re saying?

Irina has an attractive look, for a tennis ball, that is. You see, Irina still is wearing her hair in a very severe, very bleached blonde, very short cut that looks like a barber did it with a single setting on his buzz cutter. I am sure that this was a stunning look on her young face in the 80s. Now it makes her head look like its ready for Wimbledon. Irina is a hair stylist who wonders why she doesn’t have enough business. Has she looked in the mirror, lately?

Your visual image, what you physically look like, is part of your personal brand. It can either reinforce what you’re saying verbally or it can introduce doubt in a large way.

Let’s look at Brandi, a gal who caught me at a recent networking event. Her self-intro was simple, yet powerful and immediately captured my interest when she said skincare. As soon as I heard that word, my eyes went instantly to her face to see how her skin looked. It was flawless. Without her having to say another word, I was completely convinced of her abilities as an esthetician.

Whatever business your in, you want to be sure that how you physically look is cohesive with it. This is especially important if you are in a field that is visually orientated like fashion, beauty, photography or design of any kind.

Red and Green an Exclusive Color Scheme

The Grinch may have stole Christmas, but Christmas owns the colors red and green. By the time we become adults we have seen this combination millions of times and it is burned into our subconscious. When we see these two colors used together we immediately associate them with Christmas.

It can be July and we can be looking at an ad for Turtle Wax, but when we see red and green, our brain thinks Christmas. For this reason, it’s a color combination rarely used for anything outside of this holiday. The color scheme’s exclusivity has become self-perpetuating!

There are several theories to why green and red are the Christmas colors. The Christian faith believes that green symbolizes everlasting life and red symbolizes the blood of Christ. This is by far the most popularly held belief.

Another theory dates back to the 14th Century when churches put on religious plays. In December, the production would reenact the scene in the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve. An evergreen tree was brought in to serve as the Tree of Life, since it was the only tree green at this time of year. Red apples were hung on the tree. The green symbolizes the tree and the color red symbolizes the apples. As the story goes, the people liked this so much they started bringing trees into their own homes and decorating them, starting the tradition of the Christmas tree.

Many cultures prior to the death of Christ used evergreen trees and holly as decoration in the cold winter months. The Pagan festival of the Yule used the colors of red, green, silver and gold. Once again the same colors repeat.

This is one holiday that is easy on retailers because they can say “Christmas” by using green and red without the risk of being politically incorrect. With December 25th fast approaching, be sure to get the most out of these seasonal colors before they go back in the closet to keep orange and black company.

5 Deadly Reasons that Black is Killing You – Part 5

Deadly Reason #5: Black is Killing Your Digital Brochure

Since the invention of the pdf, digital brochure and all kinds of sales material fly across the world as email attachments or downloads. If you are using large solid areas of black you instantly put up a resistance to printing the document out. You alarm your potential client with a refrain in their brain that goes something like this "Wow, if I print this out it is going to burn thought all of my black ink." I think I will skim through it and see if there is a page worth printing or skip it. 

You may rethink your digital brochure; because what looks good as a physical printed bound brochure you hand someone might not be a practical, usable document to send digitally.

5 Deadly Reasons that Black is Killing You – Part 4

Deadly Reason #4: Black is Killing You in Print

If you use large areas of black with white or colored type in your brochures and other printed material be aware that it could be fatal to your communications. Reversed type is 50% harder to read then dark type on a light background.

When you use a serif font and/or small type it amplifies the readability problem. If your audiences are 40 or over chances are they literally will be unable to read your material and will move on.

The same readability issues occur online with websites, blogs or pages with where you are using black, or dark backgrounds, with white or colored type on them.

Color counts. Stay tuned for more on the color black.

5 Deadly Reason that Black is Killing You - Part 2

See how unflattering
 black can be? 

Deadly Reason #2: Black is killing your looks.  

The harsh reality is when you wear a black top you look severe and unfriendly compared to when you wear a color or even white. If you are female and over 40, this is doubly true. 

If you wear your dark hair long it will blend into your top, which makes you just one big black form from the waist up. If your skin is light, and you wear a black top it makes you look paler by comparison. Plus you run the risk of looking like a "talking head." If you have dark skin you can really end up looking like one, big, dark shape. 

Luckily there is an immediate and quick fix. Simply start wearing lighter or more colorful tops. Even a bright scarf, necklace or necktie will help. You will instantly look younger and friendlier. After you give up the ominous black look, you will become more approachable. You may even feel lighter! 

Color counts. Stay tuned for more on the color black.

5 Deadly Reasons that Black is Killing You – Part 1

The color black is as serious as they come. It’s the official color of death, funerals and dangerous spiders. Black is also the color of cool, sophistication and skimpy cocktail dresses.

As teens and young adults, when we wanted to be older and cooler than we really are, we wore black. It looked great. We bought more.

If you’re like me, you bought black shoes to go with black pants to go with black tops to go with black jackets. Whether it was workout time or meeting time, it was all black all the time.

And then one day I looked in the mirror and Morticia was looking back at me, well Morticia if she were blonde and had short hair. In any case, it was suddenly evident that I needed to re-evaluate my color choices. Which uncovered the following painfully obvious  truth.

Deadly Reason #1: Black hasn’t changed, but you have.
In youth black makes you look older. In middle age, black makes you look older. 

Color counts. Stay tuned for more on the color black.