Brand Color Palettes

Color branding is a lot like cooking. Colors can be sweet, sour, tasteful or outright gross. And much like cooking a filet mignon – it takes a specific set of ingredients to pull the main course together. So before you start throwing blues into your browns and purples into your pinks, let’s talk about how WebWorks89 explores great brand color palettes.

Colors Talk

There’s plenty of research that’s been poured into the psychology of colors. Each individual color invokes a certain range of emotions. This blog explains the science behind color emotions. When we look for color inspiration in regards to design choice – we first take into consideration what the product or service is attempting to convey. For instance, perhaps colorful, bright colors aren’t a great choice for a funeral home business, afterall?

Colors also create a cultural response, too. This is important to keep in mind with some colors. White for instance may represent purity in America; however, in India white symbolizes death – quite a sharp contrast. Colors, or more specifically, a set of colors will help establish the underlying theme of a website or brand. For instance, Google’s brand of simple, primary colors creates an air of openness and friendliness.  Here is a list of how colors are used by major brands:

• Green: Symbolizes healthy or organcy along with nature. Used by Starbucks, Whole Foods, John Deer, etc.
• Blue: Symbolizes trustworthiness and dependability. Used by Lowes, AT&T, Dell, etc.
• Red: Symbolizes excitement and youthfulness. Used by Coke, Nintendo, Target, etc.

Less Is More

Less is more in the world of branding. Never feel like you must get carried away to convey everything your brand has to offer. Stick to a single primary color with maybe a secondary color and accent color max. By sticking to less colors, you have a better chance at quickly defining your brand and its mission to customers because of the associations they build. Afterall, customers typically make a judgment of your brand predominantly from its color palette.