How to Choose Colors for Your Brand - Color Table (2024)

Are you working on your brand colors, logo or website design for your new project? Did you know that the colors you choose can influence how people perceive your brand? Colors are important for getting your potential customer`s or audience`s attention and creating a brand personality that people will remember. If you are in the beginning of your brand creation journey and cannot decide which colours to choose and why, this post is for you.  I`ll cover the answers to the following questions which I chose based on Google Trends data and Google Search data about colors:

• What are brand colors? Meaning of colours in branding.
• How many colors should I use for my brand?
• What colours should I use for my brand?

I'll end with seven tips that can help you choose colors for your brand.

What Are Brand Colors? Establishing Your Visual Identity

Brand colors help make your brand stand out and make it easy for people to remember.  By carefully picking brand colors that match your brand's values and appeal to your target audience, you can create a strong visual identity.

Here is a table showing the colors often used in logos and their meaning:

Understanding the colors helps you when choosing which colors best represent your brand's values and speak to your target audience.

How Many Colors Should I Use for My Brand?

When picking brand colors, one common question is how many colors to include in the color palette. Even though there is no set and stone rule, I would recommend not to use more than five colors in your brand palette to keep things looking consistent and flexible.

If you only use a few consistent colors, your brand will be easy to recognize and remember across different platforms and materials. It also makes the design process easier and makes it less likely that the design will look cluttered. Plus, the number of colors you choose may rely on things like your brand's industry, its target audience, and the personality you want it to have.

How to Choose Colors for Your Brand: 7 Tips

1. Simplicity: Keep your color scheme simple and well-balanced. 
2. Personality of the brand: Do the colors of your brand should match its personality, values, and business? Think about how you want people to see your brand, and then choose colors that show that. 
3. Differentiation: A tip would be looking into the color choices of your competitors to make sure yours stands out and is looking different from others on the market. 
4. Target group: Who is your audience? What is your product or service about? Think about the people you want to reach and the feelings you want to make them feel. Do the colors you choose connect with your audience?
5. Adaptability: Remember that your brand colors will be used in many ways, from digital platforms to printed products. Choose colors that look good on different media types and are easy to see and read.
6. Different color combinations: I`d recommend trying different color combinations to see which ones work best for your brand.  When doing this, you might want to use online tools or mock-ups to see how your colors will look together. For example, canva.com is one of the platforms I have used as it is easy to use, doesn`t require great design skills and you can create an MVP (Minimum Viable Product) if you are looking for practical ways.
7. Ask for feedback: Once you have a short list of possible color palettes, ask your target crowd or a focus group what they think. Their opinions can give you good ideas and insights. In my journey, I have not really used this part, but I`d still would highly recommend.

Here is what this post has covered:

• What are brand colors? Meaning of colours in branding.
• How many colors should I use for my brand?
• What colours should I use for my brand?

Choosing the right colors for your brand is an important part of giving it a strong visual character. By learning about the meaning behind the colors, figuring out what your brand's personality is you can choose colors that speaks to your audience. Remember that consistency and adaptability are important across different touchpoints, especially consider how they will look on social media and on mobile screens which are smaller compared to desktops.

Thanks for reading this post. I hope it helps you to start taking the small steps towards building a brand for your online business, start-up project or dream:) online shop. 

Resources:

 The Psychology of Colors in Marketing and Branding - Color Psychology

Color Psychology: How To Use it in Marketing and Branding (hubspot.com)

Color psychology: The logo color tricks used by top brands & how to DIY (canva.com)