diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/installer.py b/lib/spack/spack/installer.py
index a9965c91141badc515369fd1a5823ebd41edf5ab..213a85f0dc72ff149118e8bab7ec45aeaebdc970 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/installer.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/installer.py
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@
 import spack.repo
 import spack.store
 
-from llnl.util.tty.color import colorize, cwrite
+from llnl.util.tty.color import colorize
 from llnl.util.tty.log import log_output
 from spack.util.environment import dump_environment
 from spack.util.executable import which
@@ -253,8 +253,7 @@ def _print_installed_pkg(message):
     Args:
         message (str): message to be output
     """
-    cwrite('@*g{[+]} ')
-    print(message)
+    print(colorize('@*g{[+]} ') + message)
 
 
 def _process_external_package(pkg, explicit):