2011 NSW Election – Colour Theory and Election Materials
The colours the three main political parties in Australia use has become more and more similar over the last ten years. There are still some differences though, mainly in the way colour is applied to materials and how strong each of the parties are with branding whilst relying on an extremely similar colour palate. A quick look at the three websites and policy materials put out in the current NSW election is a good example of how the parties see themselves and what messages they are sending out with their designs.
Labor:
NSW Labor has toned down their use of the traditional Labor red and have started to use a mix of light blues, purples and greens.
Liberals:
The Liberals have also toned down their traditional dark blue but have also chosen their colours and kept a pretty consistent colour scheme. Their materials feature light sky blue and light green with the occasional splash of red.
Greens:
The Greens clearly need to use green which they do, but they also offset the green against an orange as a counter point more and more often. They are also not adverse to a spot of blue too. Like the Liberals they appear to have a strict style guide in relation to colours that is being used, perhaps more strictly followed than the Liberals though.
So what do the colours mean? Colour theory is a well documented and studied science, a lot of work has gone into discovering how colours effect people. The reaction to colours changes in different cultures and there is a variation in person to person. We do however know very broad meanings colours put across in Australian culture:
Orange: Dynamic, energetic and healthy.
Green: Down to earth, calming, new beginnings. (Negative: lack of experience, jealous.)
Blue: Calm, responsible, light blues are refreshing and friendly but in a responsible way.
Red: Fire, passion, importance.
Purple: Royalty, ruling class.
Looking at the very basic colour theory shows what the individual parties are putting across with their colours. Obviously this only a very quick and basic analysis but If I was the Labor Party I’d been trying to pay more attention to the colours being used and how they were portraying themselves. Possibly the Greens could be looking at ways to make them look more established and responsible as they look to move from up and comers to a bigger threat.
Purple, green and white are also the suffragette colours, which is why I imagine purple is being used to “feminise” KK.