The Importance of Brand Colors
We all know how important the first impression is. It’s exceptionally accurate when it comes to brand colors because the brand colors are most likely the first thing customers notice. Color represents feelings and emotions, as well as specific information about your brand. Enabling customers to form an impression even without knowing what your product is.
In short—colors help customers decide whether they will engage or not.
Why Color Psychology Is Essential for Choosing Brand Colors
Most of us have a favorite color. But, the color you see as beautiful may not be appealing to someone else. Even though colors are subject to individual perception, there are meanings, universally accepted, and associated with each color.
Green represents balance and nature, while red is associated with power and danger. Both of these colors, however, have additional meanings. That’s why color psychology is essential for explaining how colors affect behaviors and perceptions.
Color psychology allows brands to predict how customers will react to a particular color.
Therefore, when starting a business, one of the most important things you should consider is what color will be the most accurate representation of your brand.
Ten Shades of Colors and Personalities Associated to Them
Color psychology also teaches us that different types of personalities may be associated with different colors. Here’s what we should know about every color and meaning behind of it:
Red stimulates appetite, and it is the first choice for restaurant decorating schemes. It is associated with strong, passionate, and even aggressive feelings. It is used to express both good and bad emotions, including anger, passion, love, and confidence. If you want to draw users’ attention, the red color might be the best solution for your brand.
Yellow is the color of the sun. It is associated with joy and warmth, and it is used to express happiness. It’s considered to be the easiest color to see visibly. When seeing the yellow color in design, customers feel confident and inspired. Bear in mind that using too much yellow may even provoke negative feelings, such as fear and anxiety.
Orange is a warm and energetic color associated with a feeling of excitement. It is the combination of red’s power and friendliness of yellow. Orange brings feelings of love to life, motivation, and enthusiasm. In design, it is used to express creativity and adventure.
Green is the color of harmony, nature, and balance. It is associated with positive energy and growth. It represents materialism too. Green is ideal for creating designs for products related to the environment.
Purple is the color of kings. Royalty used to wear purple clothes, so the color was associated with power and wealth. Purple also represents magic and mystery. It is a bland of blue and red, so it has a balance of stability and strength. Designers should be careful when using purple color because a high concentration of color may cause distractions.
Blue is the color of trust and reliability. That’s why many companies use blue for their designs. Though it is one of the most popular colors, it is also a cool color and can be associated with sadness and distance, so designers must be extra careful when creating designs in blue.
Brown is the color of mother Earth. It is associated with protection and security. In design, it is commonly used as a background color. Brown represents comfort and warmth, as well as reassurance and experience.
Pink is the color of romance, hope, and sensitivity. It is much softer than red, and it creates a feeling of unconditional love. Pink is mostly associated with femininity, so it is ideal if your product’s design should attract girls and young women.
Black is the color of many meanings. It is usually associated with death and tragic situations. It also represents mystery, and it can be severe, traditional, and modern—it all depends on the context and which shades go with it. Black is a perfect background color because it matches well with any other tone.
White is associated with innocence and purity, as well as clarity and wholeness. White motivates people to generate new ideas, but it can also provoke feelings of emptiness and isolation. Designers use white as a background color, especially if the readability is a crucial part of the design.
Popular Brands and Their Colors
| Brand | Color/s |
| Coca-Cola | Red |
| Apple | White |
| Cadbury | Regal Purple |
| McDonald’s | Red and Yellow |
| Multicolor |
How To Choose Your Brand Colors
None of the most popular companies choose their brand colors by accident. Every choice came as a result of detailed research, making each one of these brands recognizable and unique. Here’s what you should do to choose the right color for your brand:
- Research the meaning of colors
- Establish your brand’s essence—establish what your brand is, what your brand’s goals are, and what kind of reaction you want to provoke
- See what competitors’ colors are
- Create a brand color palette
What is a Brand Palette?
You may have noticed that most companies use more than one color. The logo might be in one color, while the website might include one or two colors more. The set of colors present a brand palette. Bear in mind that shades from the palette must work together to create harmony.
Where Your Brand Colors Should Be Seen
Once you’ve created your color palette, make sure it appears in as many places as possible. Places your colors can (and should) appear:
- Logo
- Social media
- Emails
- Website
- Instore
- Advertising
- Stationery
- Events
- Staff uniforms
Choosing the Brand Colors is Fun—See for Yourself
Though it looks like hard work, selecting the right brand colors can be quite amusing. Don’t rush it, instead give yourself time to make the appropriate decision. Make this process as smoothly as possible. Remember, if you don’t feel capable of going through this process alone, you can always contact a professional designer to help you make the right decision.
