10 Superb Sources Of Color Inspirations To Design Your Logo

How do you select the perfect color palette for your company?

When it comes to your logo, you want it to stand out after all as graphic designer David Airey suggests it is the face of your company. You want all the elements to synchronize but you want the colors to be spot on because not only do they have the potential to attract eyes, they hold the power to influence people’s feelings.

In most cases you may simply look at your competitors and go with the flow of the industry. For example, many popular fashion brand logos such as YSL and Gucci are in black, which isn’t even considered a color by the way. In this day and age, when startups are popping up every now and then – you don’t need to take inspiration from the brand next door. Remember the idea is to look unique, so you must use colors that are distinct yet befitting. Here are ten superb places for color inspirations to make your custom logo design.

1. Herbs And Spices

For restaurants, spices and herbs are great source to pick colors from. There are unlimited choices available from earthy shades and tones to the more vibrant ones. While Indian restaurants can take inspiration from saffron and turmeric, Italian eateries can get their hues from oregano or red pepper flakes. You don’t have to stick to your side of the grass, you can unify colors from different cultures like a fusion of Japanese and Mexican cuisines.

Earthy Touch

High-Spirited

2. Natural Fabrics

If you are a luxury fashion brand, you can look at fabrics – not the dyed ones, but the natural ones such as jute, wool or leather. The colors you’ll find will be limited but they’ll be exclusive, just like you want your brand to be. Instead of sticking to black, you can enhance the look of your logo with shade of nudes for example.

Dusty Monochrome

Rustic Style

3. Under-Water Fauna

In case you want to make a fishing company logo, your first source of color inspiration should be the sea itself. According to the global species database study, there were over 30,000 types of fish in 2015 and over the span of two years more have been discovered. With such an array, you can find a wide variety of wonderful color schemes from under-the-sea.

Lively Blend

Pastel Delight

4. Metamorphic Rocks

Marbles make up 12% of the Earth’s land and there is a wide variety available for interior design companies to take color inspiration from for their corporate logo. Companies who design homes and offices can surely pick amazing cool and warm pigments from marbles like Verde Evora to Brown Canyon and many others.

Chilly Night

Warm Up

5. Human Skin

The beauty in being different is that each one of us become a unique source of inspiration when it comes to colors. Angelica Dass is on a journey to create a catalog called chromatic inventory to represent a range of skin tones from people around the world with Pantone codes. From human skins, you can get colors like brown, pink, beige or peach for your personal care products company logo.

Dark Beauty

Light Simplicity

6. Polished Gemstone

Diamond may be a woman’s best friend but for color inspiration it is not the stone you want to look at. Other beautiful gem stones like Emeralds, Sapphires, Turquoise, Jasper, Amber and Sugillite are among the few that you can pick hues from for your jewelry shop logo. Rather than just using gold and silver, there are 130 mineral that can be cut into gems with an array of amazing colors.

Galaxy

Kaleidoscope

7. Malleable Metals

Most computer-hardware logos are either in blue or red, but it doesn’t have to be this way. Sometimes you can break conventions by taking inspiration from the things that make your product, in this case metals like copper, lead or gold etc. If you’re looking for a realistic metallic look then gradients will do that job.

Metallic Sheen

Matte Tones

8. Seasoned Flora

If you’re looking for colors to add to your landscaping company logo, what can be a better option than to take inspiration from leaves and flowers? Using the colors from plants also give a hint to people about the region you’re from. For example the Adirondacks in New York have different hues to offer than the Illawarra Flame Tree in Australia.

Blooming Spring

Mellow Fall

Explore: Brand Your Landscaping Company with 50 Color Palettes of America

9. Woody Plants

If you’ve seen antique stores you’ll know that the shades of brown are a popular color whether it’s the decoration or the items in there. For a logo to brand your local antique shop. You can get a combination of light and dark colors from Shedua, Mahogany, Cedar, Teak and Oak for example.

Dark Shadows

Light Highlights

10. Birds

Just like how versatile Adobe Kuler is in giving you a range of stunning color palettes, you can derive many vibrant and muddy color palettes from birds for book store or education logos. Just like birds can spread their wings and fly, education gives us the same feeling of freedom; so what can be a better place for inspiration? For a multi-color palette, you can see the Rainbow Lorikeet.

Rainbow Gala

Sunny Side Up

Where do you take your color inspiration from?

*Photos for color inspiration taken from Unsplash, Pexels, FreePik