Color Blind

By Richard Sweet, Assoc. A.D/Marketing & Public Relations

I can't tell you how much time I have spent in the last few months talking about colors. When I got here it didn't take long to see that we had and identity problem when it came to our colors. Everywhere I looked I saw different shades of blue and red on everything from seats to end zones to baselines to uniforms. I even saw a few colors other than red and blue on merchandise. Thank God I didn't see that awful purple anywhere. It is important that a brand be consistent with regard to color. Something had to be done.

Well, it certainly wasn't going to be me making this decision. You see, I'm a little color blind (can't distinguish navy from black). I believe being the slightest bit colorblind disqualifies one from making these important decisions. So, we actually decided to do the logical thing - the simplest thing - ask what the official University colors were. We did and were told SMU Blue (PMS 286) and SMU Red (PMS 186). Yea! Mission accomplished. Well not really... mission just beginning.

Before you knew it, everyone was asking if everything from the walls to halls to floors should be SMU Blue and SMU Red, We were taking it way too far. I had a dream I drove up to campus and all the buildings were SMU Blue and SMU Red. Yikes!!! I had to reel everyone in. I had to let them know that our colors should show up on things like uniforms, print advertising, signage, end zones, and basketball floors. In addition, the colors should be predominate on merchandise but not exclusive (we want to sell fashionable merchandise). Other than that, floors should look like floors, walls like walls, and halls like halls. Ah, mission accomplished. Well not really… mission communicated.

Now everyone is asking if the colors should be changed over immediately. Ideally, yes. Realistically, no. We need to be financially responsible and make the changes as they need to and can be made. At Southwest Airlines we made a color change but we certainly didn't repaint all 470 aircraft at once. SMU will evolve to its true colors as quickly as possible but in a fiscally-responsibly manner. Mission accomplished. Well not really... mission in progress.

Finally, there was confusion as to whether the colors were determined by focus groups. The answer is no. Focus groups commented on the colors but the colors were established by the University. What was determined by focus group was our athletic logo treatments. Do you know how much time I've spent talking about logos? I'll tell you, but not until my next post on the blog.