How Color Brightness of a Company’s Logo Affects the Perceived Value of its Products

Abstract

The use of color in marketing is usually not thought about by the average consumer. However, something as miniscule as a shade change between colors can affect how customers perceive a company and its products. Thirty-four high school students were surveyed. Individually, they looked at a screen and were asked questions pertaining to the price ranges of products from five different fictitious companies. They were presented with one logo to correspond to each of the questions and were asked to color the designs based on the price of the products. The data was put into a scatter plot that was fitted with a linear trend line with an R² value of 0.335. Between the data results and the feedback from the participants, darker colors were seen as more luxurious and expensive while lighter colors were seen as cheap. Of the thirty-four participants, 29 of them used one of the two darkest colors when faced with the question of what a logo would look like for a brand with products that cost between $600 to $1,000. On the other hand, 24 out of the 34 participants used one of the two brightest colors when asked what the logo of a company selling $20 to $60 clothing would look like.