Color is an essential part of your brand design. How to choose brand colors is a crucial skill that a brand designer should have. Your brand’s color is the picture people think of when they imagine your business. If your brand has colors that fit your business, the results can be pretty powerful. Unlike other business decisions, choosing colors takes knowledge of psychology and art. The designer must also be very creative and unique if they wish to make an appealing and thought-provoking color scheme.

Color Quick Check

Using the right colors in your brand or website design can increase your sales. When people see specific colors, they can change their emotions, or they can symbolize things related to the colors. Here is a list of colors with some feelings and symbolization they can cause:

  • Red – the color of passion, love, excitement, warmth
  • Pink is the color of feminine energy, romantic, affection, sensuality
  • White the color of purity, peace, perfection
  • Blue is the color of stability, sky, water, travel, freedom, truth
  • Purple is the color of nobility, royalty, dignity
  • Black the color of sophistication, space, night, authority
  • Green is the color of nature, money, calm
  • Yellow is the color of ideas, light, purity, understanding
  • Orange is the color of energy, autumn, youthfulness, fire
  • Brown the color of reliability, wood, comfort, strength
  • Beige and Gray the color of neutrality

Choosing the colors for your business is difficult, as you need to take a long time to think about what would work. Color schemes should match the aura and feel of your business. If you are selling a product and seen as easy-going, you should use a mix of two or three tinted colors. If you’re going to be seen as a reliable, robust company, you can use multiple, heavily contrasting colors.

Unlike other parts of your brand, the color scheme cannot be changed later on without drastic adverse effects. For example, suppose your business goes through a significant change from a medium-sized company to a large company or adds several additional categories of products. In that case, make changes to the brand. However, changing color arrangements should be last on the list.

Changes can potentially work out very well, especially pre-planned changes. Letting your customers know of a considerable alteration can stir excitement and anticipation. Websites that pre-announce redesigns usually see a substantial response from their visitors/members, which could work for any business.

Choosing the Right Color Palette for Your Brand Identity

Color is a highly personal experience, so how do you determine which colors will work for your business identity and send the right message to your potential clients. There are several methods and approaches for determining successful color palettes. For your corporate identity, you should choose colors that:

  • Have a positive meaning in your industry
  • Think about things you come into contact with within your industry or very positive emotions in your industry, and choose colors that associate with those accordingly.
  • Reflect the feeling of the experience your clients have when working with you
  • If you have a high-energy business, consider using bright, transparent colors. If your services are more complex, consider choosing “complex” colors, like sage green, slate blue, maroon, or another muted tone that speaks of the intricacies of your work.
  • Choose Colors You Like
  • You live with this logo and look at it often, so pick colors that excite you. Also, colors you like tend to have commonalities with your personality, so your color palette will begin to speak to your potential clients about who you are and the way you work.
  • Choose Colors You Wear
  • Especially if you are a consultant or a sole proprietor, use your color palette for your business. What you wear will reinforce your brand and be a constant, subtle reminder of your business to people you meet. Or, if you’re running a more significant business, include uniforms for employees that mirror your logo design.
  • Colors that Match or Complement Each Other
  • Eye-catching color palettes made up of colors that match or complement each other will be more pleasant for your customers to view.
  • Colors that Contrast
  • You will save money if you use a limited color palette (one or two colors) in your printed materials, so choose colors for your logo that contrast each other. In addition, you can design your brand to trigger positive emotions motivating your visitors to buy from you.

Carefully select your color scheme for your brand.

Colors will affect how a potential buyer reacts to your brand and website. Here are some guidelines to consider.

  • Consider your Audience
  • If your website targets men, you will want to use solid and bold colors. If your target audience is women, then choose soft, pastel colors. If your focus is on children, choose bright, vibrant colors.
  • Choose Colors that are Appropriate for Your Brand
  • Green may work well for websites to start a home business, make money, and reduce debt.
  • Keep the number of colors down to two or three, and no more.
  • Make sure that all of the colors you use work well together.
  • Communicate your message with easy-to-read text. Use colors that contrast with the background color for your reader, so your text is readable.

The Psychology of Colors

Colors have many different meanings. Your response to color is an actual psychological and physiological response. Consider the mood you want to create. Remember that emotions trigger sales. People buy what can affect us in different ways.

Red

Red is a fiery color that, at times, represents both hatred and passion. Red also represents power; thus, the use of it for celebrities on the red carpet and red ties for influential executives. Red is the color of passion, strength, warmth, excitement, energy, fire, love, speed, leadership, and power. When using red in your website design, it is best to use it as an accent color. This color does not usually work well with greens or purples of the same intensity, causing a vibrating effect on the eyes. It is a perfect color for the ‘Buy Now’ or ‘Click Here’ buttons on Internet banners and websites as it attracts the eye. Red is a solid masculine color.

Negatives: Danger, fire, blood, war, anger, stop, revolution, radicalism, and aggression

Blue

Blue is a color of peace, calm, confidence, travel, freedom, truth, professionalism, wealth and power, harmony, tranquility, health, coolness, faith, loyalty, conservatism, dependability, and technology. Blue is a safe choice for most uses. It causes the brain to send off 11 chemical tranquilizers and is a beautiful calming color. It is a preferred color for corporate America, but avoid using blue when promoting food and cooking because blue suppresses appetite. Blue also represents tranquility, acceptance, patience, understanding, cooperation, comfort, loyalty, and security. It is one of the most calming colors and is associated with the sky and the sea, intelligence, reassurance, and trust.

Negatives: Depression, coldness, obscenity, conservatism, and winter

Green

Green implies movement, nature, Spring, fertility, youth, environment, money (US), good luck, safety, and generosity. Green represents wealth, prosperity, calm, health, food, hope, growth, freshness, soothing, sharing, responsiveness, and renewal. It is the most restful color for the human eye, and it can improve vision. Use green to indicate safety when advertising products that may be considered dangerous, such as medicines. Olive green is the traditional color of peace.

For centuries, green has been representative of life and birth, but on the flip side, it has been known for jealousy and inexperience. Nevertheless, the color symbolizes a certain harmony both in the world and in life.

Negatives: Inexperience, envy, misfortune, jealousy, illness, and greed

Orange

Orange conveys creativity, confidence, balance, heat, enthusiasm, flamboyance, playfulness, health, vitality, autumn, youthfulness, fire, steadfastness, courage, friendliness, cheerfulness, warmth, excitement, and energy. Orange increases oxygen supply to the brain, producing a stimulating effect and stimulating mental activity. Younge people highly accept orange. Orange is very effective for promoting food products and children’s products such as toys. Orange stimulates the appetite. Vibrant and warm, orange is associated with autumn and the earth. Orange is a mixture of red and yellow, so it has all the warmth and comfort of those colors. Some oranges – such as the color of pumpkins and fall leaves.

Negatives: Warning, danger, and cheapness

Pink

Pink is a soft color version of red. It is most associated with romance, calming effect, a feminine color.

Negatives: Psychological studies have shown that this color causes physical weakness.

Yellow

Yellow is also a powerful color. Since yellow is the color of sunshine, it has a happy, uplifting aura. However, yellow can also be the color of melancholy and cowardice. Yellow represents sunlight, happiness, optimism, idealism, wealth (gold), summer, and hope. Light, purity, understanding, caution, brightness, intelligence, joy, organization, Spring. Yellow often represents sunshine, warmth, light, energy, and happiness. It takes more chemicals in the eye to see the color yellow. Yellow is the brightest color, and intellectuals love yellow.

Negatives: Cowardice, illness, hazards, dishonesty, and avarice, as well as brands/websites targeting older people, should look at other colors as yellow can make them feel anxious or angry.

Purple

Purple has always been a unique color, representing royalty and spirituality. Purple also represents. Dignity, sophistication, and mystery. Deep purple is associated with richness, while lavender is associated with romance and nostalgia. Purple is known for stimulating creativity in small doses, but large amounts of purple can cause depression and moodiness.

Purple combines the stability of blue and the energy of red. Purple symbolizes wisdom, dignity, independence, power, luxury, and ambition since purple is a scarce color in nature, leading people to consider it artificial.

Negatives: Cruelty, arrogance, mourning, profanity, exaggeration, and confusion

Brown

Brown is a Solid, reliable color of earth and is abundant in nature. It implies simplicity, reliability, earthiness, comfort, and durability. Brown also represents credibility, stability, home, wood, and strength. Use brown as a neutral or warm color. Men are more apt to say brown is one of their favorite colors. Brown speaks to professionalism, like rich dark leather. However, be careful as brown can be perceived in much the same way as beige: dull and drab.

Negatives: dirty, drab, sad, boring, and unwanted

Black

Black speaks to power, sophistication, formality, elegance, wealth, mystery, style, space, night, dramatic, classy, committed, serious, and grace. It can make color burst from the web page, especially if it is a bright color. It is a classic natural color and never goes out of style. When designing for a gallery of art or photography, use a black or gray background to make the other colors stand out. Too much black can darken a mood and affect emotions very quickly.

Negatives: Death, unknown, fear, dark, sad, threatening, wicked, morbid, and dangerous

White

White represents purity, peace, perfection, freshness, ease, cleanliness, goodness, and spirituality. Worth noting here, white represents life and marriage in Western cultures, but it represents death and sorrow in Eastern cultures.

Grey

Grey is a conservative color, symbolizing security, maturity, and reliability. As a neutral, it can be used in combination with almost all colors and still work well visually. Lighter hues make for good readability and backgrounds. Gray works well to promote productivity and stimulates creativity.

Negatives: Apathy, dull, drab, monotonous, sad, and smoky

How to Choose Brand Colors Wisely

When designing a brand or website, choose colors wisely. Remember, colors convey emotions, and emotions can heavily influence your decision-making process. Therefore, your choice of colors for your brand should mirror the message and feeling you hope to communicate to the viewer.

The Color of Success

Colors have a more significant impact on your viewers than any other part of the design and affect your site’s success. Color is immediate, emotional, and memorable. Using this information, you will be able to devise a strong brand color palette for your business to use both online and in your printed corporate communications. Your color palette is an essential aspect of your brand identity, as it contributes to your visibility, credibility, and memorability.