How are blue logos making brands rule and look cool?

“Paint his room blue, it might have a calming effect on him and lower his stress level” – a psychologist once recommended this to my mom a long time ago and guess what? She was absolutely right!

P.S: I had anxiety issues.

This is not my autobiography so stick around, don’t get all bored and leave. The only reason I shared this little part of my life was to show you the power of blue!

But, what have walls and anxiety got to do with brands and logos, is that on your mind right now?

So the answer would be (and I say this with a pinch of sarcasm): not much, except that branding is all about evoking human emotions and your logo is the first impression of your brand.

In the logo community, blue has a popularity that goes beyond that of any other color and we can owe it all to – ourselves! Yes, humans and their psyche.

Let’s do a simple test: which color comes to your mind when you hear the word “cool?”

I’ll bet all my savings it was blue!

But, perhaps all of your already acknowledge blue as the color of the sea and skies. So, it’s quite understandable when Nestle uses a blue logo for Pure Life – the water. But, why did the Bank of America or BMW choose to go blue?

Let’s swim a little deeper into the “blue” waters and learn all about blue logo designs and how are they making brands look cooler?

P.S: Even if you’re not a blue fan (which I highly doubt) give this blog a chance. Your brand might need a blue logo and you don’t even know it yet!

Blue logos – one color, multiple talents

Not all brands sell water or beverages, yet they use blue logos as their brand identity. They know what they are doing of course. It’s about time you did too (insert winking smiley).

BMW, Intel, Ford and Facebook – all brands belonging to a different family of industries yet they have one thing in common. They all have blue logos! Now that’s a bit confusing, isn’t it? Your head will be all cleared up by the time I’m through with this blog.

Blue logo design: A color you can trust

Did you ever think of blue logos that way? According to psychologists and marketing researchers, you actually do think of blue as the color of trust, even if you don’t know it.

It’s one of the core reasons why brands such as bank and healthcare companies are trusting blue logos to be the face of their brands. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that blue wins the preference race amongst all colors.

In a global study conducted by scientists in the 1940’s, they asked thousands of people in different countries, belonging to diverse cultures “What is your favorite color?”

Yes, you guessed it! Indefinitely it was BLUE!

Keeping this and a dozen other researches as part of their branding strategy, brands such as Health Life, Visa and Bank of America made one common decision: to paint their logos blue.

Why do they need to communicate trust more than anything else?

Quite obvious I think. You need to be certain if a bank can be trusted with your money or whether a healthcare unit can be trusted with your life! Life’s two most precious things: money and life itself.

Speaking of health, dental care too has a group of blue logos. I mean, our teeth are the key to a dashing smile and who wants to compromise on that, right?

The most dependable tint

Now you’re wondering why I used the word tint here instead of the usual blue or blue logos. Am I right or am I right?

We’re going to take a drive around blue logo lane – in the automobile department.

BMW, Ford, and Volkswagen – the rides we all want to own someday. Kudos to you if you’re already the proud (and rich) owner of one of these. Apart from being a drive of the elite, these companies have another common denominator: they all have blue logo designs!

We all want our money’s worth when choosing our wheels and that’s exactly what a blue logo conveys: “you can depend on us”.

Reliability though isn’t restricted to roads and travelling. We live in a world where technology takes the lead in literally every profession. We depend on technological solutions, thus we search for brands that we can rely on – those that will stay connected to us in the long run.

Do you know what every brand dreams about? The moment you think of a product, theirs is the first name that pops in your head. The image of their logo is the one that appears on your brain’s screen and to make that vision a reality you need to look at them as dependable, reliable brands that guarantee a long-term partnership.

Which blue logos fill the gap when you’re thinking about buying the latest laptop?

HP or Dell?

How about the best software?

Intel?

Now take a look at their logos.

Enough said. Blue logo designs are typically the first choice for any IT brand – they feel it reassures customers about their reliability and they’re not wrong I assume.

Notice how the automobile industry mostly has darker tints of blue while technology likes to dip their ink in the lighter shades. Turns out blue isn’t just a symbol for dependability. When it goes darker, blue logos radiate power as well!

Calm and composed – the softer side of blue logos

While I’m describing blue in all its glory, there’s no reason to leave out the tranquility that blue offers. Naturally, blue has a quality to calm people down (pun intended). The skies and seas have a huge role to play here of course.

The human brain is conditioned by nature itself to have a calming reaction when it looks at a blue logo or anything blue for that matter.

Research will back me up here.

In 2009 a research proved that blue wasn’t just “the color of calm” when it comes to branding. It has the same effect on our minds and emotions in other spheres of life too. Blue lights replaced red ones at Tokyo’s Yamanote railway line where suicides were becoming common.

What do you think happened?

Apparently, the change of lights to blue resulted in a drastic 74% fall in the number of suicides!

Coming back to blue logos, brands that wish to communicate a sense of tranquility and peace or even purity will often use a blend of blue and white. It’s also one of the primary reasons why airports and railway stations use a lot of blue – to keep everyone relaxed.

A number of popular airlines too feature blue logos or at least logos with blue as a prominent color. Quite understandable since every customer looks up to airline brands for a relaxing experience and a safe journey (of course).

Blue has expertise in communicating both: reliability and a relaxing persona.

The calming effect of blue logos is another important reason why dentists will keep their logo blue. It keeps their patients relaxed before the painful part begins. The drilling, scaling, root canals – you get the picture, right?

Blue can be professionally cool

Unlock your phone. What do you see? Blue logos/icons mostly, right? It’s a world that’s dominated by social media and the digital wave is mostly – blue!

This is more to do with the fact that these brands cater to the youth than it has to do with technology. From your video calls to “what’s on your mind”, there’s always a blue logo in the corner.

Why would brands, who are mostly targeting their campaigns towards the youth be using a color that has a knack for communicating professionalism, trust and reliability?

It’s all about gaining a little perspective really. Even though Facebook and Twitter cater mostly to the “new and now” and are adamant on refreshing their channels almost every month, they have to tell customers that the cool effect comes along with being quite reliable and trustworthy at the same time.

They support innovation, creativity and growth but they are professionals in what they do!

Following me so far?

The question does arise: Facebook could have used yellow to communicate a youthful glow along with blue, why didn’t it?

Because blue actually serves a dual role: cool and professional! Furthermore being monochromatic portrays a more reliable appeal than being two-toned.

While it’s cool to post pictures or our daily Facebook status, we need to know that our data is safe and our security settings will keep a check on every visitor who tries to access our profile.

It’s always a good idea to show customers you’re blue and new! Contact me if you’re thinking about getting a blue logo for your brand – with a few details I can give you a logo that conveys a message of reliability, trustworthiness and youthfulness.

Is blue your brand color?

You don’t just go with the flow when it comes to picking out a color for your logo. It all depends on what you want to communicate. Blue plays no part in the Coca Cola logo but it has a prominent presence in Pepsi’s logo aesthetics.

There’s no denying the fact that blue logos or rather blue in logos is a trend that has been around for some decades and we don’t see the color fading anytime soon. Why? Just elaborated that above didn’t I?

It’s a single color that can give out multiple thoughts to your target audience and they are all positive ones. Professionalism, reliability, trustworthiness, coolness, purity. Which one of these would you want in any brand? Nonetheless, you don’t have to go for an all-blue logo. That’s just one trait I left out – blue has a friendly disposition when it comes to logo design. It goes well with pretty much every color on the palette when used correctly.