Think the color of your logo doesn’t matter? It does.
Don’t believe it? Just ask Spotify.
The company’s logo changed overnight from its original green color to a more vibrant bluish variation, causing quite the stir among Spotify users. The consensus among Spotifiers? The new shade has got to go.
What’s the big deal, you ask?
Although most of the backlash was geared towards the color choice itself, a larger issue lies a little deeper: a logo plays a major role in creating – and maintaining – brand identity.
Exhibit B: Shell Gasoline. The red and yellow shell shines like a beacon of hope on the horizon when you’re short on fuel. But what happens when the color is removed? Strip the Shell logo of its iconic colors and the connection to the brand is no longer intuitive, leading you to skip right by it and stop at the following Mobil station. And just like that, Shell would have missed out on a paying customer.
50 Shades of Uncertainty – Choosing the Right Color
Color is no longer limited to the 7 colors of the traditional rainbow. There are primary colors, secondary colors, tertiary colors – the possibilities are near endless. Not sure where to start? Harvest some inspiration from color use trends among the world’s top brands.
- 95% of top brands use only one or two colors
- The most commonly used color is blue at 33%
- 29% use red
- 28% stick with black or grayscale color scheme
As you can see, the majority of these brands use red or blue, but that doesn’t mean you should feel obligated to follow suit. Your logo should represent your business. What works for another business may not work for yours.
Top brands aside, you want your color(s) to give your logo the following traits:
- Versatility. Odds are your marketing materials won’t all have the same color background. Variety is the spice of life, you know. A versatile logo will look equally good on a black background as it does on a white background – or any color background for that matter.
- Personality. Colors are emotive. They make people feel things. In shaping your brand’s personality, consider this question: how do you want people to feel when they think of your company? Do you want to give an air of trustworthiness with a blue hue? Or fun with a bright shade of yellow? Take some time to brainstorm the most important attributes of your business and work from there. Remember: regardless of how you want your customers to feel, your brand’s personality should directly relate to your company. A fun color is not fitting for all industries (i.e. divorce attorneys).
- Simplicity. Finally, you want to keep your color choices simple. Most successful logos are only one or two colors! Think McDonald’s, Nike, and Coca Cola.
Think you’re off the hook because you have a simple text logo? Wrong.
Think about FedEx. Unique and eye-catching, their colors are iconic. You may be reminded of a time when you were sitting next to a FedEx truck in bumper-to-bumper traffic. You may think of many a Christmas season that you procrastinated a little too much and needed a timely delivery to make up for it. You may even think of Castaway (Wilson!). Whatever you may think of, one thing’s for certain: you cannot picture the logo without its purple and orange color scheme.
Spotify, Shell, FedEx – their logos all have one thing in common. Your logo is the face of your business. You want it to be versatile. You want it to be simple. You want it to be memorable. But above all, you want it to be yours.
