Logo, color, brand

One of the first times I really remember thinking about the idea of a brand was when I started noticing Red Bull.  They have a distinct font, color combination, and set of branding icons that they use across products.

Let's start with the logo:

The Red Bull logo was conceptualized by Dietrich Mateschitz, the owner of Red Bull.  While on vacation in Thailand, he had a beverage called "Krating Daeng" which translates to Red Bull.  One of the things I find interesting about the logo is the fact that it breaks a lot of design rules, but is still effective.  Typically, logos shouldn't have the small details that are on the inside of the bulls.  The reasoning for this is that such details typically get lost on smaller designs.  Red Bull gets around this by using the type face for smaller applications.  The other rule it breaks is the color scheme.  The colors are faded, which typically makes a product feel dated and tired.  In this logo it works because if it were pure red and yellow, it would be overly stimulating. 

The second thing that really gets me about Red Bull is their branding:

Typically packages and branding revolve around the color of the logo.  Here we can see that Red Bull brings in a third and forth color to their brand.  In addition to the reddish pink and orangy yellow, we have blue and silver.  The silver saves the color scheme from becoming too much like an American flag, and the blue goes back into space pushing the logo forward.  This color scheme is used on everything from clothing to packaging and even sponsorship on race cars.