THE EFFECT OF APPLYING ESTABLISHED COLOR THEORY TO PACKAGING WHEN VISIBLE PRODUCT AND EXTERNAL LABELS EXIST SIMULTANEOUSLY

Color is affected by what is around it. A color doesn\u27t necessarily look the same when its placed against two different colored backgrounds (Ryan, William, and Theodore Conover, 2004) Oftentimes, designers are given a blank package and given the task of creating a label or package for the product. What is missing is the product, which can be an integral part of this design process. What is not yet to be determined by current packaging research is how colors work together through the product and package. One way to determine this would be through transparent bottled packages that contain external labels. Using various color harmonies, with the base color determined by the product color, this can be evaluated. Transparent packages with visible products containing colored labels were evaluated using established color theory. This research sought to understand the following questions: [RQ1]: Can established color theory be applied to packaging when visible product and external labels exist simultaneously? [RQ2]: Do consumers prefer a particular color harmony when compared to others? This was assessed using eye tracking metrics and overall preference testing. Eye tracking data yielded quantitative data that was statistically analyzed. This was completed through analysis of variance (ANOVA). A post experiment survey was given to collect participant\u27s demographics and additional data completed through Chi-squared tests for association