Graphic Design & Theory — Purple. The range in brightness from the purple…
By: Valentina Garay
Tags: Graphic Design, Cocreation Station, Color Theory, Design Hacks, Discoveryourcalling

The range in brightness from the purple glow [of the sunset] to the dark sky above is too great for most films, and naturally it is beyond the range of printed pictures — James Elkins

Theory of Color Purple

🟣 Purple is a wonderful color to use in a design. It keeps the stability and calmness of blue while adding all the vibrant energy of pink. When you use purple in a design you evoke sentiments of mystery, wealth, royalty, sophistication, and imagination. It was used by kings, hence it reflects luxury and it’s also used in magic and mysticism, it portrays the complexity of the brain and the nervous system and the mysteries and vast unknown universe. This means that when used in the wrong place it can be perceived as unsettling or disturbing for some viewers.

🟪 This color is commonly used in the hospitality industry, due to its royalty quality; and healthcare industry, due to its sense of love and passion. You can also find it very eye capturing. Youthful, vibrant brands such as Milka, reflecting the luxury in alpine milk and a bar of delicious chocolate. Hallmark uses it together with their crown symbol to portray the premium sentiment from greeting cards and more

Other examples are Taco Bell, this is a particularly interesting case because purple is not very often used in the food industry, their intention seems like an effort to have a modern/refreshing logo that would stand out from the others due to its uniqueness. As you can see, although it doesn’t follow the theory of color in the same sense we explained before, it’s used with purpose and might also reflect a premium feeling even if it doesn’t capture the primal hunger instinct that yellow and red do.

Photo by Ingmar on Unsplash

The brand Yahoo also uses purple in their logo, in this case, they portray creativity and it has a more artistic look than their original black logo. Nevertheless, this was the result of a quite funny story where there was a mistake in the paint purchased for the walls, where instead of gray they purchased purple. You can read the full story in Business Insider here.

🎗️Let’s talk about combinations, purple is very often combined with yellow or gold, as they are complimentary on the color wheel. This means that they are located exactly on the opposite side of one another. This creates a highlight and an accent that captures attention.

You can have purple in the warm and the cold scale of colors, and normally colder tones look more professional and reliable while those closer to the warm side are more playful and oriented toward the passion of pink. Use this wisely, as it might make the difference between a good logo and a misleading one.

Stay tuned in the Graphic Design & Theory space to learn more about how to use design elements in a way that they portray what you intend them to, and take your designs to the next level.

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