content creation
choosing the perfect color palette for your brand
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Colors don’t make your brand but they have to make sense for your brand. When it comes to choosing the right color palette, you have to put favorite colors aside and tap into color & consumer psychology for the right results. You can have two brands with a similar color palette yet a different essence. In this blog post, I will teach you how to pick colors while sharing my favorite color palettes.
hit the basics first
Colors mean something, colors make people feel something. When it comes to the basics you should make sure to hit these points; Do these colors match the brand’s tone? Do these colors match the brand’s messaging? Do these colors work well together?
For example, if a brand’s tone is an earthy & grounded essence, a fiery red isn’t necessarily a bad choice (depending on what else the brand is trying to say) but it’s not the primary choice.
In your research, go to sites like colorpsychology.org and learn about colors in depth, or blogs like mine (a brand designer) for further insight. A year in my design career and I’m still researching and noting down the little things, don’t be ashamed when you have to remind yourself the basics. Lastly, learn about the context of the brand when it comes to the culture it exists in & the demographic it’s targeting in addition to the color as a whole.
role assigning: making sure the palette is cohesive
In addition to knowing the basics such as green is nature, blue is trust and red is passion, my tip is giving your colors a role. Every color in my palette serves a role beyond connecting with the brand’s strategy. This makes sure my palette is as flexible as humanly possible and can cover not only cool graphics, but also website design.
the main roles every palette should have
the background color & text color
Whenever I assign primary color roles for a palette, I choose two versatile colors that not only best describe the brand but can work together. This tends to be a light and dark color whose roles will be text & background 98% of the time. Light & dark are not synonymous to black and white, it refers to the tones/ contrast in the color. For example the color palette for Echo Festival features a forest green color that serves as a text color. It’s dark compared to the rest of the palette making it perfect for text.
the accent color
Ever seen a palette that feels…flat or not solid? Choosing a color mindfully can take your palette from okay to Oookayy. This doesn’t mean choosing random bright colors, accents are there to add flair or highlight information. When selecting an accent make sure it comes to compliment or add something significant to the palette before anything else.
filling in the gaps
Take this time to come back to the strategy and bring in colors to fill in the gaps. For example; a warm color, a romantic, a grounding color, etc…
I want to end this reminding you that the color palette doesn’t have to encompass everything about the brand. There is always the typography and the logo that comes to complete the visual identity.
The goal is to take advantage of color psychology to communicate to your audience.
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