As you delve into a new business idea, whether it’s a new product or a new business altogether, there is one thing that always follows: a new logo. A logo is the first item of business — the most important item — because it begins the branding process for said business or product. For some people, conceptualizing the logo isn’t hard. They have a vision of what they want, but choosing the colors for a logo can sometimes be difficult. So how do you decide what colors to use? Do you choose randomly by looking at a Crayola box or whipping out a color wheel? Or maybe you choose colors just because you like them. You might be thinking, “What do the colors I choose have to do with anything? It’s just a logo.” If this is your mentality and you’re not giving any consideration to the preferences of your target audience, you might be losing business already.

Choosing your logo colors isn’t just about picking colors out of a hat; it is about strategy and branding. Colors set the mood and tone for your business or product and everything that comes after: your marketing materials, your business stationery, your website, etc.

Colors are not just a combination of blue, red, yellow, and black; they represent a form of non-verbal communication to your target audience. Each color has symbolism and meaning, and our minds associate certain colors with specific meanings, even if we don’t realize it. Colors can create physical, emotional, and cultural reactions, so understanding the meaning and relationship of colors helps you (or your logo designer) determine the best choices for your business and target audience.

Here are some examples of various colors and their meanings:

• Red is considered to be the hottest of all colors; it represents intensity and passion. It also suggests danger, heat, fire, speed, zest, blood, excitement, competition, and aggression.
• Blue is the most popular color and conveys peace, tranquility, loyalty, harmony, trust, and confidence.
• Yellow is a color that exudes intellect, faith, goodness, and friendship. Yellow also vibrates optimism, happiness, idealism, and imagination.
• Gray usually connotes neutrality, stability, and wisdom.
• White is the color of cleanliness, purity, youth, simplicity, innocence, friendship, and peace.
• Green conveys neutrality, growth, money, humility, and wisdom. It is a kind, generous color, and in many cultures, it is a logical choice for financial sites and those that represent fertility, healing, and ecology.
• Orange is a warm color that suggests luxury, passion, and exotic things. The color itself expresses enthusiasm, vibrant and expansive.
• Purple is a rich color that exudes mystery, royalty, and spirituality. It also conveys justice and truth.

It’s helpful to consider each color’s meaning when choosing colors for your logo, but you also have to take your industry into account. For example, let’s say you own a bookkeeping business or an accounting practice. What type of meaning would you be conveying if you used the color red in your logo? In accounting, red ink is used to denote debts and losses on balance sheets. On the flip side, let’s say you are choosing logo colors for a new business that manufactures traffic and hazard signs. In this case, red might be a good choice, since for this industry, red is used to indicate danger and emergency. What about a business whose primary market is men? Using pink in your logo would be a huge mistake as it is primarily seen as a feminine color. What about using blue to promote a restaurant or food product? Not a good idea since blue is shown to suppress the appetite.

In addition to choosing colors with positive meanings for your target audience, you need to know how colors work together. You’ll need to decide whether to use complementary, analog, split complementary, or triadic color schemes to pull together your logo, website, and other marketing materials and begin the process of branding of your business, service, or product.

• Complementary colors are any two colors directly opposite from one another on the color wheel, such as purple and yellow, red and green, or orange-red and blue-green.
• Analog color schemes use three colors. Choose your primary color and the two colors that lie on either side of it to assemble your scheme. For instance, if you choose blue as your primary color, use blue-purple and blue-green to complete the scheme.
• Split Complementary colors can provide a design with a high degree of contrast. So if red is your primary color, yellow-green and blue-green will complete the scheme.
• Triad colors are three hues with equal distance on the color wheel, which provides a balanced and colorful scheme. An example of this would be orange, green, and purple or red, yellow, and blue.

You can use these online resources to explore different color schemes:

• Signature Worx Color Scheme Chooser Resource
• Daily Color Scheme
  This is a very cool site. You can download the schemes in various formats!
• Color Schemer Online
• Color Wheel
• Color Blender