In this post, we write about the importance of colors, their meanings in logo design, and how they affect the way your customers perceive your brand.
When designing a logo for your business, it’s important to remember that color choices are a crucial element in branding. In fact, colors can affect the way your customers perceive and remember your brand. Different colors convey different things about your brand. And as they evoke different emotions, they will also appeal to different customers. Therefore, taking your brand’s personality into consideration when designing a logo allows it to communicate the right thing.
Think about your target customers and what your business does. Do you want your brand to appear mature? Or do you want it to appeal to millennial? Cool. Choosing the right color is one of the keys to cutting through all this clutter. We discuss some colors and their meanings below.
01. Blue
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Blue has been long associated with the color of the sky and the sea, and the extensive use of the color in many government and company logos has proven that it is among the ever-so-popular colors. In fact, it is indeed the most popular color in the world.
As the humanity’s favorite color, blue is perceived to be a color that promotes authority, trustworthiness, loyalty, and security. It is also thought to be the color that inspires serenity. Despite the positive traits shared by the color, it may be perceived unemotional and unfriendly. The use of the color dominates tech, financial and medical branding.
02. Green
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Green has always been that kind of quiet achiever you see in a classroom; they’re never loud but most possibly among the top in the class. The color itself has always been associated with nature. It comes as no surprise that green represents life, hope and renewal in many cultures; hence the common application in health, environment and agriculture branding.
If sustainability, friendliness, reliability, and balance are the core values of your brand’s identity, or your brand values environmental awareness and natural ingredients above anything else, you may want to opt for this color in your branding.
03. Gray
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A relatively natural and versatile color, gray is also commonly found in logo and wordmark. As a cool and balanced color, it is often applied to signal all things sophisticated and practical. Also, it can be elegant on the one hand but boring on the other.
When it comes to branding, grey is arguably among one of the most used colors, dominated by tech companies that values practicality and cutting-edge technology as seen in Apple. It is also a color that promotes the idea of resource and knowledge, with Wikipedia being a good example of this theory.
04. Orange
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Orange gets the best of the two worlds. Being in between red and yellow in the color spectrum, it is commonly perceived as a representative of happiness and energy. Like sunshine, it’s bright and easily noticeable among the crowds, making it a great scene-stealer.
In terms of branding, the vibrant oranges give a overall sense of curiosity vitality, energy, and warmth, while the lighter hues are often seen as sweet, artistic and playful. Nickelodeon and Fanta are a good example of the theory in action.
05. Red
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Red has always been a color associated with intense emotions, from love to anger. In the world of branding, the color is commonly utilized to evoke great excitement and passionate interest, as showcased by Nintendo and Netflix logos.
06. Purple and pink
In many cultures, it is evident that purple and pink are widely regarded as feminine colors, demonstrated by the common use of the color in women’s products. While it’s not entirely true that both are predominately used and worn by women, purple and pink in fact are colors that promote elegance, luxury and tenderness, as demonstrated by some brands above.
07. Black
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Similarly to grey, black is one of the most cool, balanced, and neutral colors. Plain black logos and wordmarks are ubiquitous in the world of branding, with many of them being logos of luxurious brands such as Chanel and Gucci. The color also signals power and strength, as demonstrated by the Swoosh, Nike logo. On top of the versatility, black logos are always thought to remain iconic throughout the years, standing strong against the test of time.
Note, however, that these are the universal meanings of the colors and how people commonly perceive them. Remember that some colors have different culturally created ties that differ from one another, so you’ll need to put more consideration during the branding process.