Different colours bring out different emotions. When creating your brand palette, it is crucial to choose the right colours to evoke the kinds of emotions you want your target audience to feel while interacting with your brand. If you choose the wrong ones, you could be missing the mark entirely and stunting your brand's appeal. But if you choose well, you can add a layer of soul and artfulness that will make your clients and prospects feel at home when they are on your platforms. In this article, we will describe the emotions that are commonly associated with each colour so that you can leverage psychology when crafting a palette to represent your business.
Continue to read for an explanation of the psychology behind the colours red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, pink, black, white, grey, and beige.
Red
The boldness of the colour red can position your brand as energetic, exciting, and courageous. Red evokes intensity and passion. It's a visually intense colour that demands the attention of the viewer. Red is great for brands that want to embrace a sense of sensuality, passion, vigour, and energy.
Orange
Orange is creative, optimistic, and stimulating. It catches your attention and draws in your eye. It's an energetic and inviting colour that is fun and embraces the playfulness unique to it. This colour works great for brands that are high-energy, friendly, and confident in their offering.
Yellow
The lighthearted nature associated with the colour yellow can help your brand be seen as cheerful and positive. Yellow is approachable and welcoming, it invites us in and evokes a sense of youth and vitality. Yellow is great for brands wanting to be seen as fresh, spontaneous, and curious.
Green
Green is the colour most commonly associated with nature. It is fertile, nurturing, and restorative. The sense of balance and harmony that green can give your brand is perfect for businesses in eco and health-centric niches.
Blue
Blue evokes a sense of peace and serenity. It can communicate stability and reliability, so it is a lovely choice for companies that want to prioritize presenting as trustworthy and secure to their audience. Blue also presents as a calm colour, so can provide a sense of security through tranquillity or respectability.
Purple
Since ancient times purple has been associated with luxury and royalty. It is a mysterious colour that evokes a feeling of intimacy and sensuality when used in darker shades. Lighter shades of purple can also evoke feelings of spirituality and intuition. Purple is great for brands that have a little more to offer under the surface than they'd like to share with the world outright.
Pink
Pink is usually associated with femininity, beauty, and a soft quality when used in lighter shades; think baby pink or a Barbie doll. Lighter shades of pink are great for brands that want to be seen as hyper-feminine and girlish. As a darker shade, pink has the ability to demand our attention in a crowded landscape. The boldness of hot pink can be playful, whimsical, and sexy. Hot pink is great for brands that want to make a statement wherever they go; the brands that must stand out from the bunch.
Black
Black is likely one of the most commonly used brand colours. It is elegant, timeless, powerful, and disciplined. Black is the colour of authority and works well for brands across many different niches. You can position is as dark and brooding, or fashionable and editorial. Whatever industry your brand is in, black is likely going to be a pillar of your colour palette.
White
White and black are a timeless pairing. They simply go together like no other colours do. White is a colour that represents purity and simplicity by virtue of being so neutral. It is a great choice for brands that what to emphasize refinement, elegance, and minimalism. However, as such a neutral shade it is likely white will be a part of your brand's colour palette regardless of how you're aiming to be perceived.
Grey
Grey is another neutral shade that is useful to emphasize practicality and neutrality. It is a great shade for brands that wish to evoke a sense of modernity, professionalism, and refinement. It can add a sense of stability to your colour palette as many other colours pair well with grey. It is a very malleable complementary colour.
Beige
Different shades of beige are great to emphasize a sense of warmth, reliability, and humanity. Beige is perfect for businesses that focus on health & wellness and those that prioritize a human first element in their branding. It reminds us of fuzzy blankets, sandy beaches, and hot drinks.
Are you starting a new business and looking to create your own unique brand identity? Consider looking at our Essential Guide To Visual Branding, where we guide you through a series of worksheets, questionnaires, and readings to help you craft your own brand identity.
Interested in having the bespoke stamp of Atelier Oluwatosin in your brand? Consider booking a call with us to see if we can help you realize your branding goals.