The colours you use in your logo and branding do more than simply attract the customers’ eyes. They create an immediate, emotional response, free from any kind of analysis by the brain. Indeed, there’s a whole industry dedicated to the psychology of colour choices and the impact they have on a viewer.
Here at Be Bold Studios, our designers are well-versed in colour theory. Whether we’re designing a logo, developing a website, or creating brand colours for your business, we know how important colour choices are.
Warm colours include the red, orange, and yellow spectrum – the colours of fire and flame, sunrise and sunset, passion and positivity. Use warm colours in your logo design and branding denotes passion, enthusiasm, happiness, and energy.
Of the warm colours, red is the hottest in terms of emotional impact, with strong associations with love, passion, and fire. It can easily overwhelm a design and is often best used as an accent colour.
Orange, on the other hand, is vibrant and energetic. Bright orange is associated with health and vitality, while more muted shades evoke change and movement, thanks to its association with changing seasons.
Yellow brings to mind sunshine, happiness, and hope. Pale yellows are calming and peaceful, while deeper, golden yellows evoke feelings of value and permanence.
Cool colours cover the green, blue, and purple spectrum, being more subdued than their warmer counterparts. These are the colours of night, nature, and water and tend to be relaxing and calming to the eye.
Green represents both new beginnings and growth as well as renewal and abundance. It combines the calming attributes of blue with the energy of yellow, creating a harmonising, stable effect.
Depending on the shade, blue can represent anything from sadness and responsibility to calmness, strength, and more. It has long been associated with peace and gives strong spiritual connotations to a design.
Being a combination of red and blue, purple takes on some of the traits of both. It is an imperial colour, bold and regal – one associated with wealth, taste, and quality. It is also often used to portray creativity and imagination.
We all know what neutral colours are – your blacks, whites, and greys, as well as beige, tans, and creams. These are often used as the backdrop in logo and website design, something for the other colours to contrast against. However, they do have their own attributes.
Black is associated with power, formality, and elegance on the one hand, and with mourning, mystery, and death on the other.
White – like black – works with almost any colour. It has associations with purity, virtue, and cleanliness, being often used in the healthcare industry. White also evokes feelings of goodness, which is why angels are so often depicted in white.
Brown is associated with the nature – specifically earth, wood, and stone. It evokes feelings of reliability and dependability, as well as warmth and wholesomeness.
Beige and tan colours are rarely used as the focal point, being usually reserved for the background. In this, their tones are dependant on the other colours in the design, as it takes on their characteristics. Conservative in nature, beige represents ageing and piety.
Ivory and cream provide sophistication to any design. They are quiet colours, evoking a sense of history and luxury. They incorporate the purity of white, with an added warmth to make it more natural and appealing.
If this has got you thinking about the colours in your own logo and branding, get in touch with Be Bold Studios today. Call us on 0747 688 7743 to arrange a consultation with one of our designers.