What Does Red Say About Your Brand?

Over the years, studies have attempted to assign emotional qualifiers to various colours. Red, they have found, is most often associated with boldness, courage, passion, energy and urgency.

As not only a primary colour, but one to which the human eye is particularly sensitive, red is an immediate attention-grabber. For example, as infants develop the ability to distinguish colour, they see red first – whereas the ability to distinguish other hues and subtle differences in shade comes later.

So, for immediate impact, red is a go-to colour. With that said, you and your designer will have to choose if and how to use red in your logo design and branding. Will it be your sole colour? Will it be a contrast or background colour? Or will it be used as a highlight, banner or burst?

When thinking of ways to keep your design bold, simple and recognisable at any size, red can be a great asset, especially if the central emotional appeal of your brand is to convey energy, courage or urgency.

What successful brands use red logos effectively?

Many well-known brands have made red their signature colour. Coca-Cola, for example, has gone with white lettering on a red field for nearly a century. For the soft drink maker, red emphasises energy. Coca-Cola has also used red in all its sub-brands (Coke Zero, Diet Coke, Cherry Coke, Vanilla Coke) with great success.

Target’s red bullseye is an immediately identifiable logo that not only grabs the viewer’s attention, but is also symbolic of the brand’s name. It doesn’t just talk, it shouts, and it shouts that Target is the one place you’ll want to buy things – pretty much anything.

Is red right for your brand?

When choosing colours for your brand, it’s best to think in broad strokes and rely on your designer’s expertise. The design brief will give you an opportunity to tell designers about your company, target audience and values. And from that information they’ll be able to choose just the right colour to communicate your brand.

You may want to list a few descriptors that you feel best characterise your brand. If energy, courage, boldness, urgency or excitement figure prominently in that list, your designer may be encouraged to make red your base colour.

If a competitor already uses red as their main colour, ask your designer to consider ways to make your brand stand out by varying the shade, shapes or font, images or other elements.

The fine print

Remember, that colour is only one element of your brand’s personality. Context matters. In fact, it’s essential. No one colour is going to say everything you want it to say without the proper context. Creating a persona for your brand and fitting your colour choice within that persona, is far more likely to yield brand success.

SOURCE: 99 Designs