You’ve been doing business, but now you’re working on building a solid brand. You know branding will take your business to the next level (and bring in more profits).
So, you sit down to start working on your branding. And then it happens- you get stuck on choosing brand colors.
With so many choices, what do you do? You know it’s an important brand element, and you want to get it just right.
Probably one thing you’ve noticed about brands you love is that color helps people connect with their identity. Tiffany blue. Hermes orange. Fendi yellow. Some of the world’s most recognizable brands have made color a signature of their brand.
Choosing the right brand colors may seem like an impossible task – I get it!
When you start building this element of your brand, you might find that it’s not color that’s so daunting. It’s the commitment to color that might have you feeling some type of way!
While you might love a certain color or palette you pinned to your Pinterest board, it can feel super hard to KNOW you’ve picked colors you’ll be comfortable using over and over again in your business.
I think I just heard a collective, “Yes, Ally!” from many of you reading this! I told you, I get it.
Breathe easy, because I’m going to walk you through the two simple pillars I use as a brand designer to guide my clients from basic to beautifully branded.
Before Choosing Brand Colors Let’s First Talk About Perspective.
If I’m being honest – I approach branding differently than many other brand designers. I approach my clients’ brands with two guiding pillars. What my client loves (not what their client loves- it’s ok with this piece of your branding to consider yourself first!) and some fun color psychology. Aligning to these two pillars has delivered amazing results time and time again.
Let’s talk through each, and I’ll show you how it works!
Pillar 1: Build A Brand You Will Love
What is of utmost importance to me (and different from many designers) is that MY clients are obsessed with their brands. I don’t design brands that their ideal clients want to see. I don’t design for anyone other than my client! And if you are DIYing your brand – please listen up!
What I’m going to share with you will save you from putting tons of time into one direction, only to decide that five months later, you’re totally over teal.
The only way to ensure a successful brand is to be confident in your brand, business, and yourself. If you aren’t fully committed to your brand, you won’t be excited to share it. Plain and simple, we love sharing what we love with others. When your brand feels like the best outfit you own, you’ll be proud to market your offerings fully. You’ll be shouting your business from the mountaintops with confidence.
But if it’s anything less, you’ll be holding back- hesitant, unsure, and never entirely comfortable in your brand skin.
Makes total sense, right? So now, let me give you my favorite tip for properly choosing your brand color. It may sound uber “unprofesh,” but here it is- follow your gut.
So often, creative entrepreneurs and brand photographers choose brand colors that are trending or that vibe with their industry. This only causes a feeling of disconnect with their brand and like something just isn’t quite right later on.
We’ll go into some design techniques for picking your brand colors. First—think of colors that make you happy and smile. Consider the colors you are naturally drawn to.
What colors are in your closet?
What colors do you decorate your home?
Which colors light you up inside?
If you’re branding your business to align with your authentic self, the right clients will fall in love with you. Your brand will be a natural extension of you.
If you are a bubbly person who always wears bright colors, why would you want to have a brand that is blush and mint or dark and exotic?
If you are sleek and polished with a capsule wardrobe of neutrals and clean lines, you’d probably feel mismatched with bright brand colors splashed across your brand assets.
The “you” people get online and in-person should be the same “you” your brand delivers.
Pillar #2: Consider the Psychology of Color When Choosing Your Brand Colors (It’s a Very Real Thing!)
Let’s dig into the psychology behind selecting your brand colors!
Anytime we talk about color psychology, we’re talking about the perception or emotions color evokes from you and your audience.
While we can’t categorize how every person will feel when they see a certain color. We can speak in generalities of how a color makes you feel. How that color pertains to your personality and brand, and what it stirs within your potential clients- connection, trust, or even desire. For example, have you ever had a friend post a Tiffany box, and then suddenly wish you had a little blue box of your own?
Color, when well-aligned to a brand, can be very powerful!
If you want to dig into how your potential clients will feel when they come in contact with your brand – I highly suggest you start by writing down your brand’s core values.
What emotions do you feel often?
What emotions do you want your clients to feel when they engage with your brand?
What do you value more than anything else in your brand?
For example, is your brand exciting? Loyal? Trustworthy? Intuitive? Compassionate? Luxurious? Educational?
Each one of these values has a different color associated with it.
By choosing a specific brand color, you can help reinforce who YOU are in your brand, how you want others to experience it and how you want them to feel. You’ll convey a strong tie to your core values within seconds before your potential client has even read a word of your messaging. By matching core values to color, you’ll be using the psychology of color to rise above others in your industry.
Below is a quick color psychology graphic that lists branding colors and how they’re generally perceived when viewed.
Did you find anything with the colors you love that aligned with your brand?
Which colors stood out to you? Did you experience the emotions described when you viewed a color? Or, did a completely different color make you feel something other than stated?
Putting It All Together
So first, you picked colors you loved. Then, you listed out your brand values and aligned them with color psychology. You’ve done these two steps, right?
Here is one thing that I find absolutely magical – 9 times out of 10 – the colors line up perfectly!
However, sometimes you need to make slight adjustments to make everything work out magically with your brand colors.
What I mean by this is you might LOVE pinks, but your brand values might point to orange for the psychology applied. So what do you do to marry the two? I always adjust slightly to accommodate. A coral might meet in the middle and bring the best of both worlds.
You can always slide one way or the other to accommodate the needs to match psychology-based research to your color love deep down. There are so many hues and shades between colors that by using the guiding pillars and making adjustments, you’re sure to find your brand color match!
Now, using the magic of color, you have pulled together this essential component of a strategic brand. AND have a brand that you are entirely obsessed with!
Do you want some more help to ensure your brand is everything you want?
If you want to dive deeper and work with me on your brand, I would love for you to check out my work with me page. Reach out and let’s get started!
