Logo Colors: What suits my brand the best?

Logo Bot
6 min readJul 23, 2020

--

Color choosing is a major step in the process of creating your logo. As stated by many studies, picking the right colors can improve your customer’s brand perception, evoking feelings that can lead to the right target. As you can imagine, the wrong palettes can do the exact same opposite, making your business lose the attention it deserves.

As known by many, color psychology is a study that shows us that colors have a big impact on our emotions and behaviors, leading us on the decisions we take daily, such as the things we buy. There are certain shades that we quickly associate with certain feelings like yellow to joy, green and blue to calmness, etc… But can these “color rules” really have an impact on your business?

After performing studies, researchers Lauren Labrecque and George Milne concluded that there are some colors that really have a great impact on consumers while others don’t. So, which colors can bring potential customers to your brand and what is the meaning behind them? Let’s take a look:

  1. Red:

Red traditionally symbolizes strength, passion and anger. It’s a color that stands out not only in a crowd but also in your brain, being the first bold color that babies actually can see.

This shade excites the nervous system and can evoke feelings that can go from love to anger. As time goes by, the meaning of red developed a strong evolutionary meaning: when people get emotional (anger or passion) their faces turn red, being this one of the major reasons we intuitively associate the color to strong emotions. Lately, this shade has been used as a way to stimulate appetite. If your mission is to make your clients take decisive actions, triggering strong emotions, this is your color.

1. Popular Red Logos (Netflix, Adobe, Pinterest, Kmart, Youtube, Lay’s, CNN and Coca-Cola).

2. Orange:

Used less often then red, orange is a playful color that stands between the first and yellow. This color is subtle and cosy and evokes comfortable, homey vibes. If this shade is among your options you must have in mind what your brand values are. If the words feminine, luxurious or serious pop in your mind, orange is not an option, especially because it does not evoke any of those things. It is often associated with change (autumn, sunsets or sunrises) and it’s used by businesses that see themselves as “different” from the others.

2. Popular Orange Logos (amazon, nickelodeon, hooters, Fanta and Firefox).

3. Yellow

Yellow is the color of cheer, fun and sunshiney friendliness. It was the first paint color that humans actually were able to mix and it has many cultural associations like gold, the sunlight or even fields of corn.This shade is a powerful source of positivity, which can cause tiredness to some, but that it’s perfect to evoke a youthful energy to your brand. On the other hand, If your logo is supposed to represent luxury or maturity, this color must not be an option for you.

3. Popular Yellow Logos (Nikon, National Geographic, Ikea).

4. Green:

If you want your brand to be about harmony and simplicity, green is definitely your color. This shade is a balanced combination of many things such as nature, sports, freshness and a healthy lifestyle, and can easily evoke serenity and versatility. Green is a very versatile color: It’s not as aggressive as yellow and not as calm as blue. It can be used in almost every kind of business, the main reason being the many strong cultural associations it developed as years go by. One of the oldest is with nature, since leaves and plants are mostly green, which can represent growth or even a fresh-start.

4. Popular Green Logos (BP, Animal Planet, XBOX, Starbucks and Spotify).

5. Blue:

Being many times associated with the sky or the water, blue is a color that represents calmness. It helps our brain to focus on work and has the ability to make us feel serene. This is a shade you must use if you want your brand to be taken seriously, since it will evoke maturity. It is very popular between brands, and if you are gonna use it you must find a shade of blue that will make your logo stand out from the others. On the other hand, if your business is in any way related to food, blue is not a nice pick because it reduces appetite on most people.

5. Popular Blue Logos (Linkedin, Facebook, Twitter, Vimeo, Oreo and Visa).

6. Purple:

Purple is the color of mystique and is often associated with royalty, spirituality and even magic. Historically speaking, purple paint was one of the most expensive, which makes us relate this color to luxury. It has a bit of a feminine touch, and although it is seen as a “cutting-edge” looking color, it is also seen as playful.This is the perfect option if you have in your hands a fun but expensive project you want to invest.

6. Popular Purple Logos (Wonka, Yahoo!, Taco Bell and Syfy).

7. Pink:

There is nothing in this world that looks girlier than pink. It is a very versatile color that comes in many shades that can give a brand a youthful look very easily. Although it is often associated with femininity, this concept only emerged in the 40s, when clothing businesses realized they could make more profit if they gendered kids’ clothing. Before that, it was a unisex shade and like purple, represented luxury.

7. Popular Pink Logos (LG, Victoria’s Secret, Barbie and Dunkin’ Donuts).

8. Brown:

The least used shade when talking about logo colors is brown. This probably happens because humans have learned to associate this to the process of rotten or decay. However, this concept is being surpassed and now brown is seen as a rich and deep color. If you want your logo to look rugged and serious, brown will definitely make you stand out from the rest.

8. Popular Brown Logos (UPS, Nespresso, Louis Vuitton, m&m’s and Hussel).

9. Black:

Does your business scream affordable or economical? Then black is not an option. Luxury brands often use black, since it is a color that looks slick, modern and elegant. Using this color will give your logo a feeling of exclusivity and elegance combined with a jaw dropping simplicity.

9. Popular Black Logos (YSL, Chanel, Adidas, The Beatles and Nike).

10. White:

Last but not least we have white. This shade can work for any kind of brand, as long as it is paired with another color or even background. It is also perfect when it’s used as an accent color to your logo, or even when it is used to make other shades lighter.

10. Popular White Logos (Off-white, Apple, Unity and Nike).

So, what color should my logo be?

After reading these tips make sure to ask yourself: “What do I want my logo to transmit?”. You should start by making a research of what your most strong competitors are doing and then search for colors that will make people quickly feel what is the vibe behind your business. Do you want to be the fun, youthful company or do you prefer to be the strong-valued, luxurious one? It is all up to you.

Do you need more tips on how to build your logo? Here are some tips on how to avoid bad logo design.

--

--