Why use purple for your logo?

Since blue and red are already widely used colors for company logos, if you want to stand out, you may need to find other shades. So, why not use purple? As written on our page on the meaning of colors, purple is a cool color that is associated with several elements like royalty, spirituality, femininity, and luxury. It is therefore an interesting color to use if you want to create a logo for a luxury product or for a mostly female clientele.

Did you know that for a very long-time purple was a color reserved for the elite? It was very difficult to create, its dye was worth a real fortune. Only kings, emperors, and popes could afford to wear purple until the 19th century. So that’s why this color is still associated with wealth and power. As well, because it was very expensive to create, there were very few flags using purple. We found two examples: the flag of the 2nd Spanish Republic and the flag of the Tokyo metropolitan area. In short, purple is most certainly an underused color!

Some tips for using purple when creating your logo

So, how do you use purple when creating your logo? It all depends on the message you want. First, if you want to bet on the calming aspect of cold colors, you could use purple with blue or white. On the contrary, if you want something more dynamic, you could opt for yellow to put emphasize the power and royalty side of these shades. Yellow is also the complementary color of purple. The combination of these two colors creates a lot of contrast.

Often, a touch of purple can give your logo a more refined look. As well, there are different shades, some more pastel and others darker. There is most certainly a purple that will meet your needs.

The most effective purple logos in our opinion

It is difficult to choose the most beautiful purple logos, however, there are several that have had a strong brand image over the years. Let’s see what these special logos have and how they have been able to use purple within their brand.

What can be done to stand out from other existing video and social media platforms? With LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter using blue and YouTube choosing red for their logos, Twitch decided to stand out by opting for purple when creating their logo. The Twitch logo is simple, modern, and perfect for the web. It is a combination mark logo, the icon of which can be used alone when needed. We should note that purple is not only used on Twitch’s logo, but also on their website, social media, and promotional products.

Yahoo!

It is true that Yahoo! is a search engine less and less used, however it remains a website that has made its mark on history. Regarding its brand image, Yahoo! has had several logos during its existence, some of which, especially the most recent, were purple. In this regard, the use of purple was basically a mistake. Initially the founders of Yahoo! wanted to paint their office space gray, however, the whole thing turned purple. This is how purple became the main color of Yahoo!’s brand image.

Until recently, the logo of Cadbury, a company specializing in confectionery, was purple. Although it is now a golden hue that is used, purple remains an important color for the brand. Its Dairy Milk bar still has purple packaging and has since 1905! Purple can very well also be used in the food industry.

Minnesota Vikings

In our article on Creating a Yellow Logo, we used the Los Angeles Lakers logo as an example. This time, we’re going to talk about another sports logo that uses a yellow and purple jersey: the Minnesota Vikings football team. On their logo, there has been a touch of purple since 1966, however, their uniform is mostly this color. It’s perfect to stand out from other teams, many of which use a combination of red, blue and white. 

In conclusion, we hope we have managed to give you reasons to encourage you to try purple when creating your logo. As we have seen before, it is a color not often used and underestimated, whether for the logos of companies or sports teams. If you want to know more, check out our article on the history of purple. Happy creating!