Yellow is the color of energy and motion. It looks very bright and fun, evoking a sense of friendliness, and can make any image look fresh and kind. This color is usually used in the logotypes of kids’ brands or affordable sellers, which intend to make families happy in an easy way. In this article, we will have a look at the most famous brands with yellow as the main color of the palette, and determine, what it means for each of them. The logos in our list are set in alphabetical order.
Antefilms
The Antefilms logo has yellow as a dominating color. It is used for the massive moon in the background, while all other elements are set in white and black, emphasizing the bright image, which sets the whole mood.
Arizona State Sun Devils
The logo of the athletic program from Arizona is set in a yellow and red color palette with the sharp trident as the only element. Yellow here is the main color, while red is used for the outline of the trident and small contrasting details.
Arkansas PB Golden Lions
The powerful and aggressive Lion from the Arkansas PB Golden Lions badge is all set in yellow, with just the eye and the opened roaring mouth drawn in red, which elevates the dramatic look of the image and makes the animal look wild and dangerous.
Batman
One of the most iconic yellow logos is, of course, the Batman one. The yellow shade of the logo’s background lightens everything up and adds some playfulness to the solid black bat in the center of the oval.
Best Buy
The logo of Best Buy also uses yellow as the main background color. The bold black letters look strong and bright on the yellow label, and the overall composition looks very welcoming and friendly.
Billa
Billa is another large brand, which chose intense yellow shade for its visual identity. Unlike all previous logos, this one is fully set in yellow, with no other shades. The yellow capital letters of the wordmark look bright on any background.
Borussia Dortmund
For the German Football club, Borussia Dortmund yellow is the symbol of energy and strength. The simple geometric logo of the club is elevated by the brightness of the colors, and a strong contrast between yellow and black.
Carhartt
The popular clothing brand Carhartt for its abstract and quite minimalistic emblem used a dark shade of yellow, which is closer to orange. This shade looks warm and stylish, perfectly reflecting the philosophy of the brand.
Cheetos
The use of yellow color in the Cheetos logo is quite predictable, as it is the main shade of the cheetah animal, the mascot of the famous brand. Two shades of yellow and black make up one of the most recognizable snack badges in the world.
Chevrolet
The logo of the legendary American automaker Chevrolet has used different shades of yellow throughout the years — from gold to solid yellow. The latest version of the badge uses a bright tone, which works great with the silver framing.
Chupa Chups
The colorful Chups Chups logo was designed by Salvador Dali, and it was this genius artist, which set the yellow and red color palette for the brand. Since then it hasn’t been changed, and it doesn’t need to.
Commerzbank
Not only mass market or kids brands use yellow in their logos, but serious organizations do too. One of those is Commerzbank, which has a gradient yellow emblem, formed by a folded ribbon, and looks surprisingly strict and elegant.
Continental
The yellow on the Continental logo is also close to orange and looks bright and self-sufficient on a plain white background without any outlines or additional shades. The logo of the international tire brand is stylish and powerful.
DHL
Another super recognizable yellow badge is the logo of DHL, with the bold stylized lettering in red set on a yellow rectangular background, evoking a sense of speed and energy, with which the company delivers parcels all over the globe.
Denny’s
Denny’s is another brand, which chose the combination of yellow and red for its logo, but the company also has white in its palette. The bold red letters on the yellow geometric crest are outlined in white for a stronger contrast.
EE
A more interesting color combination is used for the logo of EE. Here the bright shade of yellow is mixed with teal, making up a very intense image, which is at the same time quite modest and laconic.
El Pollo Loco
The bright and warm color palette, consisting of red and yellow, is used by another popular brand, El Pollo Loco. Here yellow is about taste, heat, and friendliness. Yellow is a pretty common choice for fast food brands.
Ferrari
Probably, the most luxurious brand on this list, Ferrari, uses a light shade of yellow, which looks very elegant in combination with the colors of the Italian flag, and makes up a strong contrast with the main element of the logo, the black stallion.
Georgia Tech Yellow Jacket
The athletic program from Georgia has a bee as its mascot, which makes the use of a yellow and black color palette more than logical. Although, the choice of the yellow shade is not very standard— for the cool bee a calm and dark tone was picked.
Hellas Verona
Hellas Verona football club has chosen yellow and white as its palette. The bright heraldic elements are set on a plain background, looking quite powerful and eye-catching and evoking a sense of energy and dynamic.
Hertz
Yellow and black is, probably, the most popular combination in this list, and Hertz has also chosen it for its minimalistic yet bright logo. Yellow gradients here are used for the glossy background behind the flat black inscription.
IKEA
The famous Swedish brand uses a color palette of the national flag of Sweden, yellow and blue. The flat bright shades make up a very intense combination, with the simple concept elevated by the chosen colors.
IMDb
The yellow and black color palette of the IMDb logo looks very strong and intense. This badge is all about simplicity and minimalistic design, with heavy black letters on a flat yellow rectangle with rounded corners.
In-N-Out Burger
The second most popular color combined with yellow is red, and the In-N-Out Burger badge is set in this bright and delightful palette. Yellow here is used for just a graphical part, an arrow, while red is the main shade of the composition.
Kärcher
Yellow on the Kärcher logo is used for the underline of the massive geometric wordmark, set in black on a white background. But it’s not just a yellow line? It is quite a heavy horizontally stretched rectangle, which makes up a significant part of the composition.
La Poste
The La Poste logo is set in a yellow, blue, and gray color palette, with the bright emblem balanced by calm and strict lettering. And again, yellow here is used for the background of the roundel.
Lays
The color, which is instantly associated with potato chips is, of course, yellow, so there is no surprise, that the world’s most famous chips brand, Lays, used yellow as one of the main colors for its logo. The bright and sunny roundel is accompanied by a wide red ribbon with clean white lettering on it.
Lipton
The internationally recognized brand of tea, Lipton, also uses a yellow, red and white tricolor for its logo. The large yellow roundel on the background resembles a slice of lemon, which can make any tea taste better.
McDonald’s
Two Golden Arches, making up a stylized capital “M”, is probably, the most iconic of all logos in this list. The dark yellow “M” is a symbol of fun, hospitality, warmth, and love, which the global fast food leader tends to give to its customers.
Michigan Wolverines
The o key element on the logo of Michigan Wolverines is the massive geometric letter “M”, colored in the bright shade of yellow and outlined in dark blue, which makes it look strong on any background or jersey.
Nantes
For sports clubs, yellow is a symbol of energy and motion, and Nantes Football Club has chosen it for the logo for the same reason. The modernized crest from the club’s badge looks much cooler in yellow than in any other color.
National Geographic
National Geographic uses yellow for a very minimalistic geometric element of its logo, a vertically-oriented rectangular frame, placed on a plain white background on the left from the two-leveled lettering in black.
Nikon
For one of the world’s leaders in the photography segment, Nikon, yellow is used as the main shade of the logo, accenting light and shadows, and making a laconic design look brighter and more modern.
Nirvana
The iconic Nirvana badge with a hand-drawn smiling face can be seen in two color versions: black and yellow, or fully yellow, set on a plain white background. For the fans of the legendary band, yellow is something more than just a color standing for the sun.
Optus
Even though the logo of the Optus brand is super simple and laconic — just a clean uppercase lettering on a transparent background, thanks to the use of dark yellow color, it looks very modern and eye-catching.
Radical
Radical uses a more complicated color palette, but yellow is the main shade. The lettering is fully set in this sunny and happy color. As for the emblem, it uses yellow for the background of its vertically-oriented rectangular badge, making up a great accompaniment for black, red, and gray elements.
Reese’s
The warm yellow and brown color palette is used by the famous chocolate brand, Reese’s. Yellow was chosen as a perfect balance to the chocolate brown shade, evoking a sweet and warm feeling and representing the taste of the product.
Schweppes
The freshness and bitterness of the tonic water are brilliantly reflected by the cold shade of yellow on the Schweppes logo. The solid banner promises refreshment and looks very modern and strong.
Scoot
On the Scoot logo, the solid yellow circle looks like a sun and works great with the two perfect rings of the double “O”, written in bold black lines across it. The logo looks very lively and full of positive energy.
Snapchat
The mysterious white and black ghost from the Snapchat logo looks much more friendly on a bright yellow background, which turns everything into a joke and elevates the mood of the image.
Sprint
The Sprint logo could look too strict and boring without a delicate geometric emblem, set on the right from the black lettering, and drawn in an intense shade of yellow. The bright “feathers” of the emblem create dynamics, which is so necessary for the badge.
Stanley
Another logo, executed in a yellow and black color palette is the Stanley one. And again, the bright yellow shade is used as the background for heavy geometric lettering, which looks very distinctive and stable.
Symantec
The graphical logo of Symantec is also executed in a black and yellow color scheme but with a darker shade of yellow, close to orange, standing for the strength of the brand, and height quality of its products.
Thomas Cook
Thomas Cook has a voluminous gradient emblem in shades of yellow, which looks very tender and sophisticated, but at the same time evokes a sense of energy and power. With dark orange shades, the yellow heart of the logo represents warmth and happiness.
Western Union
Western Union has been using a yellow-and-black color palette throughout its whole history. Apart from the representation of the service’s speed, it also evokes a sense of warmth, support, and friendship.
Wu-Tang
The Wu-Tang graphical emblem is set in flat yellow, with no additional shades or elements. It looks very stylish and strong, and can not be lost on any background, due to the deep and intense shade.
Yellow Pages
For the Yellow Pages logo, a light shade of yellow is used in combination with black. It does support the name of the brand and also makes the bold logo look a bit more interesting and memorable.
Bumble
Yellow reflects a lot of light, it is one of the warmest and brightest colors in the visible spectrum. It instantly attracts attention, energizes, and warms. And yellow is also associated with happiness. This is exactly what the Bumble dating service reflected in their logo, because isn’t it happiness to finally meet your soul mate? But here it also works in a more direct way — as both the name and the emblem of the app are strongly connected to the bee theme and honeycomb.
Edfor Grand Sport
Founded by Eduardo Ferreirinha in 1936, the Edfor Grand Sport company began its journey with hand-built sports cars. Unfortunately, the company, which produced some of the most elegant sports cars, ceased to exist with the outbreak of World War II. However, its logo has survived, and it still looks stylish and modern today. It is a super cool custom lettering in the title case of a designer sans-serif typeface, written in thick purple lines over a horizontally-oriented oval medallion with a bright yellow background.
Kaipan
Kaipan is a little-known Czech automaker founded in 1991. The car company produces sports convertibles, and the first cars were built based on Lotus Seven. The Kaipan logo consists of two differently sized crescents. The smaller one is inside the larger crescent moon. The yellow color of the emblem adds elegance and lightness, while the black inscription speaks of stability and strength. Moreover, this shade of yellow evokes positive emotions and represents optimism and carefree.
Mello Yello
A brand with the name Mello Yello didn’t have much choice in colors for its logo. Of course, it should have been yellow. And it is. The bold stylized lettering written in two levels against a transparent background is set in bold distinctive lines of a juicy shade of yellow, which represents happiness and energy and is also able to relax a person, and motivate and energize them to reach new heights. This logo is a great combination of minimalistic geometry and intense coloring.
NAPA
The visual identity of the NAPA Auto Parts manufacturer also has yellow as the main color of its logo palette. But here it is accompanied by red and blue, and together these shades make up a super powerful and eye-catching combination. Blue and yellow are used for the emblem, while red is an underlining stroke for the bold uppercase yellow lettering, set in quite an intense medium-dark tone. The logo is all about passion and power.
Planters
The famous brand of snacks, based on peanuts, Planters, has its logo executed in a light shade of yellow with a very interesting complementing of tender pink and blue. The thin pink strokes add volume and gloss to the yellow surface of the massive sans-serif characters, while the blue shadow makes the image look stable and evokes a sense of professionalism and excellence. The yellow here works as the main eye-catcher, plus this is the color, which first comes to mind when we think of nuts in general and peanuts in particular.
Pokemon
The Japanese studio Game Freak is responsible for the creation of Pokemon. Its director, Satoshi Tajiri, was passionate about collecting insects as a child and made this idea central to the game. But instead of bugs, these are Pokemon, “pocket monsters”. The Pokemon brand is owned by Game Freak itself, major Japanese publisher Nintendo, and a related company called Creatures. Together they formed The Pokemon Company. The yellow and blue logo of the franchise represents fun, joy, and energy. A perfect combo.
Rold Gold
Another food brand, which has chosen yellow as the main color of its visual identity is Rold Gold, the brand of pretzels, owned by Frito-Lay. The gradient yellow medallion with arched sides and sharp angles is accompanied by a two-shaded blue frame and elegant lettering in the same palette. Yellow and blue often come together in the badges, as this is a bright and distinctive combination, which has both joyful and professional qualities reflected in it.
Skin+Me
The young brand of personalized skincare, Skin+Me, has also chosen this bright and warm color for its representation. The stylish geometric lettering in a designer serif font with straight cuts and angles would have looked much more brutal and serious in any other shade, but in yellow it looks joyful and sweet. Sunny, cheerful, warm, lively – such associations are associated with it. Psychologists say that yellow symbolizes happiness, success, wealth, freedom, and luck. Plus, in the case of Skin+Me, it also makes your skin happy.
Wonderbra
Yellow color logos instantly catch the eye. And it is precisely this property that many international brands, including Wonderbra, take advantage of. Even though the bold yellow inscription is set directly on a white background with no outlines or frames, it still is very visible and readable due to the right shade of yellow, vivid yet intense. Speaking of which, the Pantone Institute has chosen yellow as the color of the year several times and has always given it a very upbeat, life-affirming explanation.