Let’s start off with a really sobering fact that is quite shocking research provided by Colourcom show that it takes 90 seconds to make a subconscious judgement about a product. Between 62% to 90% of people base that assessment on colour alone.
So what does it tells us?
It’s very huge, essentially a vast majority of people will make up their minds on a design based on a colour alone.
Here are the three methods that help you to choose colours for your logo.
1) What Industry does your client work in?
The first thing I would do when considering colour for a logo is to take a look at the industry where your client works in.
Let’s take an example, For the Financial sector, the very common colour for the financial sector is blue. As it tends to blue being the colour of trust and security, there is something positive that a financial business would want their clients to feel. By looking at the industry of your client operation you can identify the norm of that industry
It’s not essential to follow the trend. But it can give you a good idea of what the competitions are doing and what the industry as a standard is doing too.
2) Applying 5 Keywords
The next method is what I always consider personally when designing a logo, and it’s really quite smart. It’s actually based around 5 Keywords.
- Gender
- Tone
- Value
- Time
- Energy
If you consider these factors, you’ll get a picture of kind of colour that you want to use it for a logo
Gender: It is quite self-explanatory, you have to check is the brand aimed at males or females? If it is for females, you can choose a colour that is plain to that market. Again there is no need to be cliche, but it is good to keep in mind.
Tone: It is related to the brand is playful or serious. Playful might requires vibrant colours.
Value: It is related to the brand is cheap or luxurious. Luxurious cannot go with the colours like violet, black, etc.,
Time: Alludes to the logo in a modern or classic way. Both will have typical colour choices related to them.
Energy: Is the brand loud or subdued and muted?
Asking yourself these five questions can help build an image of the kind of colours you want to be working with.
You want to try and create a personality around the brand and the colour choices will stand from that personality.
3) Relate back to the brief
Another way to look at this is to relate all of this back to the brief of your project. Pick up those keywords that link back to the brand from the brief. Things like strong, stable, healthy, natural and so forth
You can see whether these keywords fit into the colour psychology terms.
- Colours like Red will go for confident, danger and passionate.
- Orange for friendly, warm, change and energetic.
- Green represents natural and healthy.
- Blue is for trust and security.
Refer back to the colour psychology and see how this fits into the keywords for the logo design.
In summary, you need to really consider the personality and background of the brand and your log design. Hope these tips will help you for your next log design.