Discover a step-by-step guide to choosing the right colours for your brand and their meaning via colour psychology. If you're a colour lover, you'll love this! Colours are a major part of your Brand Identity and play a role in your Brand Recognition. Just look at the Coca-Cola Company with their internationally recognised red brand, or Barbie and their signature pink. Using the psychology of colour with your marketing skills will work to your advantage when reaching for your business goals.

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olours are a major part of your
Brand Identity and play a role in
your Brand Recognition. Just look at
the Coca-Cola Company with their
internationally recognised red brand,
or Barbie and their signature pink.
C

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Using the psychology of colour with
your marketing skills will work to your
advantage when reaching for your
business goals.

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Historical fact: The first colour wheel was
presented by Sir Isaac Newton in the 17th century
when he first discovered the visible spectrum of light.

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1. Understand Colour Psychology
Subconsciously or not, colours are associated with
different perceptions. Whether from symbolism or
history, colours have meaning!
It is essential for you to be aware of that when
deciding on your colour palette, as it will impact
your consumers and their decision-making process.

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A little note before jumping into it: Keep in mind
that we’re not saying you have to choose your
colours according to your values and their colour
representation. Sometimes a good marketing
move is to play the rebellious card – break the
codes of the market and be seen as a disruptor!

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This can add to the ‘cool factor’ of your brand
but be careful to align everything else, especially
your Brand Voice.
In any case, you should still know your colour
psychology to plan smart.

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2. Know Your Market’s
Preferred Colours
Do some research on your competitor’s brand
colours and get a good idea of the implicit codes
of your market.

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For example, Insurance and Law-related
businesses will prefer shades of blue to inspire
trust, integrity and responsibility.
This is the smart move when they know their
target audience will not care about anything other
than having an expert who will get the job done.

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• Research your market’s preferred colours by researching
your competitors.
• Note the slight colour differences in relation to their values.
• Determine your unique points of differentiation and how
they can be represented with colours.
• Reach out to your team, friends and family to get their
impressions.

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3. Choose Your Colour Palette
Decide which colours best reflect your brand
identity and how many main colours you will use.

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There can be 16,777,216 possible colors to choose from in
RGB on a screen…

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…books, swatches and other physical mediums can be
useful as well.

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Decide which colours best reflect your brand
identity and how many main colours you will use.
You need to know if you will use one primary
colour and different types of hues or shades of
this colour. Or, if you’ll only have clashing colours
(opposite on the colour wheel) with no shades.

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Then, you need to decide where each colour will
appear and follow which guidelines. For example,
the main titles on your website will appear in your
main logo colour, whereas your second and third
(H2, H3) titles will appear in another shade.

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This process can be incredibly enjoyable, and we
advise you to create mood boards to visualise
your logo and website.

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4. Gather All Your Choices In One
Style Guide For Your Team
If you want your brand to appear consistent over
all your mediums, you need to have a Style Guide
with precise guidelines on where to use which
colour.

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You can design different colour palettes for
different uses but make sure you list each
guideline for each medium: logo, advertising
purpose, website, social media, emails, stationary,
in-store, and uniforms.

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