issue no. 5
Linked
the magazine
Dear Reader,
It's a colourful world, to paraphrase Louis Armstrong. Yet this is a reality that means something different to each of us.
Our sector would be unthinkable without colour. That's why the topic runs like a golden thread all the way through LINKED#5. This edition outlines how colours have been produced through the centuries, highlighting the most daring substances and methods, some of which even proved lethal! It reports on the broad advancements that have resulted in high-performance state-of-the-art printing ink. And it looks at the effect of colours and the importance for brand identity.
Read the onlive preview of the print edition.
Colours – A Magical Mystery Tour
How a beetle painted the town red
Around 50,000 dead beetles are required to obtain around 100 grams of red pigment. The "beetle" in question is the scale insect or Coccoidea, which originally came from South America and subsequently colonised the entire world.
Cochineal is the term for brilliant scarlet red, one of the reddest reds that nature has to offer. The beetle produces carmine acid to protect itself from enemies, but this defence system was to prove its downfall.
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How to Wrap a Fragrance
The salty spray of the sea, glowing embers, a forest after the rain, wood warmed by the sun, leather: a fragrance is an essence – sublime, sometimes ephemeral. We can’t see a fragrance, we can rarely describe it, we can merely smell it. Yet in a split second it opens doors to our emotions, conjuring up scenes in our heads, arousing memories, changing our mood. Even if only for a moment, we enter a world that is wholly sensual. This is reflected in the words we use to describe fragrances: earthy, soft, verdant, mossy, fruity, warm, tangy, powdery, spicy or flowery. The list is long and our imagination knows no limits. But how can we capture, mix, let alone conserve something as ephemeral as a fragrance.
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Brand consistency
Companies often put a great deal of effort into looking after their brands and invest large sums of money in brand communication. The crucial moment comes when new products are ready to go to the retailers because all kinds of mistakes can occur during the production and printing of packaging. As many as 75 per cent of consumers don't decide what they are going to buy until they are standing in front of the display, so this is the point when their favourite brands should be instantly recognisable.
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Is Packaging smart?
Manufacturers are currently facing the enormous challenge of making radical changes to their packaging concepts in the space of just a few years. As well doing the accustomed job of ensuring that products are kept intact, fresh and durable, the new packaging is also supposed to be environmentally compatible.
As if that weren’t enough, it also needs to be eye-catching and maintain brand consistency, making the product instantly recognisable so that customers are happy to buy it wherever they find it. This makes for a highly complex undertaking driven by a variety of different factors. Is it really possible to square the circle here?
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