How to choose memorable brand colors

Let’s play a game! Name 5 companies that have red as one of their brand colors. Now, name 5 companies that have blue as one of their brand colors. How about green? How about yellow? I could go through every color in the rainbow and I bet you could name off at least one company that uses that color in their branding.

Your brand colors keep you top of mind

It’s crazy how your business’s brand colors can influence how memorable your brand is. According to a study performed by the University of Loyola, Maryland, “color increases brand recognition by up to 80 percent
”. That means as soon as your dream client sees your brand colors in the wild, they’ll be reminded of you, resulting in an increase of:

• Curiosity to learn what you’ve been up to

• Traffic by visiting your website or checking out your social media

• Sales by booking a discovery call or buying your product

Brand colors make you more recognizable and choosing colors that match your brand’s personality will only strengthen your impact to not only stand out from the crowd but to create a memorable experience that your loyal customers will want to share with the world.

How to choose your brand colors?

Step 1: Start with words

This may seem surprising when it comes to the visuals for your business, but it’s the secret to creating a cohesive brand. By understanding how you want to be seen by your dream client, you’ll be able to build brand recognition and stay top of mind whenever your dream client is looking for a (fill in your title). Questions to ask yourself:

• How do you want to be seen by your dream client?

• What three words come to mind when describing your brand’s personality?

• Why are those three words important to you?

Step 2: Think of your dream client

Yes, you started your business for you. But you still need clients to make your business successful. So understanding what they’re already attracted to will make it 10x easier for you to become one of their go to brands/part of their inner circle. Questions to ask yourself:

• What brands do they already love and shop at all the time?

• What inspires them?

• What social media accounts are they following?

• Is she more trendy or timeless?

• How would you describe their style?

Step 3: Find visual inspiration that reflects how you want to be seen (step 1) and take a picture of it

You’ll use this as a starting point to figure out your brand colors. Pro tip: Look beyond what you can find on the internet. Color inspiration is all around you. Places to look:

• Your closet. Does your favorite outfit represent how you want to be seen?

• Your home. Is there a wall color, a throw pillow, or a rug that inspires you and matches how you want to be seen?

• Anywhere you go! Is there architecture, landscape, a painting, a photo, someone’s outfit whom you just passed on the street? You may already be visually drawn to something because it matches your core values

Step 4: Choose your brand colors

These are some of my favorite color resources to narrow down your brand colors:

• Coolors.co is a fun and super fast color palette generator. What’s cool about this website is that you can upload a photo (step 3) and it will create a color palette for you

• Color Collective's Palette Perfect Author and designer, Lauren Wager, provides so much color inspiration in these two volumes that big name brands reference these books too. One thing to note, it only lists out RGB and CYMK color codes

• Color Palette Cinema is an Instagram account I recently stumbled upon. It lists out color palettes from movies! So if you ever asked yourself “if my brand was a movie, what would it be?”, you may be able to find brand color inspiration here

How many colors should you choose for your brand colors?

In general, I recommend choosing one (1) main color, two (2) complementing colors, one (1) accent color, one (1) light neutral color, and one (1) dark neutral color. This gives you enough colors to play with so your branding isn't too matchy, matchy but still has a cohesion.

Things to keep in mind when choosing brand colors

1. Contrast is key!

   I do caution you NOT to choose brand colors that are too similar in tone. You want to ensure everyone will be able to read what you wrote and if your brand colors are too similar, it may be difficult to read both digitally and in print when layered on top of each other. Contrast Ratio is my go to resource to double check accessibility.
   

2. There are different color values for digital and print applications

   For digital applications such as your website and social media posts, use RGB or Hex code values. For print applications such as business cards, brochures, fabrics, etc, use CMYK or Pantone values.
   

3. Colors may look different on your phone or computer screen in comparison to printed materials

   This is because colors on screen are illuminated by a light inside the device which creates a vibrancy that is not achievable when printed. Print colors may also vary depending on the material the ink is printed on. Paper stocks and fabrics absorb ink differently which may affect your final results. When printing, please be sure to work with your printer/vendor to ensure color consistency across all branded materials.

Start using your brand colors today!

You can apply your brand colors to your website, to your logo, to your social media, presentations and so much more. Literally, the possibilities are endless.

1. Add your brand colors to your Squarespace website

   Squarespace is a website builder where you can create a customized website for your business. I only build websites on Squarespace because I want you to feel empowered. Squarespace let’s me teach you how to update your own website without feeling overwhelmed or scared that you’ll mess it up. To add your brand colors to Squarespace:

   1. Go to Squarespace website

   2. After you log in, you’ll be redirected to your dashboard

   3. Click on your website

   4. On the left hand side, click website

   5. On the right hand side, click on the paint brush

   6. In the style site dialogue box, click on colors. Click edit palette 

   7. Enter the hex code of each of your brand colors

      • Please note, you can only enter 5 brand colors in this section. This globally assigns your brand colors to the default Squarespace settings. They can always be overrode when you start customizing each section. I would recommend adding:

        • First spot: your light neutral color

        • Second spot: your main brand color or one of your complementing colors if it’s considered a light color

        • Third spot: your accent color

        • Fourth spot: your main brand color or one of your complementing colors if it’s considered a dark color

        • Fifth spot: your darkest neutral color
          

2. Add your brand colors to Canva

   Canva is an online graphic design app which is great for designing social media posts, presentations and more. There is a free and a paid version. I do recommend investing in the paid version as there are helpful features and tools that aren’t included in the free version. To add your brand colors to Canva:

   1. Go to Canva website

   2. On the left hand side, scroll down and click on brand kit

   3. Add your brand name to the top

   4. Under brand colors, click the + button and enter the hex code of each of your brand colors into the dialogue box

      • Please note, the free version of Canva only lets you add three brand colors. The paid version lets you add more
        

3. Add your brand colors to Google Slides

   Google Slides is a presentation program that is included in your Google Suite. So if you are using Gmail for your business email, you already have access to the program which is Google’s version of Powerpoint or Keynote. To add your brand colors to Google Slides:

   1. Open a new Google Slides presentation

   2. Click on view. Click on master. Click on colors

   3. On the right hand side, the theme colors dialogue box will appear

   4. Enter the hex code for each of your brand colors

   5. When you add a shape, text or background color to your presentation, your brand colors will appear under theme in the color palette dialogue box

Brand colors do more than just make your business look pretty. They make you memorable and help build brand recognition which ultimately increases sales.

What do your brand color’s say about your brand’s personality?