ARE YOU COLOR CONDITIONED?

   Choosing a color for your logo is one of the most fun and creative parts about logo creation. If you are like me and study advertising design, you would know that we (as a society) have been conditioned to have different feelings towards different colors. That’s right, CONDITIONED! Ok let’s not go down the conspiracy road just yet. But there is truth to it, ask yourself these questions and write down your answers:

ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS AS QUICKLY AS YOU CAN. DO NOT PONDER ON THEM, JUST WRITE DOWN THE FIRST THING THAT POPS INTO YOUR HEAD:

1) RED is the FEELING of?

2) BLUE is the FEELING of?

3) GREEN is the FEELING of?

4) YELLOW is the FEELING of?

5) PURPLE is the FEELING of?

6) WHITE is the FEELING of?

…and we can go on and on. But let’s check your answers. Did you responded to the questions above with any of the following answers?

1) Passion, Love, Anger, Intensity, Strength

2) Calmness, Peace, Gentle, Spiritual Enlightenment

3) Friendship, Prosperity, Healthy, Kindness, Caring

4) Excited, Energetic, Progressive, Action

5) Prosperity, Royalty, Creativity

6) Pure, Clean, Sophistication

If you responded with similar answers to these then, CONGRATS! You have been well conditioned. But don’t worry, most of us have been taught these since birth. Thanks to the advertising geniuses like Coke and Nike, these colors are “branded” into our brains to have specific thoughts when we see them. It’s not so bad, except it explains why we get hungry every time we see red and yellow together (Thanks Mc Donalds).

Side Note: Did you notice that I used the word “FEELING” when asking you to describe the color? Also, if you answered that WHITE wasn’t a color, then you would have been correct. White Black and Grey are shades, not colors. It’s like calling your thumb a finger!

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Since I am a sucker for infographics…Here’s a lovely one curtesy of HubSpot. You may have a new opinion on name brand logos once you’re through reading it. Enjoy!