The Power of Brand Colours
Colour plays a crucial role in marketing and branding. When designing a company’s logo and overall branding, colours are often the first element that comes to mind for the target market. For instance, Starbucks is associated with green, McDonald’s with its yellow arches, and Facebook with blue. These brand colours are integrated throughout the entire brand experience—from logos and websites to store designs and packaging—making them key identifiers.
Colours and Emotions
Colours have the power to evoke specific emotions and set the mood for a brand’s expression. Emotional connections drive decision-making, and brands leverage colours to cultivate these connections. Consistent use of brand colours across all collateral—from logos to advertisements—strengthens brand recognition and awareness. Hence, choosing the right colours is critical as they directly influence brand identity.
Colour Meanings and Their Effects on People
Different colours elicit different emotions and reactions:
- Red: Passion, excitement, love, danger, and anger. It signifies importance, commands attention, and energizes.
- Orange: Playfulness, vitality, happiness, and friendliness. It is invigorating, balanced, and makes one feel enthusiastic.
- Yellow: Happiness, youth, energy, comfort, and optimism. It evokes feelings of happiness and spontaneity.
- Green: Stability, health, wealth, prosperity, calmness, and growth. It has a connection to nature, making one feel optimistic and refreshed.
- Light Blue: Tranquillity, trust, openness, calmness, spirituality, and innocence. It has a calming effect.
- Dark Blue: Professionalism, security, and formality. It is mature and trustworthy.
- Purple: Royalty, mystery, creativity, and luxury. It evokes creativity and wisdom.
- Pink: Femininity, romance, sensitivity, tenderness, and youth. It feels playful and romantic.
- Brown: Ruggedness, aged, stability, support, warmth, and practicality. It has an old-fashioned, down-to-earth feel.
- White: Cleanliness, virtue, purity, health, and simplicity. It signifies minimalism and simplicity.
- Gray: Subdued, classic, responsible, dependable, serious, and mysterious. It stands for neutrality and professionalism.
- Black: Power, elegance, sophistication, edginess, professionalism, and modernity. It feels sophisticated and serious but can also suggest mourning or sadness.
Picking Your Brand Colours
When selecting brand colours, consider your target audience, brand identity, and personality traits. Your colours should reflect your brand’s dominant traits and appeal to your audience. Additionally, cultural differences in colour perception should be considered, especially for international brands.
How to Pick Your Brand Colours
Choose three main colours: a base, an accent, and a neutral.
- Base: Reflects the most dominant brand personality trait and appeals to your target audience.
- Accent: The second most used colour after the base. It should pair well with the base colour and also reflect a brand personality trait.
- Neutral: Typically used as a background colour. Common choices are hues of Gray, beige, white, or off-white.
Colour Schemes
Consider these common colour schemes when selecting your brand colours:
- Monochromatic: Uses different shades of one colour to emphasize a single personality trait.
- Analogous: Uses colours next to each other on the colour wheel for a harmonious look without being too bold.
- Complementary: Uses opposite colours on the colour wheel to create dynamic and stimulating visuals.
- Triadic: Draws from three different sections of the colour wheel, offering variety while maintaining stability.
Your brand colours should be thoughtfully integrated across all touchpoints to ensure they reflect your brand personality and resonate with your target market. Taking the time to choose the right colours can significantly impact brand identity and consumer behaviour.
