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I'd like to convert some client logos into a single light grey colour #BFBFBF.

The logos are in PNG and JPEG formats on a white background.

I know that I can convert the image to greyscale and / or use the channel mixer but it's not giving me the exact colour I need.

Example logo:

enter image description here

Everything the isn't white needs to be #BFBFBF.

How can I change all colours in an image - except the white background - to a single specified colour?

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    I removed Illustrator from the question. Photoshop is for raster art, Illustrator is for vector.
    – JohnB
    Jan 31, 2015 at 12:45
  • Thats not strictly true. Illustrator has live trace for raster images so you have narrowed the scope of the question when I was actually interested to know if it could be done in Illustrator.
    – codecowboy
    Jan 31, 2015 at 20:45
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    And I could probably drive in a nail with a socket wrench... If your desired output is vector, use Illustrator. Otherwise, use Photoshop for this. Converting a logo to vector and re-colorizing it is better off as a separate question (and if I recall correctly those questions already exist for Illustrator). Just to note: when it comes to logos and text, live trace is usually a bad idea!
    – JohnB
    Jan 31, 2015 at 21:13

3 Answers 3

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For examples like the one in your question, you can use a Solid Color layer with a blending mode.

  1. Open the image in Photoshop.

  2. In the Layers panel, select the circular icon at the bottom to Create new fill or adjustment layer enter image description here

    indicating where the new fill or adjustment layer button is

  3. Select Solid Color from the list that opens.

    Indicating which option to choose from the list

  4. Input the colour you want in the hexadecimal box at the bottom right of the box that pops up and press OK. You can select the colour through other methods of your choosing, and you can select a different colour later by double clicking on the Solid Color layer thumbnail at any time.

    Indicating where to input the desired / target colour

  5. For this specific logo and the colour you want, the blending mode that works perfectly fine is Lighter Color. Select the Lighter Color Blend Mode from the dropdown list in the layers panel.

    Indicating the blending mode to choose and how to choose it

Other logos or a different target colour may require different blending modes, and complex logos or ones with backgrounds may not work with the blend mode method at all. Logos like the one you've provided work perfectly fine though.

Output of example logo in a single colour

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  • Are clients usually ok with this, for say a portfolio site?
    – SuperUberDuper
    Dec 13, 2016 at 11:03
  • @SuperUberDuper That depends on what they say when you ask them. All logos should be convertible to monotone, but they may desire a specific shade. For colours, it would be most wise to ask.
    – Dom
    Dec 13, 2016 at 12:44
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    For posterity: Those looking for how to do this in Gimp = Use "Color" blend mode.
    – Eric Hepperle - CodeSlayer2010
    Jun 13, 2017 at 23:39
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You could use the wand tool, 'W', select everything in the logo, change the foreground color to #BFBFBF and hit Alt + Backspace

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    It may be faster to select all white (non-contiguous) and invert the selection.
    – Jongware
    Jan 31, 2015 at 11:19
  • @RadLexus please explain further
    – SuperUberDuper
    Dec 13, 2016 at 11:08
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If you're logo is on a solid white background such as the case than first let's remove that real quick using Blend-If and then rasterizing it (if your logo is already on a transparent background just skip this step):

Layer -> Layer Style -> Blending Options then pull in the Blend-If Slider to remove the white background:

enter image description here

Now make that into a Smart Object by right clicking it and converting to smart object.

Finally create a Color Adjustment Layer of Black, White, Pink, whatever you want. Turn it into a Clipping Mask by holding alt and clicking between the two layers. Alternatively you can go to Layer -> Make Clipping Mask:

enter image description here

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