My favorite color is red. Should I use it for my company’s logo? The answer is…that depends. The color is going to become as central to the brand’s identity as the logo itself, so before you choose to use your favorite color for your logo, do a little research on what each color means so that your color choice doesn’t work at cross purposes with your brand identity. There’s actually a science to color and it pays to spend a little time investigating how color will affect the perception of your brand before you finalize your logo.
For example, red can indicate activity, energy, love and its use can create a very stimulating effect, but too much of it can come across as aggressive. Even within a type of industry, there might be different reasons to choose different colors. For example, a PR company that focusses on clients in the fashion or entertainment industry might choose one color, while one that specializes in crisis management might choose another. One might want to elicit excitement and perhaps another wants to convey calm, rational emotions. Interestingly, in their research in the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, researchers, Lauren Labrecque and George Milne found that Red is found in 0% of apparel logo, but over 60% of retail brands. Blue is used in over 75% of credit card brand logos, and in the
logos of many law firms and financial institutions because it is the color of loyalty, trust and security. 43% of Fortune 500 companies used blue for their logo. Of course, there are other reasons why certain colors are chosen.
FUN FACT: Facebook’s logo is blue because Mark Zuckerberg is color blind and blue is one color he can always see!
Check out this color guide to see what messages your logo conveys about you & your company.
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