How to pick logo colors to build your brand

By Ross Bielema

Think of legacy brands and chances are good they’ll be linked to a specific color. The behemoth company nicknamed Big Blue is IBM, and its blue-and-white logo is a big part of its brand recognition. Where would Coca-Cola be without its classic red logo?

The psychology of color is a fascinating topic and can help your company build or boost its brand, either in developing your first logo or enhancing your marketing.

Applied to a brand, color makes a strong statement about corporate strategy and philosophy. Ignyte brands takes a deep dive into the various colors and how they affect us as consumers and humans. Where do your current logo colors opens in new window land, and what positive and negative associations do they carry? What do your website colors say about your business?

The meaning and impact of color

Leatrice Eiseman, former director of the Pantone Color Institute^®, said she believes a widespread focus on color as part of product design didn’t occur until the mid-1990s.

Apple^® has been a leader in the use of color in branding. When it launched the teal iMac^® in 1998, consumers bought more than 800,000 machines in less than five months. Apple then launched five fruity colors: blueberry, grape, tangerine, lime and strawberry. Customers bored with the usual black and white computers snapped them up and it created legions of devotees.

“Using color boldly and wisely can grab consumers’ attention and boost a company’s reputation for innovation,” said Eiseman. “Color is often the one thing that will pull people in a particular direction. They will choose it simply because the color speaks to them. The color gives them the message of what the product is all about.”

A quick overview of common color associations in the United States is found in the table below. Note that associations change drastically with saturation and hue. For example, red says romantic and nostalgic, while pink says energetic and playful. Also, color associations can change with region and ethnicity.

• Red—Proactive, passionate, romantic, sensual, powerful, dangerous
• Orange—Happy, energetic
• Yellow—Warm, ambitious, energetic, innovative
• Green—Natural, fertile, conservative, wealthy
• Blue—Dependable, loyal, clean, leader, technology, cold
• Purple—Wealthy, prosperous, spiritual, creative
• Pink—Youthful, playful
• White—Pure, innocent, clean
• Black—Authoritative, strong, powerful, aggressive, wise
• Brown—Natural, stable, reliable, traditional

When choosing your branding colors, also conduct a review of your competition. Choosing unexpected colors can help attract attention, so you may want to avoid shades that are already well-represented in the marketplace.

Another relevant consideration is the application of your brand colors. Consider the different ways you might apply branding colors across a variety of mediums, such as uniforms, vehicles, décor, letterhead and signage, as these decisions may influence your ultimate color choice.

Research your perfect brand colors to attract eyes

According to the Institute for Color Research, people make initial judgments about a product within 90 seconds of their first interaction with it, and 62% and 90% of that assessment is based on color alone opens in new window.

Leading marketers follow color trends and research color options before launching a new product line. They evaluate sales to determine which colors sell best and then trim or alter their product lines. They also hire color consultants and participate in color forecasting organizations like the international Color Marketing Group opens in new window.

The CMG is perhaps the world’s leading color forecaster. The CMG holds twice-annual conferences to predict color trends for consumer and contract products. A past CMG president once remarked, “If it’s the right color, it sells, and if it’s the wrong color, it’s inventory.”

Consider these statistics from the Color Marketing Group:

• Color increases brand recognition by up to 80%.
• Color improves readership by as much as 40%.
• Color ads are read up to 43% more than similar ads in black and white.
• Color accounts for up to 93% of purchasing behavior opens in new window.

Humans can only process a limited number of stimuli at one time. For an object or communication to get noticed, it must catch our eye. Color plays a critical role in drawing the eye and attracting our attention.

Color theory and brand identity

Researchers have attempted to identify human preferences and associations with color for decades. As color trends change, results will vary by culture, age and decade. Still, there’s no denying that we have inherited certain learned color associations.

In the United States, we use idioms like “green with envy” and “feeling blue” to describe emotions. We associate red with love and with anger. We expect our police officers to wear navy-colored uniforms and our lawyers and bankers to wear dark suits.

When choosing a corporate branding color, many entrepreneurs choose with their gut by selecting a favorite color or following industry trends. Perhaps this is why so many brands are blue. Adweek found, “Major clients tended to agree to any color their agency chose as long as it was blue opens in new window…” Many studies have found blue to be America’s favorite color.

However, the best way to develop your brand is to choose a color representing your philosophy and audience. One way is to evaluate your brand attributes and compare the results to recognized color psychology associations. Start with the list of possible brand attributes below. Include an equal number of criteria that you believe define your brand as well as criteria that don’t. Ask employees, stakeholders and interested friends to rate your company on a scale of 1 to 10 for each brand attribute.

1. Expensive
2. Traditional
3. Businesslike
4. Modern
5. Groundbreaking
6. Caring
7. Technical
8. Natural
9. Lively
10. Fun
11. Sedate
12. Serious

Average the responses and determine which brand attributes rank the highest. Then review color psychology literature to determine which colors best reflect your brand identity.

Tips for incorporating color in branding

Consider shelf life and price point

In marketing, trendy colors are often applied when the product has a shorter shelf life or lower price point. The greater the investment, the more conservative the consumer will be. This is most evident in the consumer auto industry, widely recognized for forecasting its colors years in advance of other commercial products.

GM, for example, typically works four years ahead on its vehicle color palette. For over a decade, GM’s highest-selling colors were decidedly neutral—black, silver, white and beige accounted for more than 50% of sales for any vehicle line anywhere in the world. Although we are seeing more flat-finish and unusual shades of vehicles today, those classic colors opens in new window are still hot sellers.

Attract attention

Colors can make a product look new and catch consumer attention. When product development funds are tight, changing colors is an affordable way to boost sales. The consumer is more likely to notice the product and may perceive it as new and feel the need to purchase another one.

When choosing a fresh color, marketers look ahead for the latest color trends and look for colors that aren’t just new to the product but new to the market overall. Colors once dismissed as unfashionable can quickly become trendsetters when designers reframe them in new cultural or aesthetic contexts. What was once considered outdated may, in the right moment, signal innovation, nostalgia or boldness—helping brands stand out in an increasingly visual marketplace.

Historically, orange is rated among American’s least favorite color preferences. Yet beginning in the early 2000s, orange moved to the forefront of consumer color choices opens in new window, perking up everything from rugs to office supplies and espresso machines. The same thing happened to yellow-based greens, which were considered taboo after the avocado-hued 70s, color consultant Leslie Harrington explained. But from 2002 to 2007, the color wasabi was in with a vengeance.

Use color as a status symbol

Color can also be marketed as part of an exclusive palette to signify prestige, turning a simple design choice into a powerful status marker. Limited-edition colors help brands differentiate premium products and create urgency among buyers who want something distinctive. When a company releases a product in a rare or unusual color—and limits availability—it can transform the color itself into a symbol of exclusivity.

When Volkswagen offered premium-priced limited edition Beetles in reflex yellow and vapor blue, the carmaker sold 2,500 vehicles in just over a month.

Luxury brand Range Rover did the same thing, offering a bold orange on one of its most expensive models. “If you put a special color on a product with a higher price point, it becomes a class signifier,” said Harrington.

Looking for exclusive, unique swag to help promote your new, colorful logo? 4imprint has its own line of exclusive brands that offer special color options.

Draw eyes to your brand with the right colors

No matter your market, one thing holds true—color choices matter. Some companies have discovered they can leverage color in branding to stimulate consumer desire. They know that color translates commodity products into objects of innovation. Choose the right color at the right time and your product will sell.

At 4imprint, our professional art department can create new colors for your existing logo or create a new design from scratch–all at no charge! We’ll send you an electronic proof so you can see any changes before you approve the artwork. It’s like having an entire art department at your disposal. Just give us a call or drop us an email.

Ross Bielema

Ross Bielema is a seasoned SEO marketing specialist at 4imprint, based in Oshkosh, WI, a title he’s held for the past 16 years. He previously was a copywriter here, crafting everything from headlines and company letters to e-mails and faxes. Boosting web presence and organic ranking creatively for one of North America’s top promotional merchandise distributors comes easily because of his combined 38 years of journalism experience. This includes freelance writing for local media outlets such as the Shawano (WI) Leader newspaper, expanding his experience beyond digital marketing into broader content creation. Ross brings a unique blend of marketing acumen, content creation talent and community engagement to his work at 4imprint.

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