One of the hardest decisions when it comes to logo design is which colors to use. Should you use blue, green, or red? Or maybe a more unusual color like purple, brown, or magenta?
Should you stick to one or a few colors, or should you try to incorporate a larger palette? Maybe a gradient would look nice, or why not some sleek skeuomorphism?
The Psychology of Colors in Logo Design
One of the reasons why it’s so easy to get stuck on color choices is that there are so many aspects to consider.
Psychology: Imagine you are in a room painted in red, green, or blue. It would evoke different kinds of feelings, right?
Meanings: Some colors are used as signals to quickly convey a message. Red for stop and prohibition. Orange for warning. Green for go and exit. Colors can also be used to communicate more abstract messages. Green, for example, is associated with being environmentally friendly or eco-conscious.
Industry: Certain colors are associated with different industries. Blue is often associated with technology, green with health and healthcare, red with food and beverage, and black, silver, and gold with fashion and luxury.
But how should all this be applied to logo design? Does a tech company really need to have a blue logo? Will a red logo always be perceived as a warning or prohibition?
Learn from the Big Brands
Instead of reading numerous articles on color psychology and trying to reconcile all the conflicting messages, let’s look at how the most valuable brands have done it. These are companies whose logos are known worldwide and have often been developed and refined over the years to send exactly the right signals and values.
As a starting point, we took Forbes’ list of the world’s 100 most valuable brands of 2024. We then downloaded their current logos and extracted the colors. From this, we can see how the world’s strongest brands have used colors in their logo design.
How Many Colors in Logo Design?
The first thing we examined was how many colors the different logos contain:
- 50% of the logos contain only one color
- 38% consist of two colors
- 6% consist of three colors
- 2% of four colors
- 4% of five or more colors
So, 88 percent of the logos contain only one or two colors. A successful recipe seems to be: the fewer colors, the better.
Which Colors Are the Most Popular in Logo Design?
To start, we can note that many brands have simply opted out of having colors in their logo. 18 percent of the logos are completely monochrome, consisting of a black or gray symbol and/or wordmark against a white surface.
Among the brands that use colors in their logo design, the most popular colors are blue and red, which appear equally often:
- 37% of the logos contain blue
- 37% of the logos contain red
- 26% of the logos contain yellow/orange
- 8% of the logos contain green
- 5% of the logos contain other colors (brown, purple, pink, magenta)
So, the simplest recipe seems to be a logo that is monochrome, or one that sticks to the colors blue, red, or yellow/orange.
Which Industries Use Which Colors?
Looking industry by industry, you see some surprises. Banks and financial companies, which according to most color theories should want to convey security and competence through the color blue, surprisingly often use the temperamental warning colors red and orange. Thanks to J.P. Morgan, the color brown also finds its way into the palette.
Technology companies are also not afraid to throw in some unexpected colors into the mix, mainly through Google, Microsoft, and eBay, all of which use a broad palette of four colors each. Otherwise, there is a relatively strong emphasis on blue.
Luxury brands stick close to the expected color black, and within automotive, black, gray, and dark blue dominate. Here, only Toyota (red) and Porsche, with its skeuomorphic shield, bring other colors into the mix.
In summary, while there are certain industry-specific colors, nothing seems to prevent the world’s most valuable brands from breaking the norms.
Gradients and Skeuomorphism
Flat design is the absolutely dominant style among the reviewed logos. Many logos seem to be designed based on the principle: the simpler, the better. When colors are used, it’s common for the logo to contain one or a couple of distinct and clear colors, and only 7 percent of the logos contain a gradient.
Something even rarer is skeuomorphism, the design style where you try to imitate physical objects. Among the logos reviewed, this is found only in Porsche’s shield and Mercedes-Benz’s symbol.
Summary
By examining how the world’s 100 most valuable brands use colors in their logo design we can conclude that:
- 88% of the logos use one or two colors, with blue and red being the most popular (37% each). Monochrome logos are also common (18%).
- While some colors are more common in different industries you can always find logos that defy the conventions.
- Flat design dominates, with simplicity being a key trend. Only 7% of logos use gradients, and skeuomorphism is even more rare.
Bonus
Need a strong a proven color for your logo? From the colors used in the examined logos we extracted an average shade for each base color:
- ROJO: #d91e2a
- MARIAN BLUE: #1b408b
- DARK SPRING GREEN: #007244
- XANTHOUS: #f4af02
- NIGHT: #0a0b0f
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Read a summary of this article: Choosing Colors For Your Logo at Medium or Colors In Logos at Vocal