The importance of Color Psychology in Logo Design

Colors play a significant role in our everyday life. And even if you believe you don’t pay much attention to them, your brain does. Each color evokes certain emotions, influencing our moods and decisions. That’s why colors empower your marketing if you know their meanings and use them wisely.

A logo’s appearance, particularly its colors, is one of the key brand identifiers. As the Reboot survey showed, after 10 minutes of studying the logos, 78% of the participants could recall the primary logo color, almost twice as many as those who remembered the company name. 

With more than seven years of experience in graphic and UI/UX design, our team knows why choosing the right colors for your branding is essential and how to do it properly. So, let’s check out some insights into color psychology logo design to make your logo stand out. 

Psychology of Color in Logo Design

Color psychology studies the impact of colors on human behavior and decision-making. It explains how different colors evoke specific emotions, influencing customers' preferences and readiness to buy products. The meanings and associations of colors often vary depending on culture, age, gender, location, etc. Still, over time, we have specific associations between a color and the mood it carries.

When it comes to logo design, the choice of color becomes crucial. A logo stands for the brand’s visual representation. What idea do you want to express with your logo? What emotions should your logo bring? These questions are key to understanding what color suits your business identity. Knowing the psychological effects of different colors helps businesses strategically select the most appropriate colors for their logos. This way, you communicate with your audience more effectively.

For example, McDonald’s represents yellow,which recalls happiness, warmth, and joyfulness. It aligns with the perception of this brand as a perfect place for families and friends. Also, as a passionate drink, Coca-Cola’s red logo suggests energy, enthusiasm, and appetite. It symbolizes the spirit of a lively, vivid brand. In turn, the green Android logo represents development and newness. This fresh color conveys Android’s essence of technology and advancement. Finally, Dell’s blue logo suggests the trust and reliability along with proficiency that any technological company must ensure.

So, if you're wondering whether color matters in logo design, the answer is yes. But why do we associate colors with feelings? Stay tuned to find out.

Our emotional connection to colors

We associate colors with feelings due to multiple factors, such as cultural, evolutionary, psychological, and personal peculiarities. 

Here are some conclusions provided by the International Color-Emotion Association Survey:

• Linking colors to feelings is a simple task, as per over 4,500 survey participants.
• Participants generally selected multiple feelings for a color instead of just one. 
• Red was the most controversial color, with associations from love to anger. Purple was the most complex color to associate with whatsoever at all. 
• There are specific cultural differences in the same color perception. For instance, Chinese participants named the red color joyful and amusing, while Nigerians linked it with fear. 
• Applicants who live geographically far from one another showed distinct emotional associations with the same color (yellow is the color of joy for Finns while associated with drought among Egyptians).

Cultural influence

Cultures associate specific colors with meanings and emotions. Such associations usually arise from local traditions, symbols, religions, and historical backgrounds. In China and Japan, the primary funeral color is white. Meanwhile, in the Western world, grief is colored in black. In Buddhism, red represents wisdom and life. However, in Christianity, it stands for war and self-sacrifice.

Evolutionary influence

Evolution also influences fundamental color perception. Green imbibes as a relaxing color since our ancestors could hide and hunt in forests. Besides, our eyesight is quite unreliable when it comes to color. Researchers discovered that color confusion begins at the age of 50. 

Psychological influence 

Color psychology suggests that different colors affect our emotional states. They either boost our mood or stress us out. For instance, white is associated with calm and trust, while orange resembles kindness and energy.

Personal influence

Personal perception comes independently. That’s why people have their own associations with particular colors. The unusual color association might arise from childhood, traumatic situations, etc.

Logo Colors: How to Choose

The choice of color has much to do with the niche and the target market. Therefore, you should understand how a specific color affects your industry and which emotions it stimulates.

Typical industry colors

The DesignMantic research in 2022 found the following:

• Top restaurants’ logo designs primarily consist of red, white, black, yellow, and green.
• Leading tech companies prefer blue and its shades, black, pink, and red.
• The retail industry picked blue, red shades, black, and yellow.

We mentioned blue, red, and yellow associations before. In turn, black symbolizes power, elegance, and mystery.

Warm and cool color scheme 

Color temperatures evoke different emotions. Warm colors show energy and cheerfulness. Therefore, they are appropriate for personal messages. In contrast, cool colors present serenity and peace. They are more suitable for an office atmosphere. Red, yellow, and orange are considered warm colors. The cool colors range from blue to green and purple. 

Color matching rules

Red, blue, and yellow are the primary colors. The rest are secondary since you can receive them after mixing the mains. Here are some details:

• Monochromatic colors — different variations of one color, such as shades, hues, tones, and tints (for example, the transition from deep purple to violet)
• Complementary colors — two opposite colors on the basic color wheel (for instance, red and green)
• Analogous colors — any three colors next to each other on the color wheel (for example, orange, orange-red, and red)
• Triadic colors — three colors forming a triangle on the color wheel (for example, red, blue, and yellow)

By the way, New Fortune 500 List Research (2023) shows that 43% of the surveyed companies have logos with two colors. About 37% of the logos contain one color, over 14% include three colors, and just 5% have four colors. The top five logo colors are blue (nearly 40%), black, red, green, and gray.

Conclusion

A logo’s color informs, associates, and attracts your customers. It gives a brand strong visual appeal and makes it stand out from others. When chosen appropriately, colors evoke particular emotions. Thus, they leave a memorable impact on customers’ minds about a brand. The psychology of color in logo design assists businesses in using colors to expressively communicate their brand message, establishing meaningful associations with customers. 

Although color psychology has some stable associations, consider personal and cultural peculiarities when creating your logo. The better you know your target audience and business field, the more accurate your brand logo.

We at Arounda know how challenging it might be to combine all the information and come up with an ideal logo. Our professionals will gladly assist you in building a strong brand identity through the right colors in your logotype. So why wait? Drop us a line to create the most appealing logo for your brand!

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