Exactly ten years ago this month I wrote an article for the British Airways Business Life magazine on corporate colours. Hardly one of design's darker arts but a fascinating subset of the marketing MO all the same, and one that draws on a whole range of sources, from history, to science, to the wilder blue yonder of 'colour psychology'. The latter's practitioners specialise in recommending colours for different sectors according to the same seasonal palettes that Color Me Beautiful first popularised (and which no doubt come in very handy when deciding what to go for in the executive washroom). According to one such website, spring colours are suitable for toys and childrenswear businesses, while summer tones are ideal for lingerie and luxury hotels. So now you know.
You may think that's taking the whole colour thing a bit far, but there's a crock of fact at the end of this particular rainbow. One reason why the Western world associates blue with trustworthiness, for example, stems from its traditional use in depictions of the Virgin Mary, which was itself originally prompted by the fact that blue pigment - made from lapis lazuli - was one of the most expensive available. But blue's halo effect goes well beyond such subliminal messages.
Scientific experiments have proved that merely looking at blue has a calming influence while 'seeing red' has - yes, you've guessed it - quite the opposite effect. In fact red is almost universally equated with aggression, power or sex, or any combination of all three. In the animal kingdom red is the colour of warning and hostile display, more than three-quarters of the world's flags contain red, and a 'red light' district is a commonly-understood term throughout the world. So with the two opposing primaries having these enormously powerful connotations it's no surprise to find that banks and financial services have been the biggest fans of blue in the corporate world, while red is the choice of the manufacturers of sports cars and electronic boys' toys.
But back in the heady days of 2003 when I first wrote my piece, the colour of the moment was neither red nor blue, but orange. For most of the 20th century orange languished unloved by business, evoking only cut prices and low quality (there was even a 1991 article in Forbes entitled 'Does orange mean cheap?'), but by the mid 90s it was everywhere. In fact so many companies were choosing it or switching to it that I headlined my article 'Any colour you like as long as it's orange'. The mobile phone company started it, of course, but they were rapidly followed by a whole bag of oranges including BG Group, GlaxoSmithKline, easyJet and a more contemporary makeover of one of the original corporate oranges, Sainsbury's. In fact back then easyJet even boasted of having an 'orange culture' which apparently included being 'up for it', 'passionate' and 'sharp'.
So ten years on, where are we now? Has an age of austerity sent all those business re-brandings rushing for cover to reassuring hues of blue? That's certainly what I expected to discover when I started looking through the most recent corporate makeovers. But the answer was rather more variegated than I initially expected. Sitting firmly in the blue corner were two of the biggest new blockbuster brands of the 21st century, Facebook and Twitter, and that set me wondering whether they opted for blue - consciously or not - because it might inspire confidence in those contemplating entrusting their personal information to social media sites.
At the other end of the spectrum, however, there were significant numbers of high-profile companies who'd actually plumped for more colour, not less, in these tougher times. For example, when RBS Insurance rebranded itself as Direct Line Group in 2012 it added a rainbow ribbon to its new logotype, though interestingly did not change the overwhelming red of the main consumer-facing brand. Likewise ITV now has a multi-coloured logo, and the mighty Microsoft has gone from a monolithic black to a softer grey typeface with a colourful windowpane. It hasn't all been one-way though: it didn't take long for Kraft to ditch its new pastel 'petals' for a red and blue logo that looks remarkably like the one it started with four years before.
One thing that does seem to have evolved since the credit crunch is companies' understanding of how corporate colours work. Just as some logos have become more polychrome, so their use has become more nuanced. As one of my copywriting clients, Philip Mann of design agency Bostock & Pollitt told me, "We used to present designs and get the typical response 'I prefer blue' or 'I don't like green'. These days, people are much more aware of what messages colours can give, and how you can use them to reinforce everything else they want to say about their brand."
So if you're mulling a makeover of that tired corporate logo, or simply wondering what not to wear, here's a cut-out-and-keep guide to what your choice of colour could say about you.
Red
Associated with
Power, love, sex, danger, anger, blood, aggression, competition, passion
Loved by
Coca-Cola, Manchester United, Virgin, London buses, Ferrari, fire engines,
Use it when you want to
Attract attention
Appeal to men
Up the temperature
Did you know
Though Father Christmas had been depicted in red and white for centuries, it was Coca-Cola advertising in the early 1930s that made Santa scarlet for good and all.
Bees can't see red, so red flowers are usually pollinated by other creatures like birds and butterflies
Chinese New Year is celebrated with red decorations. Young children are also given red envelopes with 'luck money' to bring them good fortune for the rest of the year.
Blue
Associated with
Harmony, serenity, dependability, coolness, truth, dignity, sadness
Loved by
Chelsea FC, Gillette, Unilever, P&G, and just about the whole of the banking industry
Use it when you want to
Look authoritative
Inspire trust
Play safe
Did you know
Blue is overwhelmingly the world's favourite colour. It's also the least gender-specific, liked equally by men and women
No-one's quite sure why IBM is known as 'Big Blue' but it could be because its 1960s System 360 mainframe was as big as a room and came in a blue case
Green
Associated with
Luck (good or bad, depending on where you're from), nature, envy, money, safety, sickness
Loved by
Environmentalists, BP, Heineken, Starbucks, Ireland, jolly giants
Use it when you want to
Emphasise your environmental credentials
Get back to nature
Go Celtic
Did you know
In Japan, green is the colour of eternal life
British motor sport ended up with 'racing green' rather than one of the national colours of red, white and blue, because those had already been taken by Italy, Germany and France.
Orange
Associated with
Energy, fun, warmth, autumn, Hallowe'en, the 1970s
Loved by
Orange, Sainsbury's, GlaxoSmithKline, easyJet, Holland, space hoppers
Use it when you want to
Go retro
Feel funky
Challenge the establishment
Did you know
In most cases the 'black box' in an aeroplane is actually painted orange.
Orange smarties are the only ones that have their own taste
Alexander the Great dyed his hair with saffron, so he's probably the first person ever to have been well and truly Tangoed
Yellow
Associated with
Sunshine, cowardice, quarantine, happiness, Spring, youth
Loved by
Shell, Selfridges, business directories, the construction industry, American taxis
Use it when you want to
Make a quick impact
Look light-hearted
Raise a smile
Did you know
The first time yellow was used for a phone directory was in 1883, when a printer ran out of white paper and switched to yellow instead
In the Middle Ages actors portraying the dead wore yellow costumes, while sending yellow roses means friendship, not love
Purple
Associated with
Wealth, empire, sophistication, intelligence, age, mystery
Loved by
Cadbury's, government departments, Yahoo!, princes, Prince
Use it when you want to
Gain gravitas
Add some elegance
Be a bit different
Did you know
Purple was the royal colour of the Roman emperors, and they were the only ones allowed to wear it - it took more than 12,000 shellfish to extract only two grams of the dye
Queen Victoria's favourite colour was said to be purple - that's why Cadbury's chose it