I think there’s a little history/tradition in this.
As some people have said already. it’s a general rule that a good logo comes out good in pure black and white. This has to do with the emphasis on the overall shape over color, but also in design’s roots in printing (print doesn’t always come out four-color). That’s also part of the reason why gradients have tended to be a big no-no in logo design though recently it has gained more popularity with the advent of new media.
Also I think you may be looking time/design era bias. I haven’t done my research on this but I reckon many of these logos from a general school of thought…just like designs that came out in 1800s would have a general underlying vibe to them.
true…reading the title of this…thats what i was going to say…
and to answer all this listen…
the purpose of a logo is to be catchy meaning that people see it even in their dreams and think about the companie or whoever own the logo…
for example …driving on the highway all you have to see is the funny YELLOW m to think about m-donalds…
so therefore the reason why LOGOS tend to have catchy colors…is because their purpose is to be catchy…
RED…BLUE…are indeed colors that catch people attention…oh and other thing…why does most countries flags have either red or blue…
First of all, guys, you can stop giving examples and arguing about market share. There are hundreds of thousands of corporations out there, and giving five examples of large companies who happen to use / not use bright pink or disgusting greenin their logos is just pointless.
But if I’m already here, a few comments:
-hp’s main color is blue, though they use lots of other colors like most of the major brands out there.
-Jon, UPS’s logo was designed by the company’s accountant, a loooooong-long time ago. I wouldn’t learn how or why to design things in certain ways from him. Though it’s understandable - Postal services has much stronger motive for choosing unique colors than in any other industry, as their trucks are driving all day long on the roads and need to be easily distinguished.
And now for my main points:
-As said before, black ain’t no color; I know it’s being percieved as one, but you just can’t count it as a color. It fits with everything, it’s highly readable and the cheapest, so it’s very popular. Nothing too interesting here.
-Blue is calm, nice and looks good with it’s complementary colors but also with the other cold colors (purple, green), the neutrals (brown, beige…) and with itself - Dark blue is cool. Bright blue is nice as well. Now look at orange for example… When it’s bright it’s somehow OK, but it’s turning brown when going dark. And most of the other colors have these problems as well. So blue is jsut great, calming and really easy to use.
-Red is considered vibrant, is catching the eye fast and encouraging action. So marketing-wise, red might be really useful sometimes, when being used with care.
Oh, and really, you’ve got to stop the example fights Imagine Gitman wrote “Why do so many companies” in his first post and continue from there
Yep. According to Fortune’s 500 for 2006 Exxon (#1) Wal-Mart, GM, Chevron, Ford, ConocoPhillips, and GE all have a higher value than Citigroup. Lots of different colors in that list…
Does people hate green? I didn’t know about that… I like green, although I have a horrible tendency of mixing it up with yellow. Not very original! I confess that my favourite color is blue. I think this is true for most people. It is a very relaxing color. Makes you think of blue skies, the ocean, wide horizons, etc.
Purple & pink are feminine, but purple also suggests spirituality, royalty, luxury, wealth, sophistication, authority, and mournfulness. In business it is upscale and works with artistic types.
Green also suggests health, fertility, freedom, freshness, healing, tranquility and jealousy. Businesses use it to communicate status & wealth - which is probably why banks (some) do use it. It is also the easiest on the eyes and is a calming refreshing color.
More also, it is not the best color to use since this one is the most difficult color for the eye to take in, so it can be overpowering if overused. When used in combination with black, suggests danger. It is said to enhance concentration, hence it is used in legalpads. Overall, though, it suggests warmth, sunshine, cheer, and happiness. It also speeds metabolism and is used frequently in food packaging because it conveys a feeling of health and well being.
Maybe some of the designers here can start a new trend. I hate it that certain colours are associated with certain things. When I was a kid you never wore green on Thursdays…why was that, because some blockhead said it at one time. I think it’s time to break rules. Wish my monitor wasn’t acting up, I’d be a lot more out there with my color usage, but yellow and purple/violet are pretty much non existent at the moment on my monitor.
Personally, I think the whole color thing has a lot to do with readability and impact. High contrast is always better, so fairly dark, solid colors are most common in logos, assuming the background is white.
The reason why black, blue, and red are most common logos is the same reason why they’re the most popular colors for ball point pens.
As far as company size goes, it all depends on how you’re classifying them. Revenues? Employees? Profits? Real estate? I believe Exxon tops most of those lists as well.
Actually the famous and a beloved logo(my favorite) by many is originally created by the great Paul Rand who designed many of the biggest companies logos which are still around to this day. He’s a well respected designer and I would probably give an arm to learn from him. LOL
The reason why huge companies use black/blue/red is plain money. They’re cheapest print and though these days with the cost of color printing going down at an amazing rate along with websites we can stray away from sticking to dark primary colors but as with the very first Enron logo (hilarious story behind this) and Google which incorporate yellow into their logo, when it is applied across many medium they dissapear and become unrecognizable.
I still despise seeing gradients and any photoshop filters applied to logos.
hey guys. Do you remember when Palm change its logo. The old Logo was more Global in terms of appeal.
check out this analysis on why the new orange logo is not getting any praise.
Imagine Gitman wrote “Why do so many companies” in his first post and continue from there 
