How to Pick the Perfect Color Palette For Your Brand
So you’ve decided to take that leap of faith and embark on building your own brand or perhaps you’ve already got a brand and you’re ready to take it to the next level or shift into doing something that aligns more with your soul
Photos: Unsplash/victor_g
So you’ve decided to take that leap of faith and embark on building your own brand or perhaps you’ve already got a brand and you’re ready to take it to the next level or shift into doing something that aligns more with your soul.
Once you’ve decided that you’re ready to leave your mark on the digital world, your next step is making your brand look unique, creative, and memorable.
Remember these three simple rules about your brand:
- Your brand should look and sound uniquely YOU because you are a first rate original, not some copycat cliché.
- Your brand should look and sound creative because you will need to inspire people to engage with you.
- Your brand should look and sound memorable because building an audience and/or creating an online business requires that you captivate people to take action.
One of the best ways to look unique, creative, and memorable is with your brand’s color palette.
Successful brands leverage color psychology to build their visual style and brand voice. Color psychology is the study of hues and shades to leverage human emotions and influence human behavior.
It’s not a coincidence that Twitter and Facebook use the color blue or that many fast food restaurants use the color red. You can tell a story, tap into people’s emotional triggers, and grab someone’s attention by simply using the colors that connect with their subconscious.
When selecting your brand’s color palette, ask yourself the following questions:
What do you want your brand to convey?
If you want your brand to convey trust, look at the color blue. If you want your brand to convey health and wellness, look at the color green. If you want your brand to convey creativity, look at the color purple. If you want your brand to convey passion, look at the color red. If you want your brand to convey prestige, look at the color black.
How do you want people to feel? What is the emotional trigger you’re looking to connect with?
When you are building an audience you are connecting with people and we’re complex with all sorts of emotions. Travel bloggers tap into people’s desire to feel freedom, while business coaches tap into people’s desire to feel ambitious. Fashion and beauty brands tap into people’s desire to feel pretty and designers tap into people’s desire to feel creative.
Once you’ve made your list of keywords, make a Brand Inspiration Board on Pinterest. Use the keywords ‘mood boards’ or ‘mood board inspiration’ to guide your searches on Pinterest and even Instagram. Then you can see how designers craft color palettes to match the style and look of their client’s brands.
Check out these cool examples:
Additional words of wisdom:
- When selecting colors for your brand, try to choose with no more than four colors.
- Be generous with your use of white and try to stay away from the harshness of pure black.
- When you are working with a graphic designer, know that web colors are not the same as print colors. What looks great on a flyer may be too bright on a monitor, or vice versa.
- Don’t be shy with using bold and creative colors, as long as you’re aligned with your brand goals and objectives.
