Brand Colours – Picking the Perfect Palette

Emotions are powerful when it comes to making decisions and so, as a brand, you want to make sure that you are connecting emotionally to your customers. Since you can’t tell your complete brand story with just a logo, colours and the emotions they evoke are key components to expressing your brand’s personality and reaching your customer’s hearts.

Research shows that colours increase brand recognition by up to 90%; it also shows that people make a subconscious decision within the initial 90 seconds of viewing – and that between 62 and 90% of this assessment is based on colour alone.

A look into colour psychology

Understanding colour psychology can help determine your colour palette. Since different colours convey different meanings, keep in mind how you want your customers to feel as they interact with your brand. Below are some common colours and associations to those colours :

Red:
Excitement, passionate, energetic, motivated, strong, love

Orange:
Active, happy, playful, creative, friendly, enthusiastic

Yellow:
Optimistic, cheerful, confident, happy, warmth, energy

Green:
Nature, healing, calming, balanced, fresh, cheerful

Blue:
Professional, authentic, trustworthy, stability, serene, focused

Purple:
Regal, spiritual, mystery, creativity, wisdom, soothing

Pink:
Romance, happiness, kindness, calmness, nurturing, refreshing

Brown:
Reliability, strength, security, warmth, comfort, rugged

Black:
Powerful, bold, luxurious, sophisticated, mysterious, edgy

Gray:
Neutral, subdued, calm, classic, serious, mature

White:
Peaceful, freshness, simplicity, cleanliness, security, purity

Choosing primary & secondary colours

When picking a palette, start with looking at the colour associated with the brand attribute that’s most likely to appeal to your target audience as your primary colour, and then choose accent secondary colours that pair best with that colour while still reflecting your attributes and audience. It’s always a good idea to pick a neutral (such as black, white, ivory, gray, silver, tan, beige or silver) as one of your colours to use for text and neutral backgrounds.

Your accent colours can follow one of the three colour theory schemes below:

Monochromatic:
Monochromatic palettes are different tints (created by mixing a colour with pure white) or shades (created by mixing a colour with pure black) of your primary colour.

Analogous:
Analogous palettes are composed of the colours that sit next to each other on the colour wheel. They are usually either all cool colours (such as blues and greens) or all warm colours (such as oranges and reds).

Complementary:
Complementary palettes are opposite to each other on the colour wheel, so they include a mix of both warm and cool colours.

Triadic:
Triadic palettes are composed of hues that are equally spaced around the colour wheel, forming a triangle.

Depending on the direction of your brand, you might decide to mix and match some of these palettes. For example, if you choose two monochromatic colours but want to add a bit of balanced vibrancy, you can pick a colour complementary to your primary colour on the colour wheel.

There are no rules to the exact number of colours you should have for your brand, but generally speaking, a variety of 1-6 colours works well for most brands. Keep in mind that these colours will not necessarily appear in every single instance of your brand – if your logo is black for example, not every colour will appear in your logo. However, the colours will have a role in supporting collateral and are tools in your brand identity as a whole.

Know your audience and your competition

Generally speaking, certain colours, regardless of the emotions they evoke, tend to appeal differently to various audiences based on gender, culture, age and geographic location. For example, if your target audience is primarily male, choosing purple and orange as your primary colours might not get the best result; research shows that 22% of men choose purple as their least favourite colour (tied at the highest percentage with orange).

It’s also important to see what your competition is doing within your industry and determine your strategy. Are you trying to compete directly or stand out? Depending on your industry, your offering and your strategy, you might want to stick to some industry standard colours, or you may want to step outside the box to stand out with a unique palette.

Ultimately, having an appropriate colour palette that draws in your ideal customers and evokes emotions that are directly in line with your brand attributes are vital in creating a successful and memorable brand identity.