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Color Palette: Building Your Brand Identity

The robin’s egg blue of Tiffany’s and the bright red of Target – what these two brands have in common is a strong union of color and brand personality. Beyond just a fun blend of colors, your color palette plays a critical role in the presentation and marketability of your brand, while setting the tone for your identity and recognition in the years to come. 

Color has the power to attract the right customers, aid in the recognition and memorability of your brand, and even influence consumer decision-making behavior.

But brands often struggle with developing a cohesive color palette – from wondering which colors to use and how many they need, to how to use their colors in a distinct way that stands out from the competition. 

If you are facing the challenges of building out your color palette, here are some tips from the professionals at our branding agency.

1. Have a basic understanding of color psychology

A feminine pink, stimulating red, or minimalistic black and white create impulse assumptions in buyer’s minds. Designers and marketers use color as a tool to help achieve a certain outcome. Whether you are encouraging consumers to take action, tapping into their emotions, or influencing their mood – color is an essential component in guiding your audience’s decision-making abilities. 

So before you decide on the color direction of your brand, it is important to understand the basic principles of color psychology and common color associations. What impact do you want your colors to have on your potential customer? Do you want them to be emotional and be drawn to take action? To feel comfortable and welcome or curious and excited? Tailoring colors to your audience needs using color psychology is an important step in building out your color palette. 

2. Understand how color affects your brand identity

Your brand identity works to inform your place in the world, your impact on the future, and WHY you exist as a company. It gets deep into your mission and your unique value proposition. 

Once you understand the basic principles of color psychology, it is time to apply it to your brand. From the type of content to the tone of voice you use, note how your unique brand can be represented with color. 

Here are some examples how color affects brand identity:

  • A rich and luxurious array of colors, a gold and burnt orange palette conveys depth, richness and subtlety
  • Streamlined and simple, black and white is a powerful palette that often conveys elegance and authority
  • One of the best colors for grabbing attention, red is associated with passion, energy, and adventure
  • The color of nature, a green palette evokes feelings of calm, growth, health and harmony

3. Determine your color combinations

Now that you have some ideas of colors that are more fitting to your brand and audience, its time to start compiling your color combinations. Explore palettes on Pinterest or see what colors industry competitors are using. You’ll likely be drawn toward a certain trend. Remember, the color wheel is your greatest friend. Many brands tend to choose complementary or monochromatic color schemes. 

Brand color schemes tend to have 1-4 colors made up of a base, an accent (or two) and a neutral. First, decide on your base. When choosing this color, make sure it is reflecting your brand’s most dominant personality trait. Your accent will be the second most used color in your palette, and needs to complement your base. And lastly, a neutral color works to tie it all together. Generally a beige or gray, neutrals often work in the background to complete your palette. 

4. Apply them across your brand

Once you’ve finalied your color palette, it’s time for the fun! Now you’ll want to decide how to apply these colors to your various branding needs in order to maintain a consistent image. 

Some areas you will likely be using your color palette are:

  • Logo
  • Website design
  • Emails
  • Product photography
  • Advertisements
  • Social media presence
  • And in-store elements

Build your Brand Identity Using Color With Drawing From Memory

Are you ready to bring your brand to life through impact-driven, strategic, actionable, and measurable branding? Get in touch with our branding agency.