A: The newspaper switched coloring in 1893 to differentiate from its City of London financial news rival, the Financial News.
A: The colors implied playfulness, particularly the order of the colors. Ruth Kedar, the graphic designer who developed the logo, told Wired: "We ended up with the primary colors, but instead of having the pattern go in order, we put a secondary color on the L, which brought back the idea that Google doesn't follow the rules."
Source: Wired
A: The popular rumor is that the logo is meant to represent a propeller blade cutting through a blue sky. Wrong! The quadrants represent the colors of the Bavarian Free State.
Source: The New York Times
Q: Cadbury is so proud of its purple branding, it has fought (and lost) several cases in the courts to trademark the color. But why purple?
A: The color was first introduced as a tribute to Queen Victoria, in the early 20th century. Purple was Queen Victoria's favorite color.
Source: Daily Mail
A: Because its founder is red-green color-blind. Mark Zuckerberg told the New Yorker "Blue is the richest color for me — I can see all of blue."
A: When the Shell Company of California first started building service stations in 1915, it chose bright colors to stand out against its competitors. Red and yellow were chosen due to the state's strong Spanish connections.
Source: Shell
A: UPS has used the "Pullman brown" for its trucks since 1916. UPS' former vice president of advertising and public relations said "it was the epitome of luxury and class at the time."
Source: The New York Times
A: The color, known as Tiffany Blue, was selected by the company's founder Charles Lewis Tiffany for the first cover of its "Blue Book," an annual collection of jewels first published in 1845. Tiffany & Co. says it may have been chosen due to the popularity of the turquoise gemstone in 19th-century jewelry, or because it was a favorite for Victorian brides who gave attendees dove-shaped turquoise brooches as wedding trinkets.
Source: Tiffany & Co.
A: Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz opened up his own espresso cafe called Il Giornale when he left the business briefly after he failed to convince Starbucks' owners to introduce espresso to the menu. In 1987 the original owners of Starbucks sold the business to Schultz who introduced his espresso concept. The new logo was a mix of the Starbucks siren and Il Giornale's "more affirming green," Schultz said.
Source: Pour Your Heart Into It by Howard Schultz/via Brand Autopsy