What happens when famous logos swap colour palettes

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Choosing the right colour palette is a fundamental part of creating an eye-catching brand that people want to interact with. Get your colours right and you've got a brand that will last for years and boost your business. Get it wrong and... well, you'll be hiring another graphic designer sooner than you think.

When it comes to deciding which colours will work for your brand, you'll need a solid grasp of colour theory. With this knowledge, you'll be able to determine which colours are suited to your sector and what the different hues imply.

It's all too easy to brush off colour theory as a pseudoscience, but the team at Printsome have set out to prove just how important it is to pick the right colour scheme for your business. 

In the third series of GIFs created by the T-shirt printing agency in collaboration with graphic designer Natasja Van Dinther, the colours of famous logos are swapped to create strange and unsettling alternatives.

• The designer's guide to using colour in branding

Take Airbnb and Booking.com. They're similar companies, but with branding colours at opposite ends of the spectrum. Swap them around and Airbnb starts to look like some Silicon Valley startup, while Booking.com's web address name is at odds with the warm Rausch pink of its competitor.

We're sure this won't irritate hardcore comic fans

Printsome has described the colour swap between Marvel and DC as the least dramatic switch, but we're sure that fiercely loyal fans of each publication will disagree. Marvel seems to lose its dramatic impact with a blue logo, while DC's chunky typography looks over the top with a red palette. 

Asda and Tescos might run similar operations, but their mission statements have resulted in contrasting logo colours. Asda's focus on freshness has lead to a refreshing green logo, whereas Tesco has an emphasis on helping people, which resulted in a palette more reminiscent of an airline or a bank. 

Changing them round simply doesn't work because the typography and graphics have been tailored towards each supermarket's goal.

Colours have a huge impact on how customers perceive taste. By switching the colours of Guinness and Stella Artois around, we expect different flavours from the brands. 

The heavy taste of Guinness suits the uncompromising black colour scheme, but with a red background the beer comes across as having a lighter flavour. Stella Artois doesn't look too bad with a black finish, but it doesn't reflect the drink's piquancy. 

[Via Printsome]

Related articles:

• 21 outstanding uses of colour in branding
• The designer’s guide to using colour in branding
• A short lesson on colour theory

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