Psychology of Colours in Logo Design

When you look at the logo of a brand, have you spared any thought to their choice of colours in the logo that they have had designed?

Today a red, white and yellow logo immediately signifies a McDonald outlet and the yellow and blue logo shows us it is Visa. But we have never given thought to why these colour combinations were picked. The motivation behind this has to do with the psychology of colours and the way in which our minds take in a colour and the message that we draw from it. We may not even be aware of the way the message is being sent to our brains via an image. It clearly shows that colour psychology plays vital role in the designing of professional logos.

Here we will look at the ways in which many colours will have an effect on those seeing the logo. First we will look at the messages our brains get when we see different colours and also a look at colours in the way they complement each other. This should have an impact in the effect your company logo will have.

What colours tell the people look at them?

When you see the yellow and blue combination of Wal-Mart for example, what do the colours tell you?

In most situations blue is the colour of power and confidence while the colour yellow is of being upbeat. Combined these two pack a good punch and tell us what the company wants us to feel about the brand.
Colours carry a message with green suggesting good health and growth, while brown tends to be more earthy and shows usefulness, while red shows intense emotions, purple manages to show a lushness, white is a symbol of pristine things and black is the bold colour.

The inferences we have given are all of a positive nature but colours do have negative connotations. The same green that is seen as a prosperous colour is also the hue of jealousy, like red is for fury and black means demise. While this actually is not much an issue while making a logo design due to the many elements that go into a brand, one still has to keep these things in mind.

Using a colour wheel to pick out the right tone of colour

If you are not careful in picking out colours they may not send the message they want to. So instead of doing it randomly, do make use of a colour wheel. This is a tool that will help in putting colours as per the way they work with each other. The norm is that you can go with colours on the opposite sides of the wheel to ensure that they complement each other.

Normally the colours that are side by side may not work out that well. It goes without saying that all this will be dictated by the brand image of the company. But in spite of that do take colours that work well with each other.

Why are colours so important in designing of logos?

Even without us being aware of it colours play a part in the way we view things. The colours seem to touch a subconscious part of our brain even without our awareness. Each colour like the ones we see online or on roads or anywhere else have an effect on our psyche.

Just think about how many times the logo of a company is shown to people. You are hit by this several times throughout your interaction with them whether it is in person or via television and other media. Since it is shown and seen so many times, the colours in the logo need to be selected with care.

We are creatures that are impacted by what we see and then we respond to that too. In this case a logo that company uses will leave its own imprint of the brain which will then affect our decision making. That is why colour of logo for companies is so vital.