Logo Design Psychology: Understanding Color Meanings

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oly cow, that month went fast. Seems like we have just put the third issue of
Logopalooza to bed and here we are again, fighting a completely arbitrary,
self-imposed and absolutely unnecessary deadline. Old magazine habits die hard I
guess. Anyway, this is indeed the fourth edition of our digital magazine (we now know
what it is) that we’re going to release around the 5th of every month (we now have a
schedule.) Response to the last edition has been decent, though truth to tell we’re not
tracking it as much as we should be. It’s available for download on a couple of websites
(without any registration) as well as on ISSU and Slideshare. With each edition we’ll“tighten things up”a tad -
right now this has a runaway train aspect that we’re just trying to stay on top of. This issue still features work
from our shop in the gallery pages, but once we’ve gained a little bit
of momentum, we’ll open things up for other designers to add their
work, with links back to their sites and what-not. No point in even
suggesting that others participate unless we’ve got things grooving
more than can be expected with a few issues.
In the meantime, we’ve got a dedicated
Logopalooza.com domain up and
running (as well as Logopalooza.net that
redirects) so you’ll always know where to
pick up a download. There’s also a contact form there should you wish to drop us a
line. The idea of this pet project is to have fun, promote design and designers and
show off our all our work. Buttress that with a few interesting logo and design
bits-n-pieces and we might have something that will interest readers on a monthly
basis.
In this edition, we’ve got a mess of random logo examples, a case study or two, some
trivia, news and shop talk for designers to browse through. Hope you enjoy and
thanks for taking the time. Same time next month, all things being equal.
H
AboutLogopalooza

Client: City of ShafterClient: Horizons Church
Client: More Than Coffee
1.866.891.9704 www.Logopalooza.com4

Client: We Care PharmacyClient: A3 Car Club
Client: Panda Fireworks
1.866.891.9704 www.Logopalooza.com

Blue
Psychology of Blue:
Trusted. Conservative. Dependable. Honesty. Calm. Secure. Cool.
Psychology of Blue:
Trusted. Conservative. Dependable. Honesty. Calm. Secure. Cool.
Notable: Most popular corporate color. Used frequently for
online businesses & financial institutions. Masculine color.
Notable: Most popular corporate color. Used frequently for
online businesses & financial institutions. Masculine color.
Black
Psychology of Black:
Sophisticated. Luxurious. Style. Elegance. Expensive. Authoritative.
Psychology of Black:
Sophisticated. Luxurious. Style. Elegance. Expensive. Authoritative.
Notable: Black is used by“high-end”brands as main or
paired with another color. Black is somber, serious. Most
logos are actually designed in black & white first.
Notable: Black is used by“high-end”brands as main or
paired with another color. Black is somber, serious. Most
logos are actually designed in black & white first.
Wherein we break down what colors are supposed to mean, particularly
in their use in logos. With examples, in order of popularity.
1 2

Blue
Psychology of Purple:
Royalty. Mystery. Pomp. Ceremony. Creative. Unique. Majesty.
Psychology of Purple:
Royalty. Mystery. Pomp. Ceremony. Creative. Unique. Majesty.
Notable: Once the most expensive color to reproduce,
purple is often viewed as“elitist.”Appeals to children &
often used in candy and toy packaging.
Notable: Once the most expensive color to reproduce,
purple is often viewed as“elitist.”Appeals to children &
often used in candy and toy packaging.
Multi-Colored
Psychology of Multi-Color (Rainbow):
Fun. Easy-going. Child-like. Internet. Multi-disciplinary. Authority.
Psychology of Multi-Color (Rainbow):
Fun. Easy-going. Child-like. Internet. Multi-disciplinary. Authority.
Notable: Multi-colored &“rainbow”colored logos are a
relatively new development due to web & more economical
4 color printing. Represents a color-branding challenge.
Notable: Multi-colored &“rainbow”colored logos are a
relatively new development due to web & more economical
4 color printing. Represents a color-branding challenge.
Orange
Psychology of Orange:
Happy. Energetic. Sociable. Affordable. Enthusiastic. Sunny.
Psychology of Orange:
Happy. Energetic. Sociable. Affordable. Enthusiastic. Sunny.
Notable: Orange is thought to stimulate appetite. Orange is
used in some warning labels. Used frequently in retail.
Often a“call to action.”
Notable: Orange is thought to stimulate appetite. Orange is
used in some warning labels. Used frequently in retail.
Often a“call to action.”
Green
Psychology of Green:
Nature. Wealth. Fresh. Life. Harmony. Environment. Growth. New.
Psychology of Green:
Nature. Wealth. Fresh. Life. Harmony. Environment. Growth. New.
Notable: Green means“go.”Used frequently to represent
eco-friendly companies and products. Thought to be a
calming color.
Notable: Green means“go.”Used frequently to represent
eco-friendly companies and products. Thought to be a
calming color.
Red
Psychology of Red:
Bold. Passion. Strength. Attention. Love. Action. Aggressive.
Psychology of Red:
Bold. Passion. Strength. Attention. Love. Action. Aggressive.
Notable: Red works on black & white backgrounds. Can
mean stop, danger & hot. An exclamation color. Pinks (red
tints) are generally considered feminine colors.
Notable: Red works on black & white backgrounds. Can
mean stop, danger & hot. An exclamation color. Pinks (red
tints) are generally considered feminine colors.
YellowYellow
Psychology of Yellow:
Logical. Optimistic. Progressive. Confident. Playful. Creative.
Psychology of Yellow:
Logical. Optimistic. Progressive. Confident. Playful. Creative.
Notable: Yellow is (generally) too bright a color to stand on
its own and will require a secondary outline, background or
bordering color. Universal caution color. Represents clarity.
Notable: Yellow is (generally) too bright a color to stand on
its own and will require a secondary outline, background or
bordering color. Universal caution color. Represents clarity.
8
6 7
3 4

Client: Clupedia
Client: Dave Elfassey Real EstateClient: Nu Soil
Client: Dive CaddyClient: Vargo Associates
Client: Dive Hatteras

Client: The BrathausClient: Internal
Client: Zeltone Industries

CaseStudy:MadhouseTattoo
We’ve never been shy about our love for illustrative logos
(something for which we’ve often been criticized) and embrace
the style quite enthusiastically. I always love the craftsmanship
that goes into these types of logos, and while I agree that
simplistic is usually preferable to complicated, there’are times
when a full-blown illustrative treatment is what the design
doctor ordered. This is one of them.
There’s an entire subculture to the tattoo scene and
there are certain expectations in the graphic art that’s
aimed at it – has to be rebellious and edgy. That’s also
what the creative brief for Mad Hatter Tattoo told us.
They wanted“crazy,” “over the top,”and“wild.”Something
that“really stood out.”
Some of the original client-requested concepts involved an
octopus (ink, right?) The
problem with an octopus motif is that it implies flailing about, haphazardly
inking everywhere. Thankfully, this avenue of exploration was discarded pretty
well off the hop. There was also a monkey. The other
direction worth exploring – and an obvious
tie-in – was the Mad Hatter himself.
That would require developing a
character. With preliminary concepts
in mind, we took a stab at some
preliminary (and very rough)
sketches. The octopus was out. So too
was the monkey. This Mad Hatter fella
though. This required a Tim Burtonesque
approach, unlike our earlier ideas (which,
truth to tell, looked more like a kid’s birthday
magician than a Mad Hatter anyway.)

Once we had him established as a starting point, we
began looking at how to incorporate typography
into the design. There are certain
expectations of what a tattoo parlor
font is supposed to look like so we
started by roughing things in first.
The positioning worked, but the font
wasn’t Gothic,“tattooish”enough if
you will. We rummaged through our
font folder to see if there was
something we could work with.
And that’s how the final design came together. This is an
exceptionally complex illustrative logo, probably the
second or third most complex that we’ve ever done.
How complex is it? Let’s take a look at the initial and
unedited wire-frame view of the vectors involved:
We also broke the logo into a text only version,
something that can be used in a pinch when
space and/or aspect ratio wouldn’t permit use
of the full blown design:

Client: Baylar Pens

Client: Black Mountain BicyclesClient: Wild Hog Foods
Client: American Tire Company

Client: NBI DesignClient: Coffee Services Unlimited
Client: NoteableClient: Netplace
Client: Federal Air Marshal AssosciationClient: Granite Communications

Client: NBI DesignClient: Rayz Air
Client: Julio’sClient: Stone Creek Grill
Client: The Bull & GoatClient: Bay Area Rapid Detox

Trivia:There’sabearhiddenintheTobleronelogo.
A bear you say? Still don't buy it? Okay, let's look at the logo one more time.
Not seeing it yet? Okay, let's zoom in and outline
the hidden element. There he is!
According to corporate
legend, Theodor Tobler - the
creator and namesake of
Toblerone - found his
inspiration for both the
shape of his chocolate
and the company
logo from the
triangular shape
of the
Matterhorn
in the Swiss Alps.
In a less corporate
friendly version of the
story, and according to
Theodor's sons, the
triangular shape
originates from a
pyramid shape
that dancers at
the Paris Folies
Bergeres
created as the finale of a show that Theodor
attended, and was apparently quite impressed by.
Toblerone was originally
created by Tobler & his wife in 1908. The
product's name is a portmanteau combining
Tobler's name with the Italian word torrone (a type
of nougat.)
The bear is taken from the official symbol of Bern,
the Swiss town where Toblerone was made.

Client: Cowabunga Bay Water Park
1.866.891.9704 www.TheLogoFactory.com

Client: Mark My WordsClient: Watts Performing Arts Centre
Client: Froggie’s Bait Dock

“ackchyually...”
“i could’ve done
better than this
for $10!”
“haven’t these
guys ever heard
of 99designs??!”
“ahm.. guys?
is it really that
bad?”
“new logo!”
“woof!”
Shortly after a new logo gets announced on Twitter.
Pitchforks & Torches.
“hit it with
a hammer!”
“eeeieee!”
“bad design!
bad!”
“burn it!”

Trivia:SoYouThinkYouKnowLogos?
Like most logos, the design
for the Ramones was
created with a purpose. To
brand the group as the
quintessential
All-American rock band
using imagery from The
Presidential Seal. And while
the Ramones are no more,
their legend, and famous
eagle, live on.
Let’s get this out of the way: the actual name of the
band is Ramones, not THE Ramones. Trouble is,
that’s weird to write and even on the official
Ramones’website, they’re referred to as“the
Ramones”with a lower case“t”, so no hate mail on
getting the name wrong m’kay? Moving on..
The Ramones’logo was designed by New York City
artist Arturo Vega, a longtime friend who lived
with several members of the band. Vega also
served as the band’s lighting director and
produced the band’s T-shirts, their main source of
income during early touring days. Most of those
designs featured artwork based on an American
Bald Eagle belt buckle which had appeared on the
back sleeve of the Ramones’first album. Vega was
inspired to create the band’s logo design, basing it
on The Presidential Seal, after a trip to Washington,
D.C., wanting the design to portray‘An
All-American Band.’
The scroll in the eagle’s beak originally read“Look
Out Below”, but this was changed to“Hey. Ho. Let’s
go”taken from the lyrics of the band’s first single,
Blitzkrieg Bop. As an aside, that phrase is also
used in several Stephen King novels (King is a
huge fan), while the Ramones recorded the
soundtrack song to the film adaptation of King’s
Pet Sematary
The arrowheads were inspired by a design on a
polyester shirt Vega had bought, and were meant
to“symbolize strength and the aggression that
would be used against whomever dares to attack
us.”Similarly, the branch
was meant to symbolize
an olive branch“offered
to those who want to be
friendly.”

Probably not a good idea, especially if you’re slapping it
on products you’re trying to sell in Hungary. Just ask
German brewers of Heineken, facing a ban over the red
star in their beer labels, as the government bans
symbols of“tyranny”and communism.
A red star in your logo?
Zagreb Airport proudly announces their new brand
identity. The Internet finds it as a stock vector in five
minutes flat.
Oh no they didn’t
Volleyball Canada announces a stylish rework of their
old cluttered design.
Stylish rebrand
The New England Patriots logo is called“the flying Elvis”
because that’s actually Elvis. In their logo.
The Flying Elvis
LogoGoRound:DesignNews
Bite-sized news snippets from
around the world.
And brand identity. For official Nova Scotia Seafood.
New logo
For the UK’s Aldi eschews“flat design”for blends.
Designers are confused about the entire thing.
Brand rework

Client: Frozen Creative

Client: Swoll Your RollClient: Rose Petals
Client: Cinnamon Grove Cafe & Deli

New logo for the Penn Dixie Paleontological & Outdoor
Education Center in Buffalo, also known as the
Hamburg Fossil Quarry, who now want to be called the
Penn Dixie Fossil Park & Nature Reserve.“We’re
retaining‘Penn Dixie’and aligning our branding more
closely with our primary asset, our fossil park.”
New logo for Penn Dixie
50 anniversary logo for Jerry Anderson’s Captain
Scarlett TV show. Filmed with puppets (strings) in
Supermarionation.
Captain Scarlett turns 50
To celebrate, Ireland’s Dublin Cycling Campaign
released this logo - the two zeros reflecting bicycle
wheels that span the 2 centuries. .
The bicycle turns 200
Adobe’s flagship drawing software turns 30 years old.
Lots of celebratory videos & features announced.
Illustrator is 30 this month
LogoGoRound:DesignNews
Bite-sized news snippets from
around the world.

TheLogoStudioShopTalk:UnderstandingLogoConfigurations
A look at the configurations, setups & design variations you’ll eventually need to make
your logo work wherever it has to. The best logos are responsive, adaptable and work as
both, depending on where you want to put it.
Aspect ratio sounds like a fancier term than it
actually is, namely the relationship between your
height and width of your logo. If the upright edge
is the largest, your logo would have a horizontal
aspect ratio. Like so:
A logo (A) can
consist of up to 4
main components –
a symbol (B ,) a
primary word mark
(C and D) and a tag
or strapline (E)
Light backgrounds, whether on a website or in a
brochure, are safe territory for most logos in their
default setup.
Dark backgrounds get a little trickier because we
may have to tweak various bits and pieces of the
default setup to make it work. If we simply drop
our default logo on a dark background – in this
case black, various elements will no longer be
visible (A below.)
We’ll have to make some changes to the structure
of the design for dark backgrounds (B.)
While the default version of our logo is horizontal,
that certainly doesn’t stop us
from doing this.
Nobody could argue that this
is a different logo – its DNA is
unmistakable – but it’ll
work for occasions when
a vertical area is all we
have to work with.

Square: We could fit the default version of our
logo into a square if needs be – for using it as an
avatar or profile picture on social media platforms
is one such instance – but in order to fit the widest
edge in, we’d have to make it fairly small (A & B
above) especially if we choose to go with our
horizontal version. By moving things around
ever-so-slightly, we can maximize our use of the
square real estate we’re dealing with (B & D)
Black and white versions work on things like
checks, faxes and what have you. Here’s the two
types of black and white logos:
One color reverse is a concept that even seems to
confuse designers from time to time. The idea here
is to have a logo that works on dark backgrounds,
allows the background to“poke through”the
design setup (B below.)
One color reverse is a concept that even seems to
confuse designers from time to time. The idea here
is to have a logo that works on dark backgrounds,
allows the background to“poke through”the
design setup (B above.) This isn’t just a matter of
turning the one color setup we talked about to
white – that ends up with an X-ray effect – but
creating a completely different configuration that
works in the way we need. That’s gonna require a
little tinkering with the original logo vector art.
Here’s what our color reverse artwork looks like if
we were to print it dark.
The design on the left (A) is still in black and white
but uses a percentage of black (grayscale) to imply
a second color. The version on the right (B) only
uses solid black.
A one color setup is a little different than the black
and white configuration we just talked about
insomuch it’s not black per se, but color agnostic
and merely needs one color to work.

Client: Chimpanzee Species Survival Plan

TheLogoStudioShopTalk:FileFormats
A suggested checklist of files you’ll need to effectively manage your brand or, if you’re a
designer, a suggested list of brand assets to deliver to your client.
Pantone Color Setups (if applicable)
Your Logo.AI Source File*
Your Logo.EPS Printing File*
Your Logo.PDF Viewable File
CMYK (full) Color Files
Grayscale (black & white) Files
One Color (set up as black) Files
Web Files (standard background, image width by pixel - PX)
Your Logo 1000 PX.JPG Web
Web Files (transparent background, image width by pixel - PX)
Web Files & other pixel-based bitmaps (non-editable)
Print & editable vector source files
Professional logo assets for print, web and office.
Your Logo 1000 PX.PNG Web
Office Files (Microsoft format)
Your Logo 1000 PX.BMP Office, Etc.
Web Files (sitting in a square box, suitable for social media)
Your Logo 400 PX SQ.JPG Facebook, Etc.
Your Logo 400 PX SQ.PNG Facebook, Etc.
* Needs applicable software to open/view/edit* Needs applicable software to open/view/edit

Trivia:TheDevil’sintheDetails
Monster Energy Drink
human. Instead, the human is coming out of the
snake a“new man,”purified and renewed. The
meaning: The snake is a circular animal (a snake
can assume a circular position) and is an animal of
the changing – able to change his skin regularly
and totally renew or rebirth himself.”
Yeah, no. A circular snake is known as a ouroboros
and besides, the Alfa serpent ain’t round. It’s a
giant snake. Eating a baby,
Alpha Romeo
Their badge routinely scores
“best in class”and Alfa
Romeo make really nice cars,
of that, there is no doubt. A
lot of car companies have
coats of arms for their logos
and hood badges, so no big deal
there either. But why is Alfa Romeo’s
logo a picture of some giant dragon serpenty
beast gobbling down some hapless infant? Yeah,
the logo of Alfa Romeo is a serpent eating a baby.
Naturally Alfa Romeo downplays the connection:
““At first glance, it looks like the snake is eating the
Vodafone
Vodafone is a major European cell phone carrier. In
fact, it’s only the second biggest in the World (behind
China Mobile) and they changed their logo back in
2006. Before they simplified the type and glossed
up the icon, their brand looked something like
the pic above. Yeah. A blood drop. That looks like a
6. Now look at the donut holes in the two‘O’s. Yep.
Sixes. Now count them. 666. Bonus marks for the
blood drop looking kkk-symbol just like the KKK
symbol. Of course, they changed the typography
PDQ, hoping that the sheeple didn’t notice.
But oh, we did. We did.
Talk about hiding in plain sight. There’s the name
Monster. Satan. Then the three slashes in the logo
that look like Hebrew letters for 666. Satan. The
energy drink’s slogan“Unleash The Beast!”Obviously
Satan. There’s supposedly a cross in the Monster
typography, so when you invert the can to drink it,
the cross is upside down. Satan. And hidden in Mon-
ster’s ad copy is the sentiment“MILFs love it”. Young
horny guys. And Satan. This is actually a thing, has
been doing the rounds since at least 2009, but got a
new lease in 2014 when a video of Christine Weick
went viral (8 million views) and a lot of people
thought she was onto something.

Logopalooza
Logopalooza is a semi-regular publication devoted to the art of brand & logo design.
Each volume features design examples, case studies, tips, news and other interesting
tidbits revolving around logos and design. To be notified about future volume releases
visit Logopalooza.com
TheLogoFactory
The Logo Factory Inc. is a web-centric design studio that develops logos and brand
identities for clients across the globe, their primary activity since 1996. Clients can visit
The Logo Factory web site, view logo examples, submit their job requests to a team of
logo designers who can then take these ideas and bring them to visual reality with
preliminary, yet finished, preliminary designs. These initial concepts can be previewed
on The Factory Floor, a client only area, where logos can be fine-tuned until project
finalization. Once the project is completed, clients can download all the relevant logo
files and formats, while TLF design staff can guide you through the add-on design and
brand-building phase. For more information visit TheLogoFactory.com

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Logo Design Psychology: Understanding Color Meanings

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