Color Theory

To understand what would make our product so appealing, one must first look at some basic color theory and how it influences the consumers’ perception.  While it’s true that parents are the ones buying the products, it is the children who is our target.  In the end, if the kids don’t like it, their parents won’t buy it.  The learning tools that accompany the origami will most likely be the most appealing features of the product in regard to adult consumers. The children’s interest will likely begin with the origami; how it folds, what it looks like, etc.  This is why the color scheme is so important.

Color is the absolute best way to catch anyone’s attention, and children are the best example to illustrate this fact.  If a teacher asks a first grade class if they’d rather write a paper about a story they read or draw and color a picture related to the same story, the picture always wins.  Young children between the ages of 2-7 are usually much more comfortable with a set of crayons rather than a pencil and paper for writing.  This generalization is based on the simple fact that young children are just beginning to recognize their writing abilities at the kindergarten or first grade levels, whereas color has been something they have been in contact with since birth.  Children understand and recognize colors much more easily which is what makes it so attractive.  This idea is of paramount importance to our product.  Each piece of origami will be individually designed to be as attractive to each child as possible.  Color theory revolving around why and how other colors are more attractive than others in different patterns, groups, and repetitions are studied and applied.  Hue, brightness, and saturation of each color, and the differences between them all are taken into account in deciding which color patterns are the most visually stimulating.  Variations in the design and the manipulations of these colors create differentiation between the pieces of origami and add to the individuality of each piece, keeping each child interested, regardless of which origami they choose to do. 

Color also helps define the relationship between the origami object and what that object represents.  With many of the objects,, the simplest fold is usually the best when it comes to dealing with children.  Their motor skills are still developing (which this product helps with tremendously), so details that might otherwise be seen in more advanced origami must be sacrificed.  This is when color becomes most important.  These simple shapes transform into recognizable creatures depending upon the use of the color patterns:  snails might have a multi-colored swirl on the sides of the folds to indicate the presence of a shell,  a ladybug’s colorful spots create the distinction between it and a normal bug, and a beagle’s coloration separate it from an otherwise unrecognizable dog.  While these may seem like small details, these are precisely the things that will keep a child’s attention and interest when compared to the tedium that often accompanies uncolored origami products. 

Another important feature of this product is the meaning that the children attach to the origami.  Each age group is more familiar with more objects as they get older, and therefore different things receive different levels of importance.  Something familiar and intriguing to a first grader might be alien to a kindergartner based on the simple fact that the first grader has had more life experience.  For example, a kindergartner might be thrilled to learn how to create an origami butterfly, and might show it to his/her parents with great enthusiasm.  On the other hand, a third grader might create the same thing and think nothing of it simply because the object is too familiar to be interesting to them anymore.  Different animals, insects, and objects are introduced dependant upon whether they would seem visually and mentally stimulating to the specified age group.  This, like color, will keep each child motivated to continue wanting to learn how to create the origami.  This meaning is helped by using different and familiar color patterns (explained on the previous page), as well as objects whose appeal is based on the interests of each age group.