Some personal posts, cool links and other interesting stuff.
There are a lot of key components in creating a logo design. Elements like font selection, design of the logomark, graphic style and of course, color. Of the group, color seems to be the least tangible of all the logo design assets. Yet, a great logo color scheme can be quite powerful in setting the tone for mark and the brand.
One of the many things that can set your work apart is good color selection. At first it can be scary, but like any tools, you need to work with them awhile to get used to them. To start off, we’re going to go over some basic color terms so that we can make sure we’re all talking about the same thing.
Hue: Color and hue and synonymous and can be used interchangeably. Red, yellow and blue are primary colors. Green, orange and violet are the secondary colors and tertiary colors are a mixture of two secondary colors.
Saturation: The intensity of a color is described as saturation or chroma. Saturation is determined by how little or how much gray a color contains. In its purest form a hue is at maximum chroma; these colors that are not ‘grayed’. They are described as: clear, pure, brilliant, bright, rich, bold, vivid and/or true. The grayer or more neutral a color is, the less its saturation. Less saturated colors are described as soft, muted, subtle, toned-down, misty, dull or dusty.
Value: The lightness or darkness of a color is called its value. Lightened values are called tints, darkened values are shades and medium value colors are described as midtones. The perception of a color is affected greatly by its value or saturation; in planning a color combination, value and saturation are as important as the hue. For example, in the red family, a darkened value of burgundy imparts more power than a lighter value of rose pink. A vividly saturated turquoise is more exciting than a pale grayed aqua.
- Excerpts from Pantone® Guide to Communicating in Color by Leatrice Eiseman
Honestly, with a subject like color, someone could write an entire book on this subject – and they have, lots of them. But, for the purposes of this article, we are going to focus on using just one logo concept and what different color choices do to affect the look and feel of the design.
This logo design for 3 Vines, was created for a housing development, named for its setting within the grape country of Northern California. The look of the architecture is based on the Spanish missions of the area, but there was to be a contemporary twist. This design was selected to explore possible color combinations to further the concept.
With each design, there will be a selected, three-color combination and their Pantone PMS number. Since this was primarily for print, we will not be including hexachrome colors.
The look and feel of this color combination is trying to evoke a simple, timeless and uncomplicated quality to the property. It’s trying to symbolize the antiquity of a weathered building with natural hues and elegant lines. The subtle contrast of the darkest brown in the type can be read over the ornamental iron look of the line work.
Oddly enough, the only color change that happened between the ‘classic’ color combination and this one is the darkest hue. Just by changing the outline to deep green, it makes the contrast jump out and create a very different feel. Now it has a very down to earth vibe with the forest green and cowhide tans, with almost a woodsy appearance.
This next combination takes the same contrasting hues and turns them on their ear, to create a kind of quirky and fascinating look to the same logo. These have some of the same hues of Spanish artwork, but with much purer saturation. This helps give the color combination an influenced, but contemporary twist.
With this one, I was looking for something original, yet leaning towards a combination with some meaning behind it. The deep purple represents the rich hues of wine grapes, while the olive green gives the vines a nice presence. Going with the unpredictable, but symbolizing the intensity of stained glass, is the rather electric yellow-green. Of all of the directions here, this one has the most contrast, with the dark colors appearing to contain the lighter hues for additional impact.
It is really amazing how selection and adjustment of just three colors can have such range in mood, tone and visual impact. All very important elements in the world of logo design. Hopefully, this gives you a bit of an idea of what you can do to bring your next logo design up a few levels.
As with anything, color sense is something that only comes with lots of practice. Don’t be afraid to take some additional time fiddling with colors. But, be careful. If you don’t watch out, you may just work yourself into a corner with all the possibilities.
Readability. Don’t let your color choices compromise your audiences ability to read and understand your logo design. That is its primary purpose after all.
Contrast. What helps a great deal with readability, is contrast. Elements of similar tone or hue make readability suffer and can appear to ‘vibrate’, making the eye have difficulty discerning what to look at first – especially with colors that butt together. This is also something to consider for more senior or color-impaired audiences.
Restraint. Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should. With so many logos on the web now, not everyone is constrained by a limited print palette. Some find this a bit too liberating and feel the need to barrage our retinas with every color available. Be strong and try and limit yourself. You’ll be glad you did.
Like anyone, I do have my favorite colors and sometimes get into a rut with color choices. I found a few handy guides available that can help you branch out and try new things. Here are a few:
Color – Messages & Meanings: A PANTONE Color Resource
By Leatrice Eiseman
Pantone Guide to Communicating with Color
By Leatrice Eisemann
Color Index 2: Over 1500 New Color Combinations. For Print and Web Media. CMYK and RGB Formulas.
By Jim Krause
Living Colors: A Designer’s Guide to 80 Essential Palettes from Ancient to Modern Times
by Augustine Hope, Margaret Walch
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