Pepsi dies in more ways than one

As previously stated in my first post, Asia has light blue represent death in their culture. This is important for Pepsi, as a royal blue color is part of their logo. Pepsi decided to change the color of their vending machines from a royal blue to ice blue, which was not received well in the South East Asian countries that Pepsi tried to appeal to.

Normal Pepsi vending machine colors

The lighter blue color Pepsi tried to use

This mix up in color was eventually corrected with Pepsi reverting to their old color a short time later.

This topic was interesting to me in the fact that this color mix up was related to death. Although there are many ways that colors could be considered inappropriate (like in my previous post) connotations related to death seem almost unforgivable.These kinda of mix ups are almost the most interesting to me, and I usually gravitate towards these in my research.

Ismael and why he designs

My road to becoming a graphic designer was almost flirtatious in nature. I wanted to become an artist to send a message, and graphic design allowed me to make that message universal.

As I finally left high school and entered the scary world of adulthood I started to go through career choices like they were clothing fads. Writing, computer programming, and even illustration were some of the victims of my need to experience everything. This was destined to continue until I came upon the wall of projects hung up in the graphic design wing of my local college. Posters made for anti-littering laws in Texas, posters advertising the annual Mardi-Gras events held in Galveston, and even the personal logos of up and coming designers, all designed by students, amazed and enthralled me. It was almost like a puzzle piece sliding into place in my mind; I suddenly knew how graphic design worked solely by seeing it in action. The skill of using colors, shape, and even language to not only convey a message but to also make it appealing was amazing to me. It was different from the illustration career path I had attempted previously. I wasn’t trying to just create something, I was trying to make that “something” appealing to a client or stranger or anything in between. We were trying to connect aspects of art to certain themes or ideas. As my instructor had told me when I started my first graphic design class: “We’re putting the pieces of a puzzle together.”

After all the time I have spent learning the amazing process of graphic design I wanted to share not only my story and progress, but what I’ve learned from my peers and mentors. Color has become my favorite part of the design process, and I want to share my thoughts on it and how it affects everyone, even those who are not designers.