diff --git a/sphinx/util/logging.py b/sphinx/util/logging.py
index 9ebd661a4..10043ccd4 100644
--- a/sphinx/util/logging.py
+++ b/sphinx/util/logging.py
@@ -15,11 +15,11 @@ import logging.handlers
 from contextlib import contextmanager
 from collections import defaultdict
 
-from six import PY2, StringIO, string_types
+from six import PY2, StringIO
 from docutils.utils import get_source_line
 
 from sphinx.errors import SphinxWarning
-from sphinx.util.console import darkred  # type: ignore
+from sphinx.util.console import colorize
 
 if False:
     # For type annotation
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ if False:
 
 VERBOSE = 15
 DEBUG2 = 5
+
 VERBOSITY_MAP = defaultdict(lambda: 0)  # type: Dict[int, int]
 VERBOSITY_MAP.update({
     0: logging.INFO,
@@ -38,6 +39,13 @@ VERBOSITY_MAP.update({
     3: DEBUG2,
 })
 
+COLOR_MAP = defaultdict(lambda text: text)  # type: Dict[int, unicode]
+COLOR_MAP.update({
+    logging.WARNING: 'darkred',
+    logging.DEBUG: 'darkgray',
+    DEBUG2: 'lightgray',
+})
+
 
 def getLogger(name):
     # type: (str) -> SphinxLoggerAdapter
@@ -52,16 +60,13 @@ class SphinxWarningLogRecord(logging.LogRecord):
     def getMessage(self):
         # type: () -> str
         message = super(SphinxWarningLogRecord, self).getMessage()
-        if isinstance(message, string_types):
-            location = getattr(self, 'location', None)
-            if location:
-                message = '%s: WARNING: %s' % (location, message)
-            elif 'WARNING:' not in message:
-                message = 'WARNING: %s' % message
+        location = getattr(self, 'location', None)
+        if location:
+            message = '%s: WARNING: %s' % (location, message)
+        elif 'WARNING:' not in message:
+            message = 'WARNING: %s' % message
 
-            return darkred(message)
-        else:
-            return message
+        return message
 
 
 class SphinxLoggerAdapter(logging.LoggerAdapter):
@@ -103,6 +108,8 @@ class SphinxLoggerAdapter(logging.LoggerAdapter):
             extra['location'] = kwargs.pop('location')
         if 'nonl' in kwargs:
             extra['nonl'] = kwargs.pop('nonl')
+        if 'color' in kwargs:
+            extra['color'] = kwargs.pop('color')
 
         return msg, kwargs
 
@@ -293,6 +300,19 @@ class WarningLogRecordTranslator(logging.Filter):
         return True
 
 
+class ColorizeFormatter(logging.Formatter):
+    def format(self, record):
+        message = super(ColorizeFormatter, self).format(record)
+        color = getattr(record, 'color', None)
+        if color is None:
+            color = COLOR_MAP.get(record.levelno)
+
+        if color:
+            return colorize(color, message)
+        else:
+            return message
+
+
 def setup(app, status, warning):
     # type: (Sphinx, IO, IO) -> None
     """Setup root logger for Sphinx"""
@@ -306,11 +326,13 @@ def setup(app, status, warning):
     info_handler = NewLineStreamHandler(status)
     info_handler.addFilter(InfoFilter())
     info_handler.setLevel(VERBOSITY_MAP.get(app.verbosity))
+    info_handler.setFormatter(ColorizeFormatter())
 
     warning_handler = logging.StreamHandler(warning)
     warning_handler.addFilter(WarningSuppressor(app))
     warning_handler.addFilter(WarningIsErrorFilter(app))
     warning_handler.addFilter(WarningLogRecordTranslator(app))
     warning_handler.setLevel(logging.WARNING)
+    warning_handler.setFormatter(ColorizeFormatter())
     logger.addHandler(info_handler)
     logger.addHandler(warning_handler)
diff --git a/tests/test_util_logging.py b/tests/test_util_logging.py
index 6a4d0f315..7a7ce3b21 100644
--- a/tests/test_util_logging.py
+++ b/tests/test_util_logging.py
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ from docutils import nodes
 
 from sphinx.errors import SphinxWarning
 from sphinx.util import logging
+from sphinx.util.console import colorize
 from sphinx.util.logging import is_suppressed_warning
 
 from util import with_app, raises, strip_escseq
@@ -238,3 +239,33 @@ def test_pending_logging(app, status, warning):
 
     # actually logged as ordered
     assert 'WARNING: message2\nWARNING: message3' in strip_escseq(warning.getvalue())
+
+
+@with_app()
+def test_colored_logs(app, status, warning):
+    app.verbosity = 3
+    logging.setup(app, status, warning)
+    logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
+
+    # default colors
+    logger.debug2('message1')
+    logger.debug('message2')
+    logger.verbose('message3')
+    logger.info('message4')
+    logger.warning('message5')
+    logger.critical('message6')
+    logger.error('message7')
+
+    assert colorize('lightgray', 'message1') in status.getvalue()
+    assert colorize('darkgray', 'message2') in status.getvalue()
+    assert 'message3\n' in status.getvalue()  # not colored
+    assert 'message4\n' in status.getvalue()  # not colored
+    assert colorize('darkred', 'WARNING: message5') in warning.getvalue()
+    assert 'WARNING: message6\n' in warning.getvalue()  # not colored
+    assert 'WARNING: message7\n' in warning.getvalue()  # not colored
+
+    # color specification
+    logger.debug('message8', color='white')
+    logger.info('message9', color='red')
+    assert colorize('white', 'message8') in status.getvalue()
+    assert colorize('red', 'message9') in status.getvalue()