Website 99designs recently polled 1,500 small business owners, start-ups, entrepreneurs and design decision-makers on graphic design and its importance to their business.

The results make for a decent read. We feel a post is warranted since we also saw recent stories in the WSJ that suggest many businesses are now hungry not for MBAs, but people who are saavy in design and product development. (Story at WSJ.com may be behind a paid content wall.)

The survey results that are easiest to digest involve colors and popularity.

Namely, the survey asked for which colors owners associate with success. Answer: Blue most associated with succes. Fifty-seven percent said blue is their idea of success; the second most cited color is green (35%) followed by white (32%), black (29%) and red (21%). Purple was the color males least often associate with success, while women were least likely to select orange.

Then, on which brands are seen as having best logo and best website, the results are predictable:

• Apple topped the lists for best logo and best website; also on the best logo were Nike, Coca-Cola and FedEx.
• Most disliked logos and websites: Wal-Mart, Microsoft, Pepsi, IBM and Google.
• Best websites: Apple, Amazon, Google, Facebook and Nike.
• Worst websites: Wal-Mart, Yahoo, Facebook, MySpace and Microsoft.

MySpace, really?  Who looks at MySpace?
 

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