Ah, rainbows. They're beautiful things, stretching across
the sky, like Mother Nature apologizing for wet, nasty
weather. It's no wonder that so many people love them.
But, love can quickly turn to hate if you use a
many-colored palette in your business brand.
Rainbows belong in the sky—far away from your small business
Rainbows are wonderful, but if you try to bring that
natural beauty into your logo with tons of color, you'll be
setting yourself up for unnatural disasters.
Here are just a few of the problems that await you:
Rainbows confuse the message that your color palette is
trying to communicate. The job of your logo's color palette
is to communicate some of the elements of your brand's
personality. Colors each have a psychological meaning—for
example, green for health, blue for trust and comfort,
orange for speed and energy. The colors in your logo should
capitalize on these meanings and help tell your prospects
the story of your business. If you use a whole rainbow of
colors in your logo, then any potential meaning gets lost
in the confusion. Your logo will communicate more clearly
if you concentrate on just a few colors—2 or 3 at most—and
if you make sure to choose those colors for their
psychological factors.
Rainbows lack sophistication. Many small businesses are
creating their brands to make themselves look "like a real
business" and to demonstrate their expertise. Considering a
rainbow color palette for your logo just sabotages those
goals. Why? Well, rainbow colors are often associated with
children's products or fun, frivolous companies—like party
supply stores. Unless you're going for an unsophisticated
look in your materials as a part of your brand definition,
leave the rainbows out.
Rainbows are pretty. What seems to be an argument in favor
of rainbows is actually one of the biggest arguments
against them. Your business brand should be much more than
pretty—it should be meaningful, memorable and credible.
Using a rainbow takes the focus off of communicating these
desirable attributes and instead emphasizes the color
palette itself. Basically, you're distracting your customer
with pretty colors.
Printing becomes tricky. Even though good quality,
full-color digital printing is readily available for some
marketing materials, that isn't the case for everything.
You can print your business cards, brochures and flyers
digitally and get great results with multiple colors for
very little money. But, digitally printing letterhead and
envelopes usually doesn't produce good quality materials.
Digital printers often use flimsy paper. As being able to
choose paper colors other than dull white, fuggadaboutit.
Also, some marketing pieces just can't be printed
digitally—such as promotional items, which are charged on a
per-color basis. Choosing to print a wide range of colors
on these materials can make them cost far too much to
produce.
So, let the rainbows stay in the sky. Keep them off your
company's logo, and it will be that much stronger.
----------------------------------------------------
Erin Ferree is a brand identity designer who creates big
visibility for small businesses. As the owner of elf
design, Erin is passionate about helping her clients stand
out in front of their competition and attract more clients.
Her "Define Your Difference Branding Workbook" will help
you with your brand definition - the most important step in
the logo design process.
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