When it comes to making purchase decisions, emotions are important. As a business you want to ensure that you communicate with your customers on an emotional level. A logo by itself doesn’t share your full brand story, colors and the feelings they send are key components to creates the personality of your brand and reaches the hearts of your customers.
A Study shows that color increases brand recognition up to 90%. Additionally, it shows people make a subconscious decision within the initial 90 seconds of viewing – and between 62% and 90% of the assessment is based on color alone.
Brand Color Psychology
Understanding color psychology can help you determine your brand color palette. Colors have conveyed meanings and ideas over time, so consider how you may want your customers to interact with your brand. Here are some common colors and associations to those colors:
Red:
Passion, Excitement, Motivation, Love, Energy, Warm
Orange:
Playful, Friendly, Fun, Creative, Happy
Yellow:
Cheerful, Happy, Energy, Optimism, Confidence
Green:
Fresh, Environment, Nature, Calm, Balance
Blue:
Focus, Authenticity, Stability, Professional, Trustworthy
Purple:
Spiritual, Mystery, Wise, Soothing, Regal
Pink:
Youthful, Kind, Nurturing, Bright, Refreshing
Brown:
Comfort, Rugged, Reliable, Strong, Warm
Black:
Powerful, bold, luxurious, sophisticated, mysterious, edgy Edgy, Bold, Luxury, Powerful, Sophisticated
Gray:
Classic, Neutral, Calm, Serious, Mature
White:
Pure, Peaceful, Simple, Clean, Security
Understanding Your Audience
Colors do appeal differently to various audiences based on their age, gender, location, and interests.
It’s important to see what your competition is doing within your industry and determine your strategy. Would you like to compete directly or stand out from competitors? Depending on your business industry, your service or product offering and your strategy, you may want to stick within industry standard colors or you might want to step outside the box to stand out with a unique, creative palette.
Ultimately, having an appropriate color palette that draws in your ideal customers and evokes emotions that are directly in line with your brand attributes are vital in creating a successful and memorable brand identity.
Helpful Tips from The Beachwood Graphic Designer, Heather!
- Create some mood boards/gather color inspiration using photography, design and other aesthetic sources of inspiration
- Choose colors that evoke specific emotions that relate to your brand (word association, ex: nostalgia, passion, comfort, reliability, etc.)
- Don’t limit yourself. You never want to use too many colors, but don’t be afraid to step out of your color comfort zone, you’ll be surprised at what can work when you least expect it.
- Utilize a color’s tints (adding pure white to a color to make it lighter) and shades (adding pure black to a color to make it darker)
- Define dominant and accent colors to give your brand variety
Are you looking for a new brand identity with the perfect color palette? At Beachwood Creative, we can help you pick the color palette of your (and your audience’s) dreams. Let’s chat!
