Colour is usually the first thing people remember about a brand, and the last thing they can explain. Ask someone to describe a company they like and they’ll often get the colour right before the name. That’s a lot of responsibility for a decision that, in many businesses, gets made by whoever has the strongest opinion in the room.
There’s a better way to do it, and it doesn’t need a degree in colour theory.
Key points
- Start with the feeling you want to create and the competitors you need to look different from, not with your favourite colour.
- A working palette is one main colour, one or two supporting colours and a few neutrals. More than that gets messy fast.
- Colour meanings are loose. Context, culture and your industry matter more than any chart.
- Test colours on real things, at real sizes, and check the contrast so text stays readable.
Start with a sentence, not a swatch
Before anyone opens a colour picker, write one sentence about how you want people to feel when they meet your brand. Calm and reassured? Excited? Looked after by experts? That sentence is your brief. Every colour you consider gets judged against it.
Then look at your competitors. Line up five of them and notice the colours. In a lot of industries, everyone has drifted to the same shade: blue for finance, green for anything eco, black and gold for luxury. Matching them makes you look trustworthy for about half a second, and then forgettable. Standing slightly apart is usually worth more.
What do colours actually mean?
You’ll find plenty of charts online that say red means passion and blue means trust. There’s a grain of truth in them, but only a grain. The same colour reads differently depending on the shade, what it sits next to, the industry and the culture of the person looking.
A deep navy feels serious and dependable. A bright electric blue feels techy and young. Both are “blue”. So rather than asking what a colour means in general, ask what it means in your market, to your customers, next to your competitors.
A colour doesn’t mean anything on its own. It means something because of where you put it, and what you put it next to.
How many colours do you need?
Fewer than you think. Most strong brands work with a simple structure:
| Role | What it does | How much of it you’ll see |
|---|---|---|
| Main colour | The one people remember you by | Used often, but not everywhere |
| Supporting colours | Add variety and help with things like buttons and highlights | Used in smaller amounts |
| Neutrals | Backgrounds, text and space to breathe | Most of the page, most of the time |
The neutrals do more work than anyone expects. A page that’s mostly white, off-white or a soft grey makes your main colour feel stronger when it does appear. Use the main colour everywhere and it stops standing out.
Test it on real things
A colour that looks lovely as a square on a screen can look very different on a website button, a printed card or a sign across the street. Before you commit:
- Mock up a few real items. Your home page, a social post, a business card, an email header. Look at them side by side.
- Check it in print and on phones. Colours shift between screens and paper. Get a print sample if print matters to you.
- Check the contrast. Text has to be readable against its background. Free contrast checkers will tell you in seconds whether your combinations pass accessibility guidelines.
- Look at it in black and white. If your design only works because of the colour, it will struggle when the colour isn’t available, like on a one-colour print job, an embossed card or a newspaper advert.
Common mistakes
- Choosing a colour because the founder likes it. Personal taste is a fine tiebreaker, not a starting point.
- Picking too many colours. Six bright colours compete for attention and none of them wins.
- Forgetting about text. A gorgeous pale yellow is useless if nothing can be written on it.
- Not writing it down. Without exact colour codes in your brand guidelines, the shade drifts a little every time someone new makes something.
Questions people also ask
Should my brand colours match my logo?
Yes. Your logo is usually where your main colour lives first. The rest of the palette should be chosen so it works around the logo, not against it.
Can I change my brand colours later?
You can, but it’s one of the more visible changes you can make, so do it on purpose. Small adjustments, like a slightly deeper shade that prints better, can happen quietly. A whole new palette is part of a refresh or rebrand.
What colour codes do I need?
Usually HEX and RGB for screens, CMYK for printing and, if you print a lot, a Pantone reference. Put them all in one place so nobody has to guess.