How to Develop Your Brand Color Palette
Just like your brand’s logo design, your brand colors tell a story about your company, with little to no words. Color is likely one of the first things your customers will notice about your product or your company. And because colors evoke certain feelings and convey specific information, you want to be really thoughtful about the colors you use for your brand.
If you’ve never developed a brand color palette for your business before, don’t worry — we’re here to help. In this post, we’ll talk a little bit about the psychology of color, what your brand colors say about your business, and how you can choose the right colors for your brand palette.
Why your brand colors matter
Everything you put out into the world through your brand says something. It’s why we’ve discussed the importance of a well-planned logo and creating an accurate brand guide on the blog before. What your brand looks like says a lot about what it stands for, what your business does, and what matters to you.
That’s why choosing the right colors is so essential for your brand. We won’t dive too deep into color theory in this blog post, but certain colors are associated with particular emotions, actions, or meanings. Here are some quick examples:
Red: Love, anger, passion, hatred. May be associated with action, aggression, blood, danger, fire, or energy.
Yellow: Happiness, positivity, warmth, playfulness. May be associated with sunshine, youth, caution, or cowardice.
Blue: Serenity, loyalty, security, dignity. May be associated with cleanliness, water, the ocean, or the sky.
Isn’t it cool how color can have such an impact on our thoughts and feelings? With the right brand color palette, you can encourage your audience to take a specific action and influence their mood. So, let’s start picking your color palette!
Tips for building your brand color palette
Think about your brand’s personality
How would you describe your brand’s personality? Maybe you’re quirky and witty and fun. Or you’re serious and authoritative. Down-to-earth and nature-focused, or futuristic and tech-based.
There are so many descriptive words you can use for your brand personality that nailing it can feel a little overwhelming. Try creating a mood board for your brand personality, or starting with just three adjectives to figure it out. You can even write down what you’re not in order to pinpoint what you are.
Once you have your brand personality, pair some colors with those adjectives. If you said bold and youthful, you might like pink or orange. Calming and minimalistic? Try white and blue.
Consider how you want to make your audience feel
Another way to approach your brand color palette is to start with your audience’s feelings, then work backward.
We already covered red, yellow, and blue, but here are more colors and their common associations:
Pink: Romance, sentimentalism, femininity, youthfulness
Orange: Freshness, energy, creativity, adventure
Green: Nature, sustainability, wealth, growth, healing, wellness
Purple: Royalty, mystery, luxury, extravagance, fantasy
Brown: Nature, honesty, earthiness, utility, ruggedness, simplicity
Black: Elegance, sophistication, authority, intelligence, formality, secrecy
White: Minimalism, cleanliness, subtlety, innocence
Describe how you want to make your audience feel (or how you want them to view your brand) and choose colors that align with those feelings.
Choose primary and secondary colors
We recommend having between at least three to four colors for your brand color palette. Even if you pick a monochrome color scheme — like different shades of blue — each color will vary from the next.
Start with one to three primary color, also known as the main or base colors. These colors are the ones that’ll be used most, so they should reflect your brand personality’s most important or most dominant trait.
From there, pick two to four secondary colors. Also called accent colors, these should complement your primary color and align with your brand personality. Not sure if your primary and secondary colors go together? Search “color scheme generator” online. A color scheme generator can help you visualize which colors complement each other best.
You can also choose a neutral color for your palette that can be used for backgrounds. Gray, beige, and off-whites are common neutrals.
Check your overall branding
Now that your color palette is complete, look over it again. Consider details like:
The contrast. Are your colors high contrast enough so that fonts and typography are visible at any distance? Is your brand name easy to read?
Where your colors will be used. On your website, social media, and other digital places, of course, but what about physical products like business cards, stationery, or uniforms? How will they show up on those things?
Whether you like the colors. Even if you pick the “right” colors that tell the right story for your business and customers, it’s still your business. Don’t pick colors you hate just because they make sense! You should love your branding in its entirety. (Plus, you’re going to be looking at these colors a lot.)
Put together a perfect brand color palette with expert help
Your brand color palette will play a big role in how your brand shows up online and in person. Your color scheme will impact your website, brick-and-mortar store or mobile shop, digital and print advertisements, even your social media account! Plus, your brand colors influence your audience’s actions and emotions. You’ll want to develop your brand color palette carefully.
We hope this post helped you start building your brand color palette with confidence. If you’re feeling stuck, go with your gut. We are talking about colors affecting and causing certain emotions, after all.
Oh, and if you’d like someone with an expert eye for branding or rebranding, reach out to Blades Creative today. We love all things color and branding, and we can’t wait to hear your ideas.