Choosing the colour palette for your brand is not too different from painting rooms in your home. The day after we moved into our first home, I had pretty much picked out all of the wall colours and had already painted test swatches on the walls with several shades of white & blue. The previous owner had a very different style to mine with lots of earth tones and it just didn’t feel right. When it comes to your brand, the colours should also welcome in your ideal client and make them feel at home with your brand.

In this blog post, we are going to look at why colours matter, the psychology of colour and how to choose a colour palette for your brand.

Why is choosing a colour palette for your brand important?

The brand colours you choose represent your identity as a brand. They should be integrated across all your materials including website, landing pages, logo, contracts & service packages. Even if it’s not intentional, your brand colours can add a perception of the type of business you are and the people that you serve. Your brand colours, if used correctly, will help establish familiarity so your brand becomes easily recognizable.

The psychology behind colour

When looking at the top 100 brands, blue is the primary brand colour of over a third of them. The colour red is the second most popular colour with about 28% of the top 100 brands using it. There’s no denying that colour can send a message to your target audience. However, there’s been numerous attempts to categorize what emotions each colour evokes. In reality, this is hugely dependent on personal experience, cultural differences and context.

Generally, the right colours can elicit the feeling, image and mood of your brand. It’s essentially your brand personality that the colour is creating.  Interestingly, research shows that it’s actually more likely to have colour perception and preference when it comes to the shade, tints, and hues. For example, men generally prefer bold colors while women prefer softer colors.

Colour can also act as a differentiator. Choosing the right color can help your brand stand out in the crowd. This is known as the isolation effect. When something obviously stands out from the others, people are more likely to remember it.

How to come up with your brand colour palette

If you’re currently going through a rebrand or just starting your business, your colour palette is going to be important. Let’s go through the three steps you should take when deciding your brand colour palette.

1. What is your brand personality?

Before you start choosing colours, you have to understand your brand’s personality. To begin, start brainstorming adjectives that describe your business and feeling you want to communicate. For example, do you want your business to be modern or traditional, fun & exciting or calm & relaxed?

Once you’ve brainstormed a list of 20 or more, it’s time to narrow down that list to the 3-5 that are most significant to your brand.

2. Choose your core colour

Once you’ve identified your core brand personality traits, it’s time to find the one color that reflects those traits. This can definitely be subjective and so it’s worth playing around with a few ideas and asking others how the colours make them feel. Often times it’s not the core colour itself that fully embodies the brand personality but the colour scheme itself.

When designing the brand for Schift & Co I knew I wanted both blue & pink in there so it wasn’t just one colour that I focused on.

3. Develop the colour palette for your brand

Now that you have your core brand color picked out you can start adding additional colours to build your branding palette. One tip is to go on to Pinterest and search for colour palettes. Create a secret board with all the ones that you are drawn to, you may notice a pattern in how those colours are mixed.

When it comes to colour palettes there are three variations that tend to stand out.

1. Using one core brand colour with a few neutral shades.
2. Use 2 or 3 variations on your core brand colour.
3. Add a contrasting accent colour

I think it’s important to acknowledge that there are no right or wrong ways to choose your colour palette. It’s more important to ensure you consistently use those colours going forward and that they reflect your ideal client.

If you’re looking to revamp your branding but not sure where to start, we’re here to help. When it comes to branding, we take a look at the whole picture which not only includes your visual assets but also your brand messaging. Contact us today to chat about our branding packages.