In brand development, the mantra is to Never Go Unnoticed. You want your brand to be seen, to stand ou. More importantly, is should be remembered. That’s not an easy task when the average consumer’s attention span is about 7 seconds.

Logo Development & Brand Design

What is required is uniqueness with relevance. Your logo, as a company metaphor, must be memorable and relate to what the company is all about. Therefore, a restaurant’s logo in terms of color and fonts used would be very different from that of a wealth management firm.

Never go unnoticed  means repetition. Your logo should be displayed on everything the company uses to communicate with the outside world From its letterhead to all  promotional materials to your website.

A well designed and relevant logo is so important that I recommend the use of experts/mentors to assist in its spawning, development, and use.

Colors are all important in developing your brand

The use of colors is paramount

Colors are important.They stir emotion and can make or break consumers’ reaction to your brand and eventual purchase of your product/service over your competition. In many cases, the type of company you have will determine what color(s) you will use in your name, logo, packaging, marketing materials, etc. Again, the use of a professional branding/corporate identity design expert may be required.

Like it or not, colors play an important part in purchases. Moreover, 93% of buyers focus on visual and 85% say color was their primary reason for the purchase. So, let’s look at the various colors and how they impact a consumer’s buying decision.

How Brands Use Colors for Emotions

RED – Great for sales. An attention-getter. Used often in consumer goods packaging or to generate interest and urgency in a product. It also increases the appetite which is why you see it used in many restaurants.

BLUE – Men’s preferred color. Associated with water, tranquility, reliability. Provides a sense
of security. Used by conservative Brands looking for trust – ie., financial institutions.

GREEN – Think healthy, power, nature. Used in stores to relax customers. Stimulates harmony and encourages decisiveness.

PURPLE – Royalty, wisdom, respect. Stimulates problem solving and creativity. Frequently used to promote beauty and anti-aging products.

ORANGE & YELLOW – Cheerful and optimistic. Orange triggers caution. Used to create a sense of urgency which can be used to draw-in the impulse buyer and store browser.

BLACK – Authority, stability, strength. A symbol of intelligence, but not if used too frequently.

GRAY – Practical, solidarity, oldness. Too much is not good as it can be depressing.

WHITE – Purity, cleanliness, newness, balance. 

BRANDS USE COLOR

McDonald’s – High-energy colors of red and yellow. Green would not work for McD’s. But it does work for Starbucks. Why? It promotes a sense of relaxation.

Contrast reduces eye strain and focuses the user’s attention. It is best to use a very bright color for background and a dark color for the product and text.

For websites the use of a monochromatic color in various shades is easy to read, for example, using shades of black/gray/white together. Complementary colors, using two colors that are opposite, for example, red and yellow. Triple scheme – using three colors close to the color spectrum, ie red, blue, and purple.

Colors sell. That’s all you really need to know.

Fonts (Typefaces)

There are hundreds of fonts to choose from.

Various fonts should be used in developing the company name and its logo. In most cases there should never be more than two fonts used and they should have relevance. Below are several, frequently-used fonts:

• Times New Roman
• Arial
• Helvetica
• Courier
• Georgia

By the way, this post is in Arial which, for some, is easy to read and distinct. However, it’s not attention-getting for a company title or logo. Also, keep in mind the age of your target audience. The older they are, the larger the type size should be.

In conclusion, try different color combinations when designing your logo, website color scheme and overall branding. Test them with friends and colleagues.

Subsequently, branding is only a part of Marketing, which is only one of the 4Ms of Performance that you company needs to consider. Check out who we are and how you can benefit from membership.