Colour Matters in Branding
Whilst colour psychology has often been a topic of debate due to the effect personal experiences and cultural differences have on evoking specific emotions, there is still validity in its ability to give a brand its personality and for creating brand identity. As discussed in our previous blog Selecting the Right Font for your Brand, before selecting a colour to personify your business and its brand, you will need to determine whether you want your customers and potential customers to perceive your business as friendly, corporate, creative, elegant, approachable, high-end, etc.
Selecting a colour for your Brand
Once you know what personality you want your brand to have, you can select a colour. Logos and brands will often use one of the following 11 colours because they have the ability to evoke a variety of different feelings/personalities:
Yellow – Emotional, Optimism, Friendliness, Creativity
Orange – Physical Comfort, Warmth, Security
Pink – Warmth, Femininity, Nurture
Red – Physical, Strength, Excitement
Purple – Spiritual, Containment, Vision
Blue – Intellectual, Trust, Logic, Calm
Green – Balance, Harmony, Peace
Grey – Neutral
Black – Sophistication, Glamour, Substance
White – Hygiene, Clarity, Simplicity
Brown – Seriousness, Nature, Reliability
What Shade of Colour?
Selecting a colour is only the first step in selecting a final colour for your brand. The second, and often hardest step, is deciding which shade of the colour you want.
A great example is the colour blue. How many shades of blue do you see in just one day?
- Light blue is often linked to creativity,
- Sky blue is the most calming shade of blue and also inspires safety and serenity, often seen in spa and yoga brands,
- True blue is well known for its ability to inspire trust and dependability, a common colour for education and medical institutions and brands,
- Dark blue is associated with intelligence.
Keep it Simple
Whilst there is a time and place for multi-coloured logos – think Google and eBay, the majority of businesses will stick to 1-3 colours in its branding. A primary colour and 1-2 secondary colours. This will allow you to create consistency across all your communications and assist you in building a solid brand image.
