Colors, Shapes, and Symbols and Your Brand

Color conveys feelings.

 

Interior designers have known for years that color impacts people’s feelings and moods. Color choices are equally important in marketing materials. Bright colors promote a sense of warmth, boldness, and cheerfulness (think McDonald’s yellow, Fanta orange, and UW Wisconsin Badger Red) while cool tones set a mood of creativity and dependability. Facebook blue, John Deer green, and Hallmark purple are great examples of these brand colors that invoke feelings of stability. Brands like Louis Vuitton and Sony use black to convey a feeling of purity, dominance, or elegance. Which

 

When creating a logo, or other pieces of marketing, be sure to incorporate colors that align with your intended message. (Here is a great resource on how different colors impact marketing, branding, and consumer behavior.)

 

But colors alone aren’t the only influencers for your brand.

 

 

Shapes are so easily recognizable that even toddlers can identify the Nike swoosh, the Apple apple, and the Amazon smile. Of course, those companies are giants. How can a small business compete with giant brands like those?

 

The old adage to “keep it super simple” might be helpful. The logos of the huge national brands mentioned above are SUPER simple. A shape can tell a story in combination with color and message.

 

For example, at Social Siren, we have a colorful mermaid tail logo. It’s rather intricate and represents our brand values of creativity, attention to detail, and action.

 

 

Ask yourself, what do you want to convey? Which shape(s) can help people understand what your business is all about?

 

It’s true that Symbolism can instantly attract your ideal people.

 

When you see Ⓤ, you know immediately that the product is Kosher. A smoking cigarette with a line through it means no smoking is allowed. And if you see three little arrows forming a triangle, then you know that that package is most likely recyclable.

 

 

Symbols are visual cues that tell people a key piece of information right away. So if your business is strongly associated with a particular identity, incorporating a symbol can attract more of your target audience right to you.