Color Psychology in Logo Design & Branding Explained
A brand’s logo is its most important design element, because it is the visual representation of the company and its values. There are many decisions to make when creating one, and one of the biggest is color. It may seem to be a trivial element, but the main color of each of these famous logos has a serious impact on how people perceive it.
According to the Institute for Color Research, people make a subconscious judgment about an environment or product within 90 seconds of initial viewing. Between 62% and 90% of that assessment is based on color alone.
Color is all around us and it impacts our mood, emotions, and other psychological reactions daily, which makes finding the perfect shades to represent your brand an important task. Below we tackle the psychological meaning of each color and what they say about your brand.
Red
The warmest of all the color schemes, and the most popular among extroverts and males. It is as intense as fire and as warm as blood; red screams passion, energy, love, desire, and determination. That’s why many countries incorporate this color in their flags. As an effect in our human body, red enhances human metabolism, raises blood pressure, boosts appetite, and increases respiration rate. It is dynamic and definitely your go-to color if you want to get people’s attention – that’s why you can observe “buy now” or “click here” buttons all over the internet are colored as red.
Orange
The mixture of yellow and red – and also familiar to us as the sweet and sour fruit of the same name. Although, it is expected in this color to be a blend of red and yellow meanings, it stands out as a symbol of creativity and joy, and is often associated with autumn and harvest. It encourages emotional energies of compassion, warmth, and passion, happiness, and understanding; it is also the color for you to hold on if life bombards you with disappointments and heartbreaks. Studies have shown that orange stimulates hunger – reason why restaurants patronize this color so much – enhances a sense of activity, increases mental activity, boosts brain’s oxygen supply, and so on. Thus, it is highly visible in logo designs – like how red screams a look-over-here presence.
Yellow
This vibrant color – often associated with sunshine – is all about the merriness in the world. It embraces people with warmth, boosts mental activity, makes us cheerful, and generates muscle growth. Use this color if you want to get attention like the color red, however, overusing it is not recommended. For instances, babies tend to cry in a room colored in yellow and it makes people distracted. Too much yellow makes people impatient, and too little yellow causes negative feelings of insecurity, fear, isolation, and low self-esteem, and many more. So, it is best to use color yellow in a balanced way in your logo designs.
Blue
The color of the ocean and of the sky. A soothing color that caresses your heart with peace, freedom, intuition, imagination. It also inspires us to be loyal, to be sincere, to be confident, and to be intelligent – that’s why it is a highly corporate color. Blue definitely brings tranquility in the body since it slows down human metabolism. However, it can still be dynamic; for example, bright blue can bring a dramatic effect to your logo design while too much blue drags you down to melancholy, self-centeredness, or negativity.
Green
Nature’s favorite color – if nature does have a favorite color. Associated with the season of spring, it is a symbol of life, new beginnings, safety, fertility and environment; green is also a status symbol for money, banking, ambition, and wealth. Often times, the color green stands for lack of experience and continuous growth. Undeniably though, it has healing effects to us, both physically and emotionally, and is known to have a soothing effect to human vision. Since it takes dominance in the natural world, green takes a lot of space in the human eye’s spectrum. So, it is an ideal background for any kind of design because it is visible anywhere.
Purple
The perfect blend of the fiery attributes of red and the oceanic qualities of blue. It is a rare sight in nature; that’s why it is often regarded as sacred, delicate, and precious. Violet is a symbol of spirituality, passion, vitality, and higher self, as well as power, nobility, luxury, and ambition. Since it is a combination of red and blue, it retains its qualities. Incorporating it in your logo design shows elegance and glam; it has this luxurious effect that gives a sense of sophistication for those laying eyes on it.
Black
As mysterious as the shadows, black is the absence of colors. But it doesn’t give you absent feelings, rather, black shows strength, authority, sophistication, and elegance – even death, evil, and aggression. It is a corporate color: a prestigious one that is. It boosts confidence, and teases a lot of possibilities, as well as inducing feelings associated with emptiness. So, if you want to give your logo design an air of mystery and power, then you can count on black, just be sure with your logo design or it might come as something negative.
Brown
Brown can add a sense of trust, reliability and unity in to your design. It can balance a design and also make you relax. It also has earthy tones, which relates back to nature.
White
Associated with light, this color is a symbol of guidance, innocence, purity, beginnings, cleanliness, and so on. It represents coolness and simplicity; therefore, color white aids mental clarity, assists in cleanliness, and promotes thought and purifications. Using white in your logo design makes it look simple and clean, and since simplicity is the new trend with logo design today, you might want to consider incorporating this in your logo design.
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