{"id":10825,"date":"2017-07-28T17:55:46","date_gmt":"2017-07-28T21:55:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/venngage.com\/blog\/?p=10825"},"modified":"2025-02-17T09:18:38","modified_gmt":"2025-02-17T14:18:38","slug":"disney-villains","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/venngage.com\/blog\/disney-villains\/","title":{"rendered":"What Disney Villains Can Tell Us About Color Psychology [Infographic]"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/venngage-wordpress.s3.amazonaws.com\/uploads\/2017\/07\/disney-blog-header.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-10839\" src=\"https:\/\/venngage-wordpress.s3.amazonaws.com\/uploads\/2017\/07\/disney-blog-header.png\" alt=\"disney villains\" width=\"1095\" height=\"600\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What makes us see a character as good or evil? The character\u2019s design probably has something to do with it. <\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/venngage-wordpress.s3.amazonaws.com\/uploads\/2017\/07\/disney-2.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-10859\" src=\"https:\/\/venngage-wordpress.s3.amazonaws.com\/uploads\/2017\/07\/disney-2.jpg\" alt=\"disney villains\" width=\"2550\" height=\"3300\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/venngage.com\/templates?preview=af24ead9-0e1d-436f-b8bd-7c7f960df81d\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><br>\n<button style=\"color: #ffffff; font-size: 20px; line-height: 1; font-family: Helvetica, Oxygen, sans-serif; border-width: 10px 25px; border-style: solid; border-color: #FF9A16; border-radius: 3px; display: inline-block; background-color: #ff9a16;\">Create This Template<\/button><br>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Think about how color is used when talking about character: if someone is bad, they\u2019re a \u201cblack hat\u201d. If someone is jealous, they\u2019re \u201cgreen with envy\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We see people bringing up color associations often in discussions about marketing and branding. There have been a ton of articles written about how colors affect our mood, or our decision to buy products. And for the most part, those articles should be taken with a grain of salt.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As HelpScout&nbsp;<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.helpscout.net\/blog\/psychology-of-color\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">pointed out in their article about color psychology<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, our perception of color is largely influenced by factors like our personal experiences, cultural upbringing, and personal preference.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But there is something to be said about how color affects our perception of character and personality. After all, when you conjure up the image of a villain in your mind, they probably aren\u2019t wearing pink, right?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We wanted to investigate the connection between color meanings and character. So we decided to analyze a group of characters that we, like so many, hold close to our hearts: Disney characters.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Many of us grew up with Disney characters. These characters inform our understanding of what makes the image of a \u201chero\u201d and what makes the image of a \u201cvillain\u201d. And after tallying up some numbers, we definitely were able to find some connections between the colors in their characters and their personalities.<\/p>\n<p><strong>WATCH: Everything you need to know about COLOR&#8230; in under 3 minutes!<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p><\/p><center><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/XJ74pxrhcQc\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/center>&nbsp;<p><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Color meanings and how they affect our perception of characters<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At Venngage, we love geeking out and making cool data visualizations.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s why we decided to see if we could find a correlation between the dominant color in Disney character designs and how \u201cgood\u201d and \u201cevil\u201d they are.<\/p>\n<p>Going into this, we knew that a lot of the Disney villains would have darker dominant colors like black and purple. But we were curious to see how the dominant colors for heroes would reflect their personalities and roles within the film, and what we could learn about color meanings from it.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And we also were curious to see how colors in the Disney villains\u2019 designs might play into how likable of a character they are, despite being on the evil end of the spectrum. <\/span><\/p>\n<p>To find out, we picked 40 Disney heroes and 40 Disney villains and pulled the most dominant color.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/venngage-wordpress.s3.amazonaws.com\/uploads\/2017\/07\/disney-villains-1.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-10827\" src=\"https:\/\/venngage-wordpress.s3.amazonaws.com\/uploads\/2017\/07\/disney-villains-1.png\" alt=\"disney villains\" width=\"650\" height=\"542\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For the infographic, we picked 44 Disney characters at random (22 heroes and 22 villains). The color distribution for the smaller sample was very similar to the full sample.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/venngage-wordpress.s3.amazonaws.com\/uploads\/2017\/07\/disney-villains-2.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-10828\" src=\"https:\/\/venngage-wordpress.s3.amazonaws.com\/uploads\/2017\/07\/disney-villains-2.png\" alt=\"disney villains\" width=\"650\" height=\"596\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We also ranked each character on a scale of good (+10) to evil (-10), with morally ambiguous characters ranging around the middle point (0). We ranked them based on their \u201cheroic\u201d qualities (like kindness, courageousness, and empathy) and their \u201cvillainous\u201d qualities (like cruelty, greed and vengefulness). <\/span><\/p>\n<p>That means that certain characters who are ultimately considered heroes still possessed some villainous qualities like greed or vengefulness. In those cases, they ranked lower than characters who had more heroic qualities.<\/p>\n<p><b>Disclaimer:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> while we discussed each rating as a group, ultimately it\u2019s based on our interpretations of the characters. We also <em>might<\/em> have gone a bit overboard in our discussions about some of the characters. But that\u2019s part of the fun, right?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You can view the spreadsheet of character colors and good-to-evil ratings <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/docs.google.com\/spreadsheets\/d\/1wWJN_pL247MtFdwLnFxtY9coaXB69Q90DR840NqI65c\/edit?usp=sharing\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">here<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Some of the results didn\u2019t surprise us. As expected, mostly villains had designs that are primarily darker colors like purple and black. Meanwhile, brighter, sunnier colors like yellow and orange were primarily found in heroes.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But what was most interesting to us were how certain villains that are more likeable tended to have colors that were primarily attributed to heroes. Meanwhile, certain heroes who, despite being ultimately good, were a bit more morally ambiguous had either a \u201cvillainous\u201d dominant color or were a darker shade of their more \u201cheroic\u201d color.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Purple <\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>As we anticipated, purple was overwhelmingly one of the most villainous colors. When you consider that purple is often associated with power, nobility, luxury and ambition, it makes sense.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Those characteristics are certainly reflected in characters like Maleficent from <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sleeping Beauty<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, Dr. Facilier from <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Princess and the Frog<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, and the Evil Queen from <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. They are all character who seek power in some form.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/venngage-wordpress.s3.amazonaws.com\/uploads\/2017\/07\/Artboard-1.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-10871\" src=\"https:\/\/venngage-wordpress.s3.amazonaws.com\/uploads\/2017\/07\/Artboard-1.png\" alt=\"disney villains\" width=\"547\" height=\"190\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>But it was interesting to consider how those characteristics are represented in heroic characters. Purple is a prominent color in Aladdin\u2019s design, for example&#8211;and he certainly does have ambition.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Anna from <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Frozen<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> also featured purple prominently in her design. Although she doesn\u2019t embody any of the more villainous qualities attributed to purple, she does come from a noble background. It\u2019s worth noting that blue features prominent in her character design as well, which we found to be a largely heroic color. It makes for an interesting conflict in her character, doesn\u2019t it?<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Blue<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Blue was overwhelmingly a heroic color. The color certainly fits the bill, with characteristics like trust, loyalty, confidence and stability often attributed to it.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There are some undeniably good characters in the blue category. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Characters like <i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Judy Hopps<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> from Zootopia, James P. \u201cSully\u201d Sullivan from <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Monsters, Inc.<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, and Cinderella.<\/span>&nbsp;But there are also some villainous-turned-heroic characters, like Elsa from <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Frozen<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> or Stitch from <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lilo and Stitch<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/venngage-wordpress.s3.amazonaws.com\/uploads\/2017\/07\/Artboard-1-copy.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-10881\" src=\"https:\/\/venngage-wordpress.s3.amazonaws.com\/uploads\/2017\/07\/Artboard-1-copy.png\" alt=\"disney villains\" width=\"730\" height=\"190\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We also found that the villain who featured blue prominently in their design were all likable characters. Hades from <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hercules<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, for example, is undeniably villainous (he is the god of the underworld, after all) but he\u2019s also a source of comic relief. And Darla Sherman from <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Finding Nemo<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is, well, a small child. <\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Red<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Even though heroes are supposed to wear red capes, we were surprised to find that red was more commonly featured in character designs for villains.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/venngage-wordpress.s3.amazonaws.com\/uploads\/2017\/07\/Artboard-1-copy-2-1.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-10875\" src=\"https:\/\/venngage-wordpress.s3.amazonaws.com\/uploads\/2017\/07\/Artboard-1-copy-2-1.png\" alt=\"disney villains\" width=\"730\" height=\"190\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But when you consider that red is often associated with determination and passion, you can see how those can both be heroic <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">and<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> villainous qualities. There\u2019s no denying that a character like Captain Hook from <em>Peter Pan<\/em> or Jafar from <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Aladdin<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> are determined. But <a href=\"https:\/\/www.designyourway.net\/blog\/graphic-design\/color-palette-shades-red\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">red can also be associated with anger<\/a>, so you can see how that may influence their characters designs as well.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">On the heroic end of the spectrum, characters who feature a lot of red in their designs like Mr. Incredible from <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Incredibles<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and Hiro Hamada from <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Big Hero 6<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> embody more of our traditional understanding of who a hero is.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Green<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Green is a color often associated with growth, healing and safety. It makes sense, then, that green was found most often in hero designs.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/venngage-wordpress.s3.amazonaws.com\/uploads\/2017\/07\/Artboard-1-copy-3-2.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-10882\" src=\"https:\/\/venngage-wordpress.s3.amazonaws.com\/uploads\/2017\/07\/Artboard-1-copy-3-2.png\" alt=\"disney villains\" width=\"547\" height=\"190\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The heroes who feature green most prominently in their designs also tended to be character who undergo a lot of growth in their movies. For example, Merida from <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Brave<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> starts out as a stubborn young woman with a strained relationship with her mother. But by the end of the movie, she has learned to see things from from mother\u2019s perspective and they are able to set aside their differences. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Or take Mulan, who grows from a daughter set to be married, to a fearless warrior. And Ariel, who literally learns how to walk on her own two feet and leave the ocean for the life she always dreamed of having.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Yellow<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Characters who featured yellow were some of the most purely good characters from our sample. Pocahontas, Russel from <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Up<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, Snow White, and Belle from <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Beauty and the Beast<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> all have a lot of yellow in their character designs.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/venngage-wordpress.s3.amazonaws.com\/uploads\/2017\/07\/Artboard-1-copy-7.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-10876\" src=\"https:\/\/venngage-wordpress.s3.amazonaws.com\/uploads\/2017\/07\/Artboard-1-copy-7.png\" alt=\"disney villains\" width=\"371\" height=\"190\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The exception is Pinocchio, who despite being a naive and innocent character, also has a bad habit of lying. His design also features some red in it&#8211;maybe a slightly &#8220;evil&#8221; streak?&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Orange<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Like yellow, orange is a bright and \u201csunny\u201d color. As you might expect, it did feature most prominently in Disney heroes.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/venngage-wordpress.s3.amazonaws.com\/uploads\/2017\/07\/Artboard-1-copy-6-1.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-10874\" src=\"https:\/\/venngage-wordpress.s3.amazonaws.com\/uploads\/2017\/07\/Artboard-1-copy-6-1.png\" alt=\"disney villains\" width=\"371\" height=\"190\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The only Disney villain we sampled who was primarily orange was Shere Khan from <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Jungle Book<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. But he\u2019s a tiger so attributing too much meaning to his color scheme feels like a bit of a stretch. That being said, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.colorpsychology.org\/orange\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">color psychology<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> attributes orange to selfishness and opportunism, so make of it what you will.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Black<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As you would expect, all of the characters in our sample who featured black prominently in their designs were villains. Some of the villains in this category were also scored the most evil, like Scar from <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Lion King<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, Ursula from <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Little Mermaid<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and Yokai from <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Big Hero 6<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/venngage-wordpress.s3.amazonaws.com\/uploads\/2017\/07\/Artboard-1-copy-4.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-10883\" src=\"https:\/\/venngage-wordpress.s3.amazonaws.com\/uploads\/2017\/07\/Artboard-1-copy-4.png\" alt=\"disney villains\" width=\"547\" height=\"190\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But while Scar and Ursula have virtually no redeeming qualities, Yokai is a much more complex character. And a striking part of Yokai\u2019s costume is his white mask. Maybe there\u2019s some conflict at play in his character design?<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><strong>White<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Despite what we expected, white featured in as many villains as it did heroes. Sure, there were some undeniably good heroes whose designs were mostly like, like Duchess from <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Aristocats<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and Pongo from <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One Hundred and One Dalmatians<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. The commonly attributed characteristics of \u201cinnocence\u201d and goodness fit them.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But what was more interesting was the villains who featured white most prominently in their designs.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/venngage-wordpress.s3.amazonaws.com\/uploads\/2017\/07\/Artboard-1-copy-5.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-10878\" src=\"https:\/\/venngage-wordpress.s3.amazonaws.com\/uploads\/2017\/07\/Artboard-1-copy-5.png\" alt=\"disney villains\" width=\"547\" height=\"190\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Take Bellwether from <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Zootopia<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, for example. We are led to believe she is a sweet, bumbling character, when in reality she is a wolf in sheep\u2019s clothing. Or take AUTO from <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Wall-E<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> who, despite being classified as a villain, doesn\u2019t really possess any morality. <\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>How do brands use color association to convey their \u201ccharacter\u201d?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Through popular media, we develop ideas about specific colors. Brands are aware of this and that\u2019s reflected in their marketing and design choices. Color psychology, like <a href=\"https:\/\/venngage.com\/blog\/font-psychology\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">font psychology<\/a>, plays a subtle but important role in influencing how people feel about a brand. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So let\u2019s take a look at color psychology in marketing and branding.&nbsp;<\/span>Taking color meanings into consideration, it\u2019s interesting to look at which companies have chosen which colors for their branding. In many cases, the personality that the brand wants to convey definitely seems to play into the color they chose.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Blue, for example, <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">is often found in financial brand logos<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. That\u2019s probably because these brands want to communicate values like trust and loyalty to their clients. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/venngage-wordpress.s3.amazonaws.com\/uploads\/2017\/07\/disney-villains-3.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-10829\" src=\"https:\/\/venngage-wordpress.s3.amazonaws.com\/uploads\/2017\/07\/disney-villains-3.png\" alt=\"disney villains\" width=\"650\" height=\"233\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.kurtosys.com\/blue-popular-financial-brands\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Source.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What\u2019s more, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.marketo.com\/2012\/06\/true-colors-what-your-brand-colors-say-about-your-business.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">a study of the world\u2019s top 100 brands<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> found that most brands (33%) use blue. This makes sense, when you consider what other industries would want to ensure trust in their audience. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/venngage-wordpress.s3.amazonaws.com\/uploads\/2017\/07\/disney-villains-4.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-10830\" src=\"https:\/\/venngage-wordpress.s3.amazonaws.com\/uploads\/2017\/07\/disney-villains-4.png\" alt=\"disney villains\" width=\"650\" height=\"256\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.marketo.com\/2012\/06\/true-colors-what-your-brand-colors-say-about-your-business.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Source.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>For example, blue also crops up a lot in tech company logos: IBM, Bell, GE, HP, and Intel. They&#8217;re all big \u201cheroes\u201d in the tech space. A lot of website logo designs also comprise of blue.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/venngage-wordpress.s3.amazonaws.com\/uploads\/2017\/07\/disney-villains-5.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-10831\" src=\"https:\/\/venngage-wordpress.s3.amazonaws.com\/uploads\/2017\/07\/disney-villains-5.png\" alt=\"disney villains\" width=\"650\" height=\"371\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The second most popular color was red, which goes against the idea that red is a more \u201cvillainous color. But it probably makes sense that a lot of brands would choose red, when you consider red is associated with strength, energy and passion.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Those are all characteristics that apply to industries where you see a lot of red in logos, like fast food brands. McDonald\u2019s, KFC, and Dairy Queen would want to evoke energy and excitement. But as <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/why-are-fast-food-signs-red-2015-9\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">this article<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> points out, our tendency to choose fast food brands with red signage probably doesn\u2019t have much scientific basis. It probably has more to do with the positive association we have with red from visiting those places as kids.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/venngage-wordpress.s3.amazonaws.com\/uploads\/2017\/07\/disney-villains-6.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-10832\" src=\"https:\/\/venngage-wordpress.s3.amazonaws.com\/uploads\/2017\/07\/disney-villains-6.png\" alt=\"disney villains\" width=\"650\" height=\"186\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But the study also found that the third most popular color for brand logos were black or grayscale. Why might that be? These companies definitely weren\u2019t setting out to look like bad guys. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to other&nbsp;<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.color-wheel-pro.com\/color-meaning.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">color<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">psychology<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">articles<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, black can also mean elegance, power, and balance. &nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Car companies will often use grays in their logos. This gives them a sleek, classy character.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/venngage-wordpress.s3.amazonaws.com\/uploads\/2017\/07\/disney-villains-7.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-10833\" src=\"https:\/\/venngage-wordpress.s3.amazonaws.com\/uploads\/2017\/07\/disney-villains-7.png\" alt=\"disney villains\" width=\"650\" height=\"511\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Black is also used in a bunch of sportswears brand logos like the Puma, Nike and Adidas. They use black in a way that evokes power and speed. It\u2019s also worth noting that white plays a big role in both their logos&#8211;there\u2019s a stark contrast between black and white that makes their designs more impactful.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/venngage-wordpress.s3.amazonaws.com\/uploads\/2017\/07\/disney-villains-8.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-10834\" src=\"https:\/\/venngage-wordpress.s3.amazonaws.com\/uploads\/2017\/07\/disney-villains-8.png\" alt=\"disney villains\" width=\"650\" height=\"186\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So like many people have critiqued already, our approach to color psychology should be taken with a grain of salt. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In many cases, how a brand\u2019s logo comes across to their audience will depend on how the colors are used within the design to communicate a particular personality. And other marketing factors definitely contribute to our perception of the brand\u2019s character as well, like their social media presence, ad content, and store designs. &nbsp;&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p>If you want help picking a logo color for your brand, 99designs have put together a <a href=\"https:\/\/99designs.ca\/logo-design\/psychology-of-color\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">handy logo color calculator<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>How can you pick your own heroic color scheme?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We wouldn\u2019t be a good design blog if we didn\u2019t give you something you could use. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When designing your own graphics, you should <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/venngage.com\/blog\/how-to-pick-colors\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">pick your color scheme<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> deliberately. Think about the story you want to tell. What colors can you pick to get the mood and message of your story across? <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What sort of \u201ccharacter\u201d do you want to give your design?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em>Infographic created by Steve Shearer.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\">{\n  \"@context\": \"http:\/\/schema.org\",\n  \"@type\": \"VideoObject\",\n  \"name\": \"What is color? ANSWERED! In less than 3 minutes [COLOR THEORY AND DESIGN FOR BEGINNERS]\",\n  \"description\": \"What is color? How do we see color? Why do we see color? What does RGB stand for? How about CMYK and Pantone? And what is the color wheel? We answer all of these questions and more in What is color? Learn about color, light, and shades, tints and tones in under three minutes. A solid introduction to the world of color theory for beginners. Good use of color is essential in design but it doesn't need to be difficult. Once you understand the basics of color you can apply these top tips to your designs again and again. A three minute video introduction to color theory that will get you talking about tints and tones and shade like a designer. You'll understand what RGB and CMYK stand for, and why we use them AND you'll be able to try out your knowledge right away with Venngage, the online graphic design tool.\",\n  \"thumbnailUrl\": \"https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/XJ74pxrhcQc\/default.jpg\",\n  \"uploadDate\": \"2019-06-11T14:19:56Z\",\n  \"duration\": \"PT3M33S\",\n  \"embedUrl\": \"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/XJ74pxrhcQc\",\n  \"interactionCount\": \"13659\"\n}<\/script>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What makes us see a character as good or evil? The character\u2019s design probably has something to do with it. &nbsp; Create This Template Think about how color is used when talking about character: if someone is bad, they\u2019re a \u201cblack hat\u201d. If someone is jealous, they\u2019re \u201cgreen with envy\u201d. We see people bringing up [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":10839,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[95,607],"tags":[223],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v17.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"What makes Disney villains so evil and Disney heroes so good? 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