The city of Springfield in recent months has been using a new logo.
You might have noticed. It’s still the familiar “S” but with a slight tilt and, more obviously, a “spring blue color.” The city said goodbye to the old maroon.
This new logo says something about the city. Though changes were subtle, it creates a new identity in the minds of onlookers.
According to an Entrepreneur magazine article last month, the city of Springfield should now be associated with depth and stability because the logo reflects imagery of the sky and sea. In other words, the color of a logo has power and meaning.
A handy infographic with the Entrepreneur piece says blue logos conjure thoughts of “comfort, faith, conservative, understanding, clarity, confident, calm and trust.” Consciously blue logos are that of Samsung electronics and Ford automobiles. Other recognizable blue logos are veterans Volkswagen and GM, as well as newcomers Facebook and Twitter. Those technology upstarts want us to know they are here to stay.
All this logo talk got me thinking. What does Springfield Business Journal’s logo say?
The red masthead should speak to trust, passion, action, intensity and love, even. According to marketing experts, the internal association is with blood and fire. Sounds too strong for a logo, but simply put it’s a combination of emotion and aggression.
Seems to me the color says, “We’re getting things done. Are you with us?”
Other nationally known red logos? YouTube, maybe. There’s ESPN and Target. Locally, there’s Drury University, Price Cutter and Carol Jones Realtors, aka CJR.
So now, I ask, what does your logo say?
Flipping through the pages of SBJ and SBJ.net, I see a lot of black logos, often with splashes of other colors.
Mediacom and Lawing Financial are prominently black, while financial institutions Bank of Missouri and BancorpSouth mix in green, and CoxHealth’s black lettering aligns with a dark blue symbol.
Black indicates bold, serious and luxurious and gives the impression of formality and mystery, according to Entrepreneur.
If it’s purple – think Yahoo! – the logo symbolizes glamour, nostalgia and romance to give the feeling of royalty. FedEx blends purple’s power with orange to mix in “the happiness of sunshine and the tropics,” Entrepreneur says.
Oranges in use by Home Depot, Firefox and Nickelodeon are intended to stimulate mental activity, creativity and enthusiasm. Closer to home, Branson amusement park Silver Dollar City has affiliated with the orange themes.
Green? I see Starbucks. Empire Bank, locally. Marketers say the color is meant to instill peace, hope and relaxation. Think the harmony of Sesame Street and the nature aspect of John Deere.
What brand comes to mind when considering a company that boldly proclaims its identity with yellow? Most likely, it’s the iconic yellow arches of McDonald’s.
Energy, joy and freshness are supposed to come alive with yellow, and Shell, Hard Rock Cafe and Ferrari follow this identity.
The color-coding doesn’t stop there. Even the seldom-used pink and brown have their reasons.
Barbie’s pink connects to love, sweetness, warmth and sexuality, they say, and brown embodies reliability, support and dependability for the logos of UPS and, sometimes, Texas Instruments and Winston cigarettes. A new brown logo in the market is for the Big Cedar Lodge Legends of Golf. The PGA tournament coming this summer gives a clear nod to the nature around Branson. Springfield Brewing Co. also uses brown, and it is the old hand at making craft beer in town.
But I’m not sure why M&M’s logo is brown – don’t they just taste good?
Of course, logo colors aren’t foolproof. Blockbuster’s blue ticket logo didn’t equal enduring stability. Monster caffeine drinks certainly aren’t intended to produce calm as its green “M” would imply. And Taco Bell is neither glamorous nor romantic like the purple in its logo.
On my iPad, I’ve recently been playing the LogosQuiz game by AticoD. I also like to play the game Memory with our children; it’s good exercise for my mind. LogosQuiz is like that. Given a list of partial logos, I have to correctly assign the brand name. Many names come quickly, while others are a struggle and take some googling, aka cheating.
But all the logos say something, and they are intended to produce recognition.
The point is logos matter. What does your logo say?
Springfield Business Journal Editor Eric Olson can be reached at eolson@sbj.net.[[In-content Ad]]
