When working on a new brand, one of the most important aspects is choosing the colours to portray the desired impression for your customers and prospective customers. Colour has a huge impact on the perception your brand creates. Certain colours have strong correlations to aspects in life. For example, an earthy green is associated with nature and the environment, while clean, cool blue is most commonly associated with healthcare companies, a darker blue with professional services. Make sure you don’t choose a colour which could create subliminal confusion. You need to choose colours which create a unique impression of your business, and provide a colour palette which is varied enough to enable you to create interesting marketing materials which stand out fin the contexts you work in. This can include websites, exhibition stands, packaging, document covers, brochures, posters and advertisements.
Choose a neutral base colour
You need a basic neutral colour to start with, which you can then work from. Think about whether you want to use warm colours, in which case your base colour could be brown, beige, gold or black. If you prefer cooler colours then your options would be silver, white, grey or ivory colours as the basic option. Your base colour needs to work across your logo, imagery and any branding materials which you want to create so you need to choose it carefully. Do some research, look at colour combinations which other brands in your industry are using and see what works and what your eye is drawn to.
Choose two pop out main colours
The next colours which you need to choose are two colours which will grab your audience and will be the main attractions in your colour palette. Go for two more vibrant colours which work well together even if they clash. Think about how you want your brand to be seen and represented. Think about what kind of moods the colours generate and how you want people to perceive your company. Do you want to be seen as cool and calming or bright and vibrant? Look for inspiration in magazines, look at other brands you respect and value and explore colours in a fun way to see what appeals to your senses – if it appeals to you the chances are it will appeal to your customers’ senses as well. Create a mood board of these ideas, so you can look at them as a whole.
Choose your call to action colour
You need another colour which stands out from your other choices to use on digital and print materials when you are creating specific call to action buttons or panels. This is the colour you want to inspire your customers to take action and contact you. This colour should stand out from your brand choices while still complementing them – perhaps an opposite colour to your pop colours would work well. You should only ever use it on the call to action elements of your marketing materials so customers can recognise it. Choosing your brand colours should be a fun, creative experience allowing you the chance to play with colours which reflect the mood and image which you want to create for your business. It’s important that your colours match your messaging so if you want to be seen as serious and corporate, bright yellows and oranges probably won’t work. Colour choices create an important impression among your customers and would-be customers so it’s an important factor to consider when creating your new branding. How can LCM help?
If you’d like help with selecting imagery or any aspect of building your brand, please get in touch with us at LCM and we will be happy to talk through what you are trying to achieve. We will ask you guided questions to find out if you need our kind of input, or if another route is best for you.
Telephone 01489 891870 or email info@lcm.co.uk
