The interplay between colour and shades of grey is reshaping the brand’s identity

‘Less is more’, one might summarise. But in an age marked by the proliferation of glossy images of all kinds, the news has spread around the world. Ninety years after its founding, the Japanese giant Ricoh – a multinational electronics company operating in over 200 countries with 90,000 employees and a turnover of 17 billion dollars – has launched a camera that does away with colour. The GR IV Monochrome has been designed to highlight the unique depth of monochrome images, according to the press release.

It is the paradox of our times: the more technology makes millions of nuances possible, the more the value of those who deliberately choose to eliminate them grows. A paradoxical choice, unthinkable until recently in the age of generative artificial intelligence and hyper-saturated images: black and white not as a limitation, but as a tool for achieving greater tonal depth, as highlighted by the American technology bible The Verge.

Simplified logos, reduced colour palettes, minimalist packaging, interfaces dominated by shades of grey. This is a sign that marketing is shifting from the ‘economy of attention’ to that of subtraction. The great desaturation: for brands, neutrality is becoming a form of differentiation. Colour is taking a back seat, whilst the prominence of white, black, grey and neutral shades is growing. The American magazine Bazar notes that black, white and neutrals dominated the catwalks at Cannes, the Oscars and the Golden Globes this year. And it asks: why has the red carpet become so colourless? It is a return to the essentials. In an economy that produces endless images, true luxury seems to have become the ability to subtract rather than add, wrote Business of Fashion, referring to a return to slower, more human and less noisy communication.

There is talk of the ‘age of greige’, the era of beige: fashion, interior design, the automotive industry and consumer goods are shifting towards increasingly desaturated colour palettes. ‘I don’t think this is just a passing fad. Desaturation reflects a deeper cultural shift: after years of visual overstimulation – especially on social media – and increasingly aggressive commercial communication, there is a need to reduce the noise. Colours aren’t disappearing, but they’re losing their function of grabbing attention at all costs. It’s a sign of maturity: a shift from the pursuit of immediate impact to the pursuit of meaning and authenticity,” says Rossella Migliaccio, an image and colour expert and founder of the Italian Image Institute.

The more the digital world fills up with hyper-saturated images, generated AI and designed to grab attention, the more black and white seem to regain their symbolic value. ‘When everything is designed to show off, true exclusivity lies in not competing for attention. Black and white, like neutral colour palettes, convey control, simplicity and confidence. It is the same logic that has led many luxury brands, for some years now, to simplify their logos and visual identities, but also to adopt a more elevated and cultural positioning. Rather than ‘subtraction’, I would speak of ‘selection’: removing the superfluous to highlight what really matters,” explains Migliaccio.