Last week you designed your logo, in black and white. The reason we asked you that is because we are going to take a look at colouring your business in depth. The colours you will choose shouldn’t be in function of what you like, as always we have been saying, it should be what your customers would like.
Colours is a biggie one when it comes to consistency. Some businesses choose a lot of colours, and some just have one, that will be entirely up to the brand needs. Your colour pallet will create a visual impact on your brand, a lot of bright primary colours could help your business to look childish if that is your business core. However, if you are a financial sector business blue might help with the trust.
Whatever you do with colours you will have to ensure that these are consistent, as per the same colour pallet and tones, this includes that your RGB (screen colours) and CMYK (print colours) look spot on in both media.
Let’s get into the matter!
The meaning of the colours
Red
Red is the colour of passion and love, in business we see it as action and energetic. It’s the colour that in marketing is used for sales and offers. Red is a very established political colour, the colour of the left, socialist and communists have been using it for decades.
Red is the colour of McDonals, Coca-Cola and Netflix, to mention three.
Yellow
Yellow is the happy colour for warm and optimistic businesses. We use yellow to grab their attention when it comes to marketing materials. In politics, it’s usually assigned to liberal parties.
We see yellow in brands like National Geographic and Caterpillar.
Blue
Not sure why people feels blue when it’s the colour of water and calm. In business, this is a colour of trust and loyalty. Used for brands that need to be perceived as secured and corporate. Marketing applies blue when we target male gender. Politicly is strongly associated with conservative and right parties.
Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, Ford and Oral-B all brands that look for trust and security.
Orange
Exciting, eh! Companies that are looking for warmth, friendly and vibrant look, this is your colour. A colour associated with affordable or creative, when it’s used in marketing we see it applied to call-to-action buttons or offer flashes.
Nickelodeon, Harley-Davidson and Pixel and ink are some of the brands that use orange.
Green
Naturally, green is for organic and natural brands. Healthy stuff and nutritionists show their benefits through this colour. In business is for growth, vitality and reliability. Environmental parties use this colours to show their beliefs.
We see it applied in brands like Spotify, Whole Foods and Starbucks.
Purple and pink
Feminism and love. The purple for the Royals and the pink for romance. Businesses use them for beauty products and female gender.
We see it in T-Mobile and Cadbury’s chocolate.
Gold, silver and black
Luxury products use sophisticated design involving metal products and black. Less compromised on politics and very attractive to people that look for exclusivity and unique products.
So, what do you think your logo should be coloured in?
Remember that you can take a various colour combination, for example, Citibank is blue for trust and red for action.
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Next week is typography week, so be ready to talk about fonts!