One question that my clients ask often is about color. What colors should I pick for my brand? Do these colors make sense to my clients? I am not sure how these colors work together. People really struggle with picking colors; Red, Pink, Mauve, Fuchsia, Maroon, Baby Pink, Powder Pink, Hot Pink, well you get the picture.
The first step I have my clients do is fill out my client questionnaire. By answering these questions I get a sense of who they are, what their company does, who their ideal clients are, and what they want to achieve in a year, five, ten years from now.
Here is a small sample of the kind of questions I ask my clients about their branding to help find the perfect brand colors.
If you had to describe your business in one word, what would it be and why?
What three attributes would you like your target audience to think of when they look at your branding?
Which of these words is a better fit for your brand? Traditional or modern?
What colors or color palettes do you like and why?
What does your ideal client or customer look like?
Color Theory plays a huge role in picking your colors, which is why it’s so important to answer those questions above with as much detail as you can.
Color is probably one of the most important branding elements when it comes to attracting your ideal client or customer. It plays a huge part in our emotions and buying habits. You probably noticed that a lot of food brands are red and yellow, medical is blue and purple, natural products use a lot of earth tones, you get the idea.
Now that you have answered those question above you can grab my color assessment guide HERE and see which color match up to the answers you put down. They don’t have to be exactly matchy-matchy but they should come close.
Do the current colors you are using still make sense?
The colors you choose for your brand need to represent your brand adjectives in one word how do you describe yourself, how do your clients describe yourself, your values, your brand essence how do you want people to feel when they work with you or buy from you.
Let's say my color palette is lime green, dark gray, light gray, and white but I want people to feel excited, welcomed, inspired and I am leaning towards a more clean and modern feel for my brand. Then the current colors I am using don’t quite make sense with what I am trying to achieve to attract my dream clients. And yes… those were really the colors I picked when I first launched my brand when I graduated from college. This is a judgment-free zone ok!
Now let’s create that color palette that better aligns with your brand
Even if you choose to use three colors or six colors there is still a right way and a wrong way to build your color palette. Especially if you are a six-color kind of gal. You want to pick 1 – 2 main colors, 1 – 2 accent colors, and 1 – 2 neutral colors.
Main Colors: These are the main colors that will be upfront and center with your brand. They are the colors you will use most often and the colors people will come to recognize. My colors are Taupe and Peach. I use them in most of my backgrounds, on my website, and emails, and I try to incorporate them into any branding photography I use.
Accent Colors: These are used when you need to call attention to something and make it pop. These colors help bring everything together to build a brand story that people will be attracted to. This is my Mint and Charcoal color. I use these sparingly and usually when I want something to stand out. You can use these colors for headline text, buttons on your website, or that pop of color to stand out in your photography. Remember these colors should not compete with your main colors but complement them.
Neutral Colors: These colors are to help ground everything together. These are the colors that can be used for backgrounds, text, patterns, or textures. Mines are the Light Peach and Gardenia color. I use these colors when I don’t want to use white, or I am picking out a fun paper to print on, or a filter for my photos.
Here are some examples of palettes that work well together.
I know that is a lot of information so here are some palettes I put together to show the balance between the main colors and the supporting colors.
How close were the original colors you picked?
Tell me, were you able to align your brand adjectives, essence, dream clients, and values with your colors? Where you able to narrow down the colors and pick what will be your main, accent, and neutral colors, now that you know they hold different weight when it comes to branding. You should have a good start to creating your brand color palette and I hope I helped clear up any frustration you might be having with your colors. If you are still unsure on how to produce a cohesive look with your color palette let’s jump on a call and we can sort it all out!