Branding with Color and Font

The worlds most valuable brands include Apple, Microsoft, Google, Coca Cola, and IBM.  These top five “Most Valuable Brands,”  according to Forbes Magazine Online, know more than just how to be savvy in the world of business, they know how to use simple things such as color and font choices to burn their iconic images into the consumer’s mind.

While developing a brand image takes many components including the promise to the consumer, logo, color and font, what stays in the mind of the typical consumer is what is etched in their mind in the form of font and color.  For example, we all know the swirl of the coca cola name and the bold red seen on every can.  We also know the bright golden yellow arches of the letter M as the McDonald’s brand.  So what do the colors and font that a business chooses say about their brand?  Let’s take a closer at which color and typeface styles come in to play with the world’s most powerful brands.

According to a recent study done by Visually, the color elements of the world’s top brands is broken down in this manner:

• Blue 37% – Brands such as Facebook, Twitter, Lowes, Intel, Dell, Boeing and Hyundai use varying shades of blue to showcase their brand.
• Red 27% – Brands such as Target, Coca Cola, ESPN use hues of red for their product/services.
• Black 27% – Brands such as Verizon, Amazon, Disney, and Gillette use black and white to make a bold statement about their products.
• Yellow 16% as seen in UPS and McDonald’s.
• Orange, Grey, Silver and Green make up the remainder of the color hues used in top brands.  Each color says just a little something different about the personality of each brand whether it is innovative, new, perky, sleek or any number of other terms to define your business.

This graphic by Atilus shows some of the branding identities associated with each color and color combination.  The perception of a color varies in different cultures and societies, so this is something that must be kept in mind when deciding your brand’s color. Below, you’ll see a list of some common colors, along with their associated traits and meanings. (Atilus)

Font choices are usually designed to include several style variations. This can include styles like light, regular, bold, semi bold, ultra bold, and italic. Some fonts also include “Expert” versions, which are fonts that include fractions and mathematical symbols.

Just like colors, fonts provide readers or viewers with some sort of trait or idea attached to them.  According to Atilus some fonts mean sincerity (Times New Roman) or some can look childish (Comic Sans). Depending upon the type of service or product being sold will determine the type of font you may want to use.  For example a law firm may want an official font while a new tech company may want something that says innovative.

Skillcrush has devised a graphic that helps show font style and the characteristics associated with it.  Their research has shown that the choice of typeface or font has a major role in the user’s experience.

Be sure to do your research before choosing a color or font for your new or re -designed website.

Categorised in: Blog, Design