Try to close your eyes for a moment and picture some famous logos in red. Undoubtedly, iconic brands like Coca-Cola, Adobe, Swiss, Netflix, or CNN will cross your mind! Colors play a vital role in any logo design.
Consider how colors make people feel when creating a brand identity. The right color must be able to evoke the feelings and emotions of the target market.
But, selecting the brand’s color palette during the logo design process will be the hardest decision as it determines the customer impression and how it will leave on them.
Hence, choosing the right color will make your brand identifiable and further enhance the overall look of your logo – just like brands that use red logos.
In fact, there was research about people subconsciously judging a person, environment, or product in less than two minutes. About 60-90% of the assessment is based on color alone. If we understand how each color affects the mind of everyone, an effective brand is possible!
Is Red A Good Choice For Branding?
If you choose red for your brand, it is crucial to know and understand the paint itself and its psychology and cultural references.
Red is an eye-catching hue due to its emotional effect, often associated with the human body and emotions. It is often related to life, death, eating, being aggressive, being passionate, and loving someone.
It also signifies alertness and substantially impacts letting someone stop and pay attention, like red traffic lights or fire trucks. For some, it also suggests heat to express warm temperatures and hot zones for the weather.
Because of tomatoes and red sauce, the color red also resembles blood, so most healthcare companies use this color. It gives an energetic and bold vibe; thus, it signifies power. With its diverse associations, an AI logo maker can effectively convey red’s precise brand messaging.
Companies That Use Red Logos for Branding
Here is the list of top brands known to use red logos. Check out how the red color gives the company the best impression of its business and catches its customer’s attention!
1. Coca-Cola
First on the list is the logo of Coca-Cola. Who cannot recognize this famous brand of drink all over the world?
Probably because of the brand’s influence, it’s one of the reasons red has become a standard color in the fast food or food industry in general. Thanks to its good marketing strategy, Coca-cola is now associated with holidays and happiness.
Some say the red color came from the first ad, which showed Santa Claus holding a Coke bottle. However, Coca-Cola says its product was sold in barrels 130 years ago and distributed in America’s drugstores and pharmacies.
Taxable alcohol, then, was packaged in the same way, while soft drinks had no tax at all! To help the customs and tax officials distinguish the barrels of Coca-cola, they painted them red!
2. CNN
The media business aims to get people to pay attention, stop and take notice. What did they do?
The CNN logo is a simple design made by Anthony Guy Bost, who relied on minimalism. The simple and eye-catching design also conveys a sense of professionalism and strength. The white line symbolizes the television cable which goes through the three letters. This logo used Boston University Red (# CC0000) color!
3. H&M
For the clothes and apparel industry, H&M is a well-known brand for teens! Its company founder Erling Persson named the shop “Hennes,” which refers to “hers” in Sweden, where he originated.
Persson continued to develop his brand and decided to purchase a huntsman clothes store. But Mauritz did not want to lose his business, so he offered to be the company’s first shareholder.
It’s where the first H&M started. And then, the bright red color of its logo conveys passion and youths’ desire to stand out from the crowd and find where they belong.
4. Canon
The Canon logo is another red logo that shows feelings of spirit and eagerness. Canon is known for its wide range of technology products.
Investors of Canon products are creative humans who snap photos of meaningful moments in their lives or others’ lives. Thus, giving the red color a feeling of warmth and potential.
5. YouTube
This company is one of the best social media platforms in the digital world. YouTube used red on its logo to dedicate and help people share their passions with the world.
The youthful shade of red on this logo gives a sense of excitement. The logo is excellent for attracting a wider audience!
6. Lego
McDonald’s and other food brands frequently use the colors red and yellow, but Lego distinctively uses them.
The powerful combination of red, yellow, and white seems playful and fun, targeting the younger market. The red shade in this logo also expresses joy and excitement.
7. Mitsubishi
Mitsubishi, a Japanese multinational automobile manufacturer, uses red as the primary color of its creation.
In Japan, red symbolizes luck because it scares away evil spirits, and red signifies business competitiveness in the global market to promote sustainable development for a car company.
Red is commonly the hardest-working color.
Brands use red to give themselves power, strength, and intensity. And red is one of the top-performing colors for marketing and branding. It’s associated with love, power, passion, strength, confidence, and anger.
Red logos are often found in companies in a competitive marketplace or with an aggressive stance (e.g., Amazon). Red also invokes feelings of urgency—as though you need to act now before it’s too late!
Red is a powerful color.
Red is an aggressive color that gets people’s attention and draws customer’s eyes to your brand even in a crowded marketplace.
Even when you simply hear the word – red, it can already be a powerful tool for your brand, so you must use it carefully.
So, how do you know if red is suitable for your company? And once you use it, how do you ensure this bright hue doesn’t sabotage your brand?
Fire Engine Red
Red is the color of fire engines, passion, and power. It’s also the color of love, anger, and danger—which you should use carefully when designing a logo for your brand- unless your company is Cigarette Smoking Man from the X-Files.
People drawn to the color red are like moths to flames. Research shows that red can increase appetite by up to 15 percent in Western cultures and make people more likely to buy something they see in red.
These effects are so strong that many casinos use dark red walls in their restaurants so that gamblers will spend more money on food while they play blackjack or slots at their tables instead of just drinking water all night long!
Because of its strong association with fire engines, red evokes feelings of safety, security, and rescue.
Red communicates trustworthiness — a sense that people can rely on you and connotes strength and protection.
This color is also considered full color on our spectrum, so it’s no wonder that brands use it to communicate Trustworthiness, Safety & Security.
Passionate Reds
Red is a color known for its power and passion. It can be an excellent choice for brands that want to communicate speed, excitement, or energy—think sports car industry or political parties.
Red is also a fascinating color (think: Ferrari), making it ideal for brands looking to attract daring consumers.
When combined with other colors, red can make all the difference in how customers perceive your brand. If you’re looking to inspire action from your target audience—and who isn’t? —consider using this powerful shade.
Bright reds
Bright reds can also be seen as exciting or risky, a great way to get people to buy something fast when trying to sell something.
The only problem? Using passionate reds may be too “in-your-face” for some brands. Not every brand needs crazy energy levels to look good — sometimes subtlety is better.
Red is an excellent choice if you want your brand to communicate passion, excitement, or speed. It’s easy to use and will make your brand stand out. But not everyone needs crazy levels of energy and power in their logos.
Consider green instead of red if you’re working on a subtle symbol meant for an older audience or one with less extreme personality traits (think: a non-profit organization).
Classic Reds
Classic red is an intense, deep red. It’s associated with love and romance; you can find it at weddings, on Valentine’s Day cards, and on billboards for romantic comedies.
It’s a warm color (hence the name), so it works well in summer when people want to feel warm and cozy. Classic red also has historical significance:
- Red was one of Prince Charles’ wedding colors when he married Camilla Parker Bowles in 2005.
- Apple used it as an accent color on their first iPod.
- Coca-Cola uses classic red in its logo design (among other colors).
Because of the meaning of classic red, it is a very versatile color that can make people feel anything from confident to safe.
The bottom line?
Keep in mind that red is a color with lots of personalities. It’s an eye-catching color that can help your brand stand out from the crowd, but you also have to be careful in using them.
If you want to use red in your branding, keep these tips in mind:
Don’t just slap it on anything! Red doesn’t work well for every brand, so choose wisely and consider how your audience might react if they see this color everywhere.
Think about whether or not you want your brand name to stand out more than any other aspect of your business; if so, go for it! Like we did in Logo Maker AI.
Red is a great way to do this because it stands out from different colors on its own accord without being forced into being seen as “too bright or loud” by anyone looking at them.
Red logos are great for conveying ideas of happiness, passion, and desire, but they can also have negative impressions. Different shades of red are also associated with danger and anger.
Therefore, companies that use red logos must ensure that the way they use the red color has the right emotional impact on the target market. Use a random logo maker now to finish what you started!
