When it comes to choosing a logo for your brand, there is more to it than you might think. It is definitely a big decision, and everything from the size to the colour and the shape all has an impact on how consumers will view your brand. At the same time, your logo should be easily recognisable, memorable, and help your audience immediately associate your logo to your brand or company. Today, we are going to show you how to accomplish all of this while ensuring that your logo properly represents your brand.
First Impressions from Your Logo
Your company’s logo is often what makes that all important first impression on your customers. Research shows that most consumers will make subconscious assessments about most things they see within the first 90 seconds. When you further delve into the research behind first impressions, you will discover that almost all (62% to 90%) of that initial judgment is based solely on the colour. In this initial first impression, your target audience can be making all kinds of subconscious decisions about your brand’s trustworthiness, likability, quality, and reliability based on the colour, design, and font.
Logo Colour
Obviously, based on the research we mentioned above, colour is very important when it comes to your logo. Don’t just choose a logo based on your favourite colour. You must look at the psychology and science behind colours and narrow down your choices from there. Check out this infographic for a great reference for the psychology of colours.
Infographic Image Source: FastCompany.com
Here is more about each colour and some examples of companies that use them in their logos.
Blue Logos
Blue is the most popular colour for corporate logos for good reason, it represents trust, security, dependability, honesty, and is also cool and calming. Many banks and technology companies choose blue.
Red Logos
Red is the colour of love, but when it comes to business logos, it can also mean passion, strength, action, excitement, and passion. Use caution when using red in your logo because it can also mean stop, danger, or hot. Red can also be great in creating a sense of urgency. It has been proved to increase the appetite and heart rate of those looking at it. This means red is good for brands trying to sell food or inspire impulse buys.
Pink Logos
Pink is an offshoot of red when it comes to logos. It usually indicates femininity and therefore is great if you are targeting women. Pink is popular with sweet foods and is a playful and fun colour.
Black Logos
Black logos usually instill a sense of sophistication and luxury when it comes to brands. Of course, black can also be serious and somber, so if you are looking for an elevated or elegant look, combine it with perhaps gold or consider the font being used to make the logo appear more classy.
Yellow Logos
Yellow is a bright and sunny colour that represents clarity, optimism, progressiveness, confidence, and creativity. Use caution with yellow in your logo because it is the universal colour for caution and is also too bright to use alone. Yellow logos need a secondary colour to be used in the background or border.
Orange Logos
Orange is the colour of fun, energy, and happiness. It is also considered a sunny colour, especially when paired with yellow. Orange also represents social, friendly, and can represent affordability. Orange is also good for a call to action and can help stimulate appetite.
Green Logos
Green is a colour that can represent many different things depending greatly on the shade of green you use. Many health conscious and fresh or natural companies use green in their logo; but so do banks and companies that want to represent wealth, money, and growth. Green means go, but is also considered a calming colour when the shade is adjusted. Of course, you need to be careful that your green doesn’t represent envy or greed.
Purple Logos
Purple is not the most popular logo colour, but that can also mean that it can help your brand stand out on the shelves or on a web page. Purple represents royalty, majesty, creativity, and mystery. It is thought of as elitist, but also appeals to children. So if you want to portray your brand as royal, or appeal to children, then consider purple. Purple can also be sentimental.
Multi-coloured Logos
Multi-coloured logos are relatively new onto the logo scene and have been made possible because of the internet and also economical four colour printing options. A rainbow of colours used right can show your audience that you are versatile and can have something for everyone. Many internet companies use the rainbow of colours, or at least most primary colours. A rainbow of colour can show that your company is fun, easy-going, and appeals to children.
Summary and Takeaways for Your Business
Unlike other forms of marketing, it isn’t easy or practical to test out different logos because of all the expense and effort that is involved in creating and printing a logo and then branding it. Therefore, the testing you do must be done as a study basis prior to actually developing your logo. You can host customers and your target audience for surveys and ask them about the types of impressions they have about your business and ask them about different logo prototypes, colours, fonts, and designs. This can give you a basis for what will appeal to your broader audience. Once you do choose your logo, you can use it in multiple ways. One of the best ways to distribute your logo and help improve your branding is with promotional products. Consult with a proven branded gift company like GoPromotional.co.uk to help you find a logo and the promotional product that is perfect for your company. Your logo and a great free promotional gift are the perfect branding combination to help promote your business.