Logo design and your business colors

[pendelton]

Do the colors of your site, and logo, convey what you want them to? With over 16 million shades of color to choose from which is right for you and your site(s)?

Black is the color for power and authority, but can also imply submission, depending on how it is used. Too much use and it can be overbearing, which can make you look aloof, or evil.

White can denote innocence, purity, or sterility.

Red is the most emotional color, causing faster heartbeats and more rapid breathing. Red can be used as a color of love or as a sign of caution.

Pink, romantic and tranquil.

Blue is also a tranquil color, as relaxing as watching the calm summer sky, giving a peaceful feeling. Used to much though it can cause depression with the lighter icier shades being viewed as cold and uncaring.

Green is the color of money and nature and is also a calming color, while refreshing in the lighter shades. Darker greens are considered conservative and masculine.

Yellow, bright and cheerful, draws the eye, but, if over used can cause agitation. The right amount can speed up you metabolism and make it so you can concentrate better.

Purple is a royal color, giving the idea of luxury, wealth, and of being sophisticated. Not being a natural color it can appear fake and unreal if used incorrectly. The romantic and feminine qualities can not be overlooked though.

Brown is the color of the earth, solid, reliable, and plentiful. Browns can imply intelligence or a sad wistfulness.

Pictures are worth a thousand words, and good ones are in color.

[lokesh05]

oh man! wow! that's quite some information! but many logos i have seen and analyzing them through the code above, doesn't seem to match them to their businesses!
pictures sure are worth are a thousand words, but how one depicts the pictures one sees is something different! :P

[rachael24]

Great post...I learned about this in my Advertising class. Its amazing how a little color can alter perception

[Fergal]

Excellent post Pendelton. I hope the blues on this community don't depress anyone :(

I've seen blue used quite a lot on business related sites. It's probably considered to be quite a conservative colour.

[pendelton]

Thanks all.

The blue here is relaxing to me. Peaceful, like watching the sky through light wispy clouds. That's just me though. :)

[Kay]

Excellent post Pendelton. I hope the blues on this community don't depress anyone :(

I've seen blue used quite a lot on business related sites. It's probably considered to be quite a conservative colour.

I think blue is pretty much the standard for business sites, Fergal. A gazillion people can't be wrong. ;) Apart from being a conservative choice, I recall reading somewhere about how it's easier on the eyes. Businesses want clients to hang around awhile on their sites so a more soothing colour makes sense. If you'd had shocking pink or neon green, how many would have left as soon as they arrived I wonder? Plenty I'd bet.

I was curious as to why it was the colour of choice for business sites rather than beige or green for example and this is what I dug up from Bloomsburg University.


Blue represents peace, tranquility, calm, stability, harmony, unity, trust, truth, confidence, conservatism, security, cleanliness, order, loyalty, sky, water, cold, technology, and depression.

Blue can "slow the pulse rate, lower body temperature, and reduce appetite." Blue is considered a business color because it reflects reliability.

In China, blue is associated with immortality.
In Colombia, blue is associated with soap.
For Hindus blue is the color of Krishna.
For the Jews, blue symbolizes holiness.
In the Middle East blue is a protective color.

Note: Blue is often considered to be the safest global color.

http://iit.bloomu.edu/vthc/Design/psychology.htm

The last part in particular's especially interesting to know if you're targeting foreign markets and may even be the predominant reason why blue's top of the heap.

:)

[Fergal]

Thanks for that Kay. The fact that blue is associated with both business and depression is quite appropriate given the economic, business and financial news we now hear everyday :)

[pendelton]

Sad but true. The world economy is getting rather tranquil these days.

[Kay]

Thanks for that Kay. The fact that blue is associated with both business and depression is quite appropriate given the economic, business and financial news we now hear everyday :)

Maybe we need to run a soundtrack on the sites to counteract that. Something like "We're in the Money" or "The sun will come out tomorrow."

Ignore me, I'm trying to keep myself positive in these worrying times. Some days humor is my only defence. :)

[Mattie03]

As i've observed, Brown, gray and blue are the most safe colors to use in websites and forums like this.

[deepak_sharma]

Well i personally think that colors tell a lot about you and your nature. It is also important in your business logo as this is going to attract customer for your business.

[MariahLinda99]

Colors are very important for the attraction and tell about the thing.Some colors speak themselves and explain their selves.So the Colors in logo must be attractive so that your product having logo on it may look more attractive.
The right spell of colour is color.

Thankyou.

Mariah

[Matt]

The blue is definitely calming, but I don't think it is depressing :P I like blue. It make a site look very nice

[Fergal]

...The right spell of colour is color...
That's true if you use US English spelling, however if you use UK English spelling the correct spelling is "colour".

[NikiRebin]

How interesting! We've found that for the most part, men's eyes tend to be attracted to the darker, stronger colours in websites. If you look at many sites relating to cars, gaming, online poker and whatnot, you'll find they tend to have those colour schemes.

I'm glad this thread came along, because I'd like to ask you men and women about your thoughts on a rich burgundy-and-gold or burgundy-and-cream scheme. If you do a simple google image search of "burgundy and gold," you'll see plenty of examples of how they look together. We're trying to appeal to both men's and women's colour preferences on this one, and I find the look classic. Any thoughts on this?

[Fergal]

Burgundy and gold are not the type of colours I normally expect to see on a website, I have looked at the images in Google, but do you by any chance have a link to a website or web template that uses that colour scheme?

[JPM]

That's true if you use US English spelling, however if you use UK English spelling the correct spelling is "colour".

You mean English Fergal? ;)

[NikiRebin]

@Fergal:

Well we sort of wanted to give our site an old-world feel, possibly with a damask pattern in the background similar to this:
http://www.interiorplace.com/products/Satin-Burgundy-Damask-Wallpaper.html

We would set up our site to have a central column with a cream-coloured parchment look:
http://www.izabellainteriors.ca/portfolio/finishes/parchmentsuede.html

I haven't really seen it on any sites I can think of, which is why I'm so keen on it. I'm sure they're out there, but the closest site I could find was this one, and it's quite beautiful:
http://www.petershallard.com/

I hope that helps...? Thanks for the input!

[Gagandeep Singh]

Thanks for the post. Nice info on colors.
But with a recent research its proved that websites with color black convert less on line sales. So i avoid using black on my web pages.

[Fergal]

NikiRebin the first link in your post is not opening for me? The Peter Shallard site does look great, I really do like the colour combination and I'm sure it could work very well for your site. Once you have created the site or a template for it, you would be welcome to post a review request in our Website and Graphic Review section and you should get lots of feedback and suggestions there.

[NikiRebin]

That's great Fergal, thanks!