2 Ways to Choose Color for Logos (Maybe 3)

I’ve always contended that there are only 2 strategic ways to view color as it pertains to logo design. The first by personality, the second by differentiation.

Archetypally each color connotes a certain personality. Therefore it is wise to chose a color that best matches your corporate personality. And by personality, I’m not referring to a subjective “what do you personally like” process - it’s not about what color the CEO likes and wants to paint his/her kitchen. It’s about determining what you want to communicate about your company, leveraging what a color connotes to and affects your audience, and employing that color to tap into that meaning as you communicate to your audience. If you don’t, you run the risk of unconsciously sending mixed messages. For example, if you’re corporate personality is summed up  as “self-confident, risk taker, passionate, and impulsive” over ”down-to-earth, reliable, and empathetic,” red would be a more strategically valuable choice over blue. Blue does better at representing “down to earth” traits, and red is better at more “aggressive” traits.

Choosing a color based on it’s meaning as it relates to your personality is the ideal way to choose a color for you logo. But it’s not the only strategic consideration.

The second way to look at your color is competitively. Your competition creates a context for how communications are perceived. For example, let’s say you’re a well-establish insurance company that could confidently describe your personality as “down-to-earth, reliable, and empathetic” and easily conclude you’re a “blue” company. While that may be true, blue may not be the best choice for you. I would recommend you check your top competitors to see how they represent themselves with color. It may be the case that all (or most) of your competitors are already using blue. When everyone communicates they’re “down-to-earth, reliable, and empathetic,” then no one is (effectively).

If that’s the case, consider a more granular analysis of your personality. Look at your personality as it relates within the context of your industry in contrast to your competition. You may find yourself more aggressive or innovative than all the other “blue” guys, and may allow you another strategic option to exploit. Maybe you’re the “red” company within your “blue” industry and competitive context. If so, it would certainly help to tap into the archetypal connotations that “red” can do for you, and immediately differentiate you in a sea of blue.

Color is a very basic, easily overlooked, but important aesthetic behavior. It can help you establish an appropriate and memorable “suit” to wear as you compete for potential customers attention.

Those are the 2 ways I’ve always viewed strategic logo colors, but recently have been challenges by a couple redesign candidates that have undermined the above thinking. One of the two redesign candidates has Cherry in their name, and the other has the word Blue as part of theirs. The immediate short-cut is how do you not recommend and use cherry red or blue in their respective logo design? Strategically, it would be at odds to suggest otherwise, right?

My thinking is that the immediate color/name relationship is too convenient, immediate, and powerful to impose any other strategic recommendation. Both clients think I’m over-thinking the color issue. A strategic communication partner thinks that archetypal color that best fits needs to be explored regardless of name.

Maybe I’ve stubbled upon a worthy truism that short-cuts all other strategic considerations. Maybe it’s a convenient cop-out to avoid an uncomfortable client change to recommend. Or maybe there’s a 3rd direction to explore that involves the logo color separate from the overall corporate color palette.