Why People Buy. Louis Cheskin

George Gaw introduced me to Bill Wood, President of the National Research Bureau, who confirmed what Gaw had told me. The National Research Bureau would sell the Color Research Institute services. Gaw brought in a man who had been in the billboard advertising business and the wife of Gaw’s nephew who had for some time been in the direct mail business with him. She took charge of the secretarial work.

      In the early part of 1945, we received our state charter. We were the Color Research Institute of America, George D. Gaw, President and Director; Louis Cheskin, Executive Vice President and Associate Director. Bill Wood served as Director of Sales until May, 1947, when we moved to new quarters.

      We were set to conduct studies in marketing effectiveness of all media. Although we all used the words research, color, design and copy, it soon became obvious to me that we did not mean the same things. The objective was for National Research Bureau to get something from Color Research Institute to sell, and my ideas were not saleable.

      I had no idea what selling was all about. And I was a minority of one.

      It became quite clear that what color meant to me, the information that I had accumulated on color in my experimental work in connection with the Adult Education Program, should be put into a book. I was convinced that I had to go on record. I had to set down what was already known, so that necessary experiments could be made clear and there would be no confusion about what is known and unknown in the field of color and design.

      I began to work feverishly on Colors: What They Can Do for You, which was published in 1947. Color as it applies to almost every phase of life is treated in this book. One chapter deals with color in marketing, another with color in industry and still another with color in art. Fashions are covered. The physical, chemical, physiological and psychological aspects of color are discussed in direct, everyday, simple language. Basically, I was still in adult education.

      Several titles for the book had been tested. Colors: What They Can Do for You received the greatest acceptance, and it became the title of the book. In 1948, there was a new printing. The book was a success.

      It soon became evident that George Gaw was right in at least one respect. Communication about color was very poor. We had been using the Ostwald system, the best available, at that time produced by Container Corporation, as a means of communication. We designated colors for our clients by an Ostwald notation.

      However, we were continually getting into hot water. The Ostwald system charts did not contain enough colors. There were fewer than one thousand color chips. The chips were in dye, on acetate, and we were designating most of the colors to be used in printing ink on paper. Matching was very difficult. Still a third limitation was that the Ostwald charts provided no guidance for reproducing the colors. I had to get busy to devise a more adequate system for color designation, communication and guidance.

      After almost two years of experimenting, I developed a system containing 4800 colors derived from the three, subtractive or substance primaries (process colors) used by printers. I split the three primaries into forty-eight equidistant hues. (I tried a greater split and found that identity was completely lost in the blue-red range.) Then I diluted each hue with additions of white in nine equidistant steps downward. (This was accomplished by using Ben Day screens.) Then I prepared a black plate consisting of nine tonal values, running from lightest (10%) at the extreme left and deepest (90%) at the extreme right. By superimposing the black plate upon the color plate, the result was that each chart had 100 equidistant colors. Since each of the forty-eight hues was treated the same way, there were 4800 colors. This color system, known as the CHESKIN COLOR CHARTS, was published in 1949.

      Although I was writing articles and giving interviews for business publications, clients told me that there should be a book specially for businessmen. Many of them felt that Colors: What They Can Do for You covered too wide a field, that it was more like an encyclopedia on color. There should be a book on color and design based on Color Research Institute studies to meet the particular needs of marketing people.

      Because of the urging from many, I took the chapter on merchandising from Colors: What They Can Do for You and expanded it into a book. I used the same simple, direct style in presenting the basic facts about color and design in marketing.

      A number of titles were tested with potential readers of the book and Color for Profit came out most favorably in the tests. It was published in 1951.

      Color for Profit did not contain color charts. The CHESKIN COLOR CHARTS with 4800 equidistant colors were found to be too large and too expensive for the average person.

      Therefore, I designed a set of junior color charts. I developed a system for producing 300 colors by running the charts through the press four times, with process inks. There are 12 charts in the set with 25 colors on each. The three printing primaries are made into 12 hues and each hue is converted to 25 colors by equidistant steps of white and/or black. These charts were produced in 1952 with printing codes, showing the primary color content of each color on the charts.

      I was told by a representative of a book publishing company that there was a great demand for color wheels, that the available ones were inadequate. They showed hues and tints, but no shades and tones. In 1953, I produced a color wheel with 360 colors—12 hues, 348 tints, shades and tones. On the CHESKIN COLOR WHEEL, tones and shades are produced by rotating a transparent disk with five tonal value screens.

      Our field testing division was expanding rapidly and we needed devices for getting the cooperation of respondents in testing marketing tools—packages, ads, etc. Primarily for the purpose of motivating respondents, I wrote a booklet called Color Tuning Your Home. This booklet was used very successfully in getting housewives interested in Color Research Institute marketing tests.

      The booklet was shown to a chief editor of a book publishing company, and he asked me to expand it into a full book. How to Color-Tune Your Home was published in 1954. The title was changed from Color Tuning Your Home to How to Color-Tune Your Home on the basis of a test with potential readers of the book.

      Before the publication of How to Color-Tune Your Home, I received more criticism from clients. Many of them found Color for Profit too limited in scope. It dealt with basic psychological principles and basic design and color principles. It did not deal with the entire problem of producing a printed marketing tool. It did not show how various professions are involved and did not indicate a coordinated effort of many individuals. “There should be a book that traces the complete process of creating an ad or a package from the idea to the printed page,” said a client to me.

      This seemed like a practical idea. I asked the publishing company of How to Color-Tune Your Home whether they would publish such a book, and they expressed interest. I wrote the book in less than six months, because most of the material was in Color Research Institute files. A number of titles were tested with businessmen and advertising executives. Color Guide for Marketing Media came out best in the tests. It was published in 1954, the same year as How to Color-Tune Your Home. The latter was published in early spring, the former in the fall. The Junior Color Charts with 300 colors are parts of both books. However, the printing codes are only in Color Guide for Marketing Media.

      Of course, none of the so-called color books deal only with color. There is no such thing as abstract color. Color is part of form and space. Thus, Color for Profit and Color Guide for Marketing Media actually deal with practical problems in the graphic media. Imagery, design, pattern are covered. The creative aspects, the psychological factors and the measurement of marketing effectiveness are discussed.

      How to Color-Tune Your Home includes the psychological aspects of color and furniture, of form and arrangement. The nature of color and its application to practical problems in the home are discussed. Actual experiments with colors are reported. Designs and arrangements of home furnishings are covered.

      By 1950, there were many things happening besides the demand for books. I became convinced that salesmanship and research are like oil and water—they don’t mix. A friend said I had become obsessed with the idea that research, like medicine, should be offered, made available, not sold.

      Perhaps