A successful brand is composed of many elements that, together, communicate a cohesive message. Typography, high-quality images, and carefully crafted copy all make a difference. One element that should never be overlooked is colour. Why?
Colour Matters 🎨
Colour largely influences how your brand is interpreted and experienced. If your site is designed in royal navy and burgundy elements the feel will be very different than one crafted with neon green and yellow. Colour evokes emotion and helps users subconsciously understand your brand and its message. It’s important that the colour you choose fits.
For example, red can represent action, power, and excitement. Orange suggests friendliness and business. Blue could mean trustworthy or corporate.
Admittedly, these interpretations of colour can be personal, based on cultural, or on an individual’s unique experiences; they are not necessarily innate and universal. The goal should be to find colours, that for the target audience, gives a consistent feel to the rest of your brand.
Ask yourself how you would like the customer to feel about your brand. Do you want them to perceive your business as higher class, friendly and light-hearted, or serious and professional? Look for colours that convey that message and feeling.
How do I create a colour scheme?
There are many online resources for creating a colour scheme. Three personal favourites are colormind, coolors, and paletton. These allow you to quickly find colours that work well together and can be based on different colour harmonies (such as complementary or analogous).
You can also grab inspiration from images. Through using a colour picker or website (such as Canva’s tool here) you can take colours straight from the images themselves.
How do I use colour?
Finding a great colour scheme is important, but it also matters how you use it. For example, let’s say you’re including the colour red on a website. Designing with red as a base colour for the site can give a notably different feel than if red is used just as an accent colour.
Colours can also be used to draw the users attention to the most important elements. For example, the buttons on this page are immediately obvious against the blue and white backgrounds. Shades of a colour can also be used, one common way is to show hover states.
The world is full of colour, so take the time to pick your brand’s colours carefully. The colours you use should feel coherent with the rest of your branding. There are many great resources online to find just the right colours, and when used correctly, can tell the intended story.
