In my last post, we discussed Imagery as being one of the 5 Key Aspects to Visual Branding. If you missed the first post in the #BuildACohesiveVisualBrand series, then please go back and read it, then come back here to part 2: Color.
To recap, the 5 Key Aspects of Visual Branding are:
Using Color in your Visual Brand
Using color to #BuildACohesiveVisualBrand is important for two reasons:
- Colors evoke an emotion or feeling
- Colors create brand awareness or brand recognition
Color Psychology
Did you know that certain colors or combinations of colors evoke certain types of feelings? Think about how you feel when you walk into Target. You want to buy all of the things. All of them. I walk into Target and I get overwhelmed with excitement! YASSSS! Target primarily uses the color red in their branding. Red means action, powerful and excitement. They want you to take action and buy all of the things. Their use of the color red was NOT an accident. Trust me.
The color red can also mean danger or an emergency. Target is also dangerous. Just kidding, but when you are choosing your colors for your brand, it’s important to take into account your industry and your target audience, instead of just using your favorite colors. Take a look at the chart above and take into account your business industry and the clients you’re trying to target. What colors here would work best for your brand? Do your current brand colors take into account your industry and audience? If not then you might want to rethink things.
Do you know why hospitals choose calm and serene colors instead of colors like red or the color black? The color Red can also associated with blood and black can be associated with death, so imagine if you’re in a waiting room waiting to be seen by the doctor and all of the walls were black? lol. It would be unsettling, so if you notice they use soft shades of blue and green colors, to give you a calm feeling.
Look at your favorite brand. What colors do they use in their branding? How do the colors make you feel? Are they in alignment with what the brand stands for?
Brand Awareness
Color also plays a big role because it helps your audience identify you. Think about a brand you recognize based on color. What comes to mind? McDonald’s? What about T-Mobile? Both of those brands have successfully attached color as a component of their brand, to make them easily identifiable. Let’s talk about the T-Mobile brand for a second.
They have built their brand not only offering cellphone service, but have made themselves easily identifiable with their T-Mobile Pink or Magenta color. Their use of their magenta color is so tied to their brand, that another wireless company tried to use a version of pink in their branding, and they were denied.
Consistently using your brand color throughout your online + offline presence, will allow your current and future clients to easily identify you and help you stand apart from your competitors.
If you want to dive in deeper to the color aspect of building a visual brand, please sign up for my FREE 5 Day Visual Branding Course!
Color Schemes
Coming up with color schemes for your brand can be overwhelming. Once you have a primary color for your brand, there are various resources, where you can create a color scheme quickly with a click. My favorite resource for this is www.coolors.com. You enter the hex code of ONE color from your brand colors. In the example below, I used a color from my brand. Click the lock icon to lock in the color. Then hit the space bar to scroll through the various color schemes, until you find one that works best for your brand. Pretty cool huh? Try that out if you’re having issues coming up with a cohesive color scheme.
How have you used color in your brand? Let me know in the comments below!
