How to choose the right colours for your brand

Choosing your branding colours is easy if you know what you’re trying to communicate. Once you established what your brand personality goals are, how do you determine which colours will work best? It starts with first learning the emotional associations of each colour.

A lot of research has gone into colour theory. It’s important to remember that colours have both good and bad connotations. Most of the time this can be altered through the tonality of the colour while other times it’s controlled by the accompanying visual assets like logos, slogans and other colours in the brand palette. Before you choose your brand colours, it is important to understand the different psychological effects that different colours can have on your audience.

 

1. 1. 1. Red – Red is the colour of passion, excitement, and anger. It has the ability to convey importance and demand attention.
      2. Orange – Orange is a colour that represents fun, vibrancy, and friendliness. It is energizing and exciting.
      3. Yellow – Yellow inspires happiness, youth, and optimism, yet it may also appear attention-getting or inexpensive.
      4. Green – Green conveys stability, wealth, development, and a sense of being connected to nature.
      5. Light Blue – A light shade of blue evokes feelings of calm, trust, and openness. It can also be used to denote innocence.
      6. Dark Blue – Professionalism, security, and formality are all represented by dark blue. It is mature and reliable.
      7. Purple – Purple is a colour associated with monarchy, creativity, and luxury.
      8. Pink – Pink symbolises femininity, youth, and innocence. It spans from contemporary to luxurious.
      9. Brown – Brown has a rustic, earthy, vintage aspect or mood.
      10. White – White conjures us images of purity, morality, health, and simplicity. It can range from affordable to high-end.
      11. Grey – Grey is the colour of neutrality. It might appear calm, classic, solemn, mysterious, or mature.
      12. Black – Black evokes a powerful, sophisticated, edgy, luxurious and modern feeling.

 

Remember that the impact of your branding colours is influenced by the style and manner in which they are used, as well as the colour combinations you select. This is a condensed version; our relationship with colour is considerably more complex—for example, too much yellow may cause anxiety. Read this great guide that explores the psychology of colour more in-depth.

It’s also worth noting that colour isn’t a precise science, and there’s no formula for accurately determining which colour symbolizes what. This is where colour combinations come into play, as they aid in the creation of a style that invokes specific emotions through their juxtaposition.

 

To understand this, think of the difference in the meaning of the colour blue when it’s paired with gold – conjuring notions of royalty and luxury – as opposed to the same blue but paired with pink – which tends to feel much more playful.

 

Therefore, it is important to use colour combinations that work well together and create the desired emotional reaction or experience. There isn’t an exact way to choose the right colours for your brand, however, it can generally be broken down into three groups.

The primary colour, or core colour, of your brand, is the one that is most identified with it. Consider Tiffany’s distinctive blue or Pinterest’s crimson. Look for a single colour that best defines your company based on colour meanings for your core colour. To obtain the perfect appearance, play around with several hues and tints of the colour you want to use, ranging from rich and dark to delicate and pastel, or even brilliant neon to find the perfect look.

 

Which of your brand’s personality characteristics is the most important? Your base colour should not only reflect the most prominent characteristic of your brand identity but also appeal to the target audience you’re aiming to attract. The remaining colours will be chosen based on how well they complement this one.

 

Colour is quite subjective, yet it does generate an emotional response. What are your thoughts about yourself? If you’re lively and fun, bright, vibrant colours are anticipated. Muted tones will give off a serious and more sophisticated vibe.

Once you have your primary colour, pick two to four colours that go along with it. These secondary colours will compliment your primary colour and can either appear next to it or independently. A brand’s secondary colours can go in a few different directions, which I’ll expand on in the next section.

 

The secondary colours you choose will be used the most after your base colour. This is a bit trickier than choosing your base colour because there are more restrictions: aside from matching a brand personality trait, your accent colour must also pair visually with your base colour, not to mention resonate with your audience.

When crafting your brand colours, it’s easy to focus on the main colours and overlook the neutrals. However, neutral colours are important as they are the ones in charge of most of your communication (such as the colour of your written text) and will appear in the background of most of your assets. Neutral colours are usually white or black, often combined with a few shades of grey.

 

Besides your written text, your neutral colour will most likely be a background colour, something chosen to avoid attention. Typically these are different hues of grey, but beige, whites and off-whites work, too. Black is also an option, but be careful; it tends to dominate any colour scheme it’s a part of.

Throughout the process of choosing your branding colours, you have to keep in mind the end goal: what kind of colour palette are you using? Typically, brands use one of these common brand colour schemes:

 

When you wish to emphasize one personality feature, a monochromatic scheme will emphasize the meaning of that one brand colour. While this is ideal for minimalist companies, the problem is to differentiate the colours sufficiently so that your site does not seem aesthetically constrained.

Because neighbouring hues frequently have comparable emotional implications, colours close to each other on the colour wheel have harmonic relationships. Analogous schemes are safe picks, but they don’t stick out or capture attention as well.

Colour complements, often known as opposites, are colours that are precisely opposite one another on the colour wheel. Because they’re diametrically opposed, complimentary colours bring out the best in each other when coupled; complementary colours are frequently seen in sports teams. Complementary colours are fantastic for creating dynamic, engaging pictures, but because they’re so popular, be wary of copying another company.

Triadic colours are a stable branding colour scheme that divides the colour wheel into three equal halves. Triadic schemes are as stable as similar themes, yet they give a greater diversity of stimulation than complementary schemes. The most difficult step is matching the three colours to the characteristics of your business identity. But you’re in luck, in the last section I provide some useful resources that you can use to experiment with.

In conclusion, your brand colours play a significant part in how you design and communicate your brand. By having a good understanding of your brand colours early on, your marketing efforts will appear more consistent and memorable in your customer’s minds. Different colours elicit specific emotions, therefore, you should take your time with choosing the right colours and what emotions you want your brand to be associated with.