Monday, August 23, 2010

How Do Colors and Symbols Influence Memorable Logo Design?

What does it take to make a memorable logo? Really, what design is necessary to make your company logo literally jump off of the page? Logos are what symbolize the overall brand of a company or product, making customers recognize the brand and become instantly attracted to it.

Some of the most famous logos use a combination of color and symbol to personify their brand.

As the perfect example, we are all familiar with the golden arches of McDonald’s. In essence, it is a bright yellow “M”, making it jump off of the page or print so that people immediately know what it is. You can see in this example that the McDonald’s logo depends largely upon its use of color for its success.

Compare this with other simple logos that do not include color or even wording, such as the Nike symbol. This is a pure symbol in itself in the form of a check mark, yet it gets the job done in creating recognition for this incredibly successful sports brand. Would the McDonald’s logo work in the same way if it was in black and white? Absolutely not.

Color is often the most significant portion of the logo design since it can create psychological responses in its viewers. As an example, red symbolizes energy and movement, while blue offers a state of wisdom and calm. Green can be used to represent luck, money, and nature, and yellow is often used to personify optimism, happiness, and laughter.

Nonetheless, many companies choose a symbol over color since a picture is worth a thousand words. In these cases, a combination of text and images can be used to represent a brand and what type of products or services that they offer. With these ideas in mind, you must ask yourself what you want your signature logo to convey, and whether it requires color, a symbol, or both.

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