How to Pick the Right Color for Your Brand

Building a brand takes a lot of years before it is establish and is not a simple process as many think. You will not only have to consider a bunch of variables, but you should also know how to make good and rational changes to your brand only when needed.

If you manage to build a powerful brand, whether on the internet or not, your business will be part of the suite providing good services to happy customers. You can sell cars, be a freelancer, sell cups or repair watches, etc.  Having a powerful brand can’t harm you; instead, it will always increase your chances of success a lot.

When designing a brand, you will have to take a lot of things into consideration. One of this is the color. You can have a monochromatic logo, a double-colored one or even have more colors on it (look at Windows or the former Apple logo). Each color says something about the respective brand. Subconsciously, it transmits different kind of messages. We will now take a look at the basic colors and give examples of powerful brands using that choice.

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Red

Red is the color of blood and fire; associated with war, strength, power, but also passion, love and desire. It is a very emotional color and offers powerful and emotional messages. It is very easy to see. Stop signs, stop lights and fire equipment are most of the time red. Many flags have the red colors on it. It is indeed a popular choice because it stimulates people’s passion and always stands out.

Examples: Red Bull, ESPN, Coca Cola, Yamaha, Red Cross. Moreover, McDonalds, Shell, Lego, Superman, YouTube and Windows are among many others using the red color, together with other choices, in their logos.

Orange

The orange color combines the energy of the red with the joy of the yellow. Orange means happiness, sunshine, and it represent enthusiasm, fascination, creativity, attraction and stimulation. Though it is not a stimulating color as red, it still offers powerful impulses and messages to the human brain.

Orange gives the sensation of heat but without being aggressive. It is also associated with healthy food. It has a high level of visibility and is very effective for promoting food products and toys. Therefore, it is used in many commercials

Examples: Orange, Fanta, ING and GE Money Bank, but FedEx and ZDF use it as well, among other colors. It is widely used for orange juice. I have only named Fanta, but a simple Google search will bring you hundreds of orange juice brands using this color.

Yellow

Yellow is the color of happiness and joy because it is associated with the sunshine. It produces a warm but cheerful effect. It stimulates mental activity and generates muscle energy. As the fellow orange, yellow is often associated with food too. Statistics state that yellow used in a big amount, provokes disturbing effects to the human brain and in our behavior. Yellow is used for advertising children products, summer vacations or food, and is very effective when having to attract attention although not as much as red and orange because it is a little bit brighter. It needs a darker background to be more powerful. It is not recommended to be used with serious brands, because it is a cheerful color that does not suggest professionalism.

Examples: McDonalds, Batman, Yellow Pages, DHL, Best Buy and Smart Buy use it. Windows, Shell, Nikon and Ferrari use yellow in combination with other colors.

Green

Green is the color of nature; this is why it’s always used to offer fresh and natural senses. It symbolizes growth and harmony and gives a strong sense of security. Dark green is associated with money, thanks to the American Dollar.

It is the most restful color for the human eye and brain; it helps vision and imagination. It suggests stability and endurance, and this is why sometimes it’s used for strong and powerful companies. It is also used as the green light to offer cars free passage in traffic. Safety is the right word for this color.

Though it is often associated with money, it is mostly used to promote “green” products.

Examples: Animal Planet, Greenpeace, Greenday, Greelabs and Land Rover use green almost completely, while Starbucks, Xbox 360, Windows, eBay and StumbleUpon use green as well among other choices. The recycling sign is also green.

Blue

Blue is probably the most used color in brands. It’s the color of sky and sea; associated with stability and professionalism. It symbolizes trust, confidence, intelligence, truth, faith, heaven and loyalty. As a bottom line, it symbolizes everything you would want your brand to be. That’s why it’s so used.

Blue is considered as beneficial for the mind and body and produces a calm effect. It gives a sense of calmness and tranquility. It is a masculine color that’s why it is so used with powerful brands. It is also highly accepted among males. But mostly blue is used for promoting high-tech products. You’ll see in the examples.

On the downside, blue can’t be successfully used with food and cooking because it suppresses appetite. It can create a powerful impact but not by itself. Blue needs yellow or red to offer an even more powerful sense.

Examples: Nokia, HP, Intel, Samsung, Dove, Nivea, Facebook, Dell, Lenovo and Ford use blue as their main and only color. Windows, NASCAR, Pepsi, Carrefour, MySpace, MSN and Volkswagen use blue as well.

Purple

Purple is not a very popular choice among logo designers. Although it combines the stability of blue and the energy of red, it’s just not used that often. It is associated with royalty and symbolizes power, nobility, luxury and ambition. It is a color for extravagant people and is often associated with wisdom, dignity and independence. It is also a feminine color.

Examples: Yahoo! and LA Lakers are few of the powerful brands using purple.

White

We know white is a non-color but we have to insert it here as well. It is associated with light, innocence, purity and virginity. Though it is the color of perfection and offers way more positive senses than any other color, it is not widely used. Probably because white is impossible to use without any other color. Every logo in the world can be white. Just put it in Photoshop and desaturate it, you’ll most probably end up with something white on a dark background.

It is not a popular choice in brands but is very popular to use in web designs. But aside from that, there are some other else where you can use it.

Examples: Toy Machine and Hot Wheels – both used with black. White just can’t be used by itself.

Black

As its fellow non-color, black is not a popular choice among logo designers either, though it offers powerful messages. It is associated with power, elegance, but with death, evil and mystery as well. It denotes strength and authority. This is why diplomats drive around in black cars only. A black tie and a black costume offer a sense of importance and seriousness.

Examples: Photobucket, ABC, JVC, Sony, Agent 007, RCA, Mercedes and sometimes HP. Swiss Air, NBC, Daytona, Amazon and Cartoon Network use it as well, but in combination with other colors.

Picking the right color for your brand is an important step in building a powerful message. You will not only satisfy the customer, but you will also show them that you have a powerful and serious image to display to the market. When you pick the colors for your newly-founded brand or for your redesign, take a look at those guidelines because they might help you make the right choice.