4 Brands We Recognise By Their Signature Color

by Lily Bradic

Last week on Better Call Saul, Jimmy was issued a cease-and-desist for using a rival lawyer’s trademarked color “Hamlindigo Blue” on his billboard. He also bought the same suit and copied the guy’s hair, but that’s not really the point here. The point is that color is incredibly important when it comes to branding. Once we associate a color with a brand, we also associate it with our emotional response to that brand.

Of course, there was a whole lot more going on in that plot thread. We’re zoning in on the importance of color here, but the point still stands. When Jimmy — who “looks like the kind of lawyer guilty people hire” — uses respectable Howard Hamlin’s color, he’s not only capable of damaging his own reputation — he’s capable of damaging Howard’s, too. But let’s move on from TV shows and take a look at four brands we recognise by their color alone:

T-Mobile

There have been many attempts to correlate colors with emotions, but it’s arguably far too subjective to be done precisely. The Logo Company suggests that consumers associate pinks and purples with creativity, imagination and knowledge. Whether you agree with that or not, it’s certainly what T Mobile are aiming for with their branding.

Twitter

If you don’t immediately recognise this color, then you’re clearly not spending enough time on the Internet.

McDonald’s

Is this yellow making you hungry? If not, that’s probably because you’re slightly blind and are confusing it with DEWALT or IKEA (actually, walking around IKEA for three hours is enough to make anyone hungry.)

Tiffany’s

Tiffany & Co.’s famous Tiffany Blue is so important to the brand’s identity that it’s even trademarked. And so are all these colors.

Bonus round!

What? Did you really think you could forget about this so soon?

Readers: what are your favorite uses of color in branding? Let us know in the comments!

Image Credit: Step On Magazine.  
Color Credits: Colors taken from ColorHexa. 
Bonus credit: BrandColors' database is really interesting.