Everywhere we look we are surrounded by the logos of companies. Whether its adverts in magazines, websites or perhaps product placement in a movie – when we see these logos they evoke certain feelings in us such as hunger or trust. We just don’t realise it! This is exactly why a business will spend so much time and money researching and designing a logo that embodies the product they’re trying to sell. The most important design feature of any logo is colour. Every logo that’s created is designed with a colour in mind to raise a certain emotion in the consumer and these are some of the most popular:
Red
You might not have realised it, but most fast food logos are predominately red and a lot of them will contain a splash of yellow too. Whether it’s your favourite burger restaurant like McDonalds, chicken masters KFC or pizza places like Pizza Hut and Domino’s, they all have red logos. Even takeaway apps like hungryhouse follow this pattern too. But why? Well it’s because the use of red and yellow in a logo is a trigger for excitement and hunger in our brains. Indeed, this burst of excitement is liable to make you spend lots of money on food that you’ll eat in a short amount of time – exactly what a fast food restaurant or app want you to do!
But is it accurate? Well research has been put into hunger associated with room colours with findings showing that people will generally eat more in a room with warm colours. In a colder room coloured black, blue or purple, people would eat less. Apparently, these colder colours can make people think of food that has gone off so your appetite lessens.
Blue
When you think of blue, you probably think of the ocean or the sky and other things that are considered calming. Indeed, blue is thought to not only bring us calm thoughts, but also feelings of trust, order and cleanliness too, which makes it a popular logo colour for corporate businesses and brands that would like to promote loyalty. Businesses like Facebook, Twitter, Pepsi and American Express all heavily use blue in their logos.
Green
Green has two main associations – the planet, environment and the great outdoors and, in complete contrast, also jealousy. However, in terms of psychology, there’s a lot more to the colour green than first meets the eye as it is said to symbolise health, calmness and money. Companies like BP and Land Rover have largely green logos to symbolise wealth and status, while you will also find Animal Planet using green as a symbol of nature, and Starbucks as a feeling of empowerment.
Orange
Like red, orange is a warm colour that brings up feelings of excitement and enthusiasm, but unlike red that is primarily used in the food industry, orange tends to be focussed on impulse buyers. Amazon, for example, features a large orange burst in their logo, and how many times have you bought something you hadn’t intended from them? Orange is also used to signify a fun brand too, so you’ll find it in the logos of restaurant chain Hooters and associated with child-friendly brands like Crush, Fanta and Nickelodeon.
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