Choosing Your Brand Colors with Color Theory

When it comes to branding, one of the key components is your color palette. The color(s) you choose will impact customers' perception and recognition of your brand. Colors help form a deeper connection to your customer’s identity and experiences. Think of a world-class brand like Target. When you think of Target you immediately see that iconic, Target Red flash through your mind. And you can bet that shade is patented. Why? Because color is at the heart of branding, and brands like Target understand it’s these details that create a deeper brand experience. Let’s dive into what to consider when choosing your brand colors. 

Primary vs Secondary 

The primary color is going to be your very own Target Red. This will be the color that customers associate with your brand the most. On the other hand, secondary colors are going to play a role in your branding but not be the color you’re necessarily known for. The first step is to determine a primary color (or two)--use no more than two for your primary colors. Next, you’ll determine your secondary colors, choosing between 1 to 6. These colors will complement your primary color and create a cohesive color story that encapsulates your brand! 

Factors to Consider:  

• Consider all your branding materials, physical and digital. What’s your aesthetic vision for the brand? 

• What’s your brand voice, what does your brand represent, and what emotions do you want to evoke? Check out Dream Up Your Brand Guide for more information.

• Who’s your target audience and what are they drawn to?

• Lastly, what symbols, concepts, feelings, and pop culture references, do you want to piggyback on to create the aura of your brand?

Take all these factors into consideration while you browse the color theory list below.

Don’t forget Differentiation.

It’s always a good idea to take a look at your competitors both for inspiration and to find ways to set yourself apart. You don’t want to confuse your brand experience with your competition. Make sure to choose a color that really stands out. 

Color theory

• Warm colors (red, orange, yellow, and variations of the three)

  • Typically energizing, passionate, positive

  • Using these colors in design helps to reflect passion, happiness, enthusiasm, and energy

• Red

  • Associated with fire, violence, warfare, love, passion, Cupid, Devil, Communism, anger, importance, danger, and different things in different cultures

  • Can be used as an accent color, but using too much of it can be overwhelming

  • Brighter versions are more energetic and darker shades are more powerful/elegant

• Orange

  • Associate with earth, autumn, change, movement, creativity, health, and vitality

  • Commands attention as an accent color without being as overwhelming as red

  • Considered more friendly and inviting

• Yellow

  • Brightest of the warm colors

  • Associated with happiness, sunshine, deceit, cowardice, hope, and danger (again, different things in different cultures)

  • Bright yellow can lend a sense of happiness and cheerfulness

  • Softer yellows are used for gender-neutrality for babies and young children

  • Light yellows give a calmer sense of happiness than bright yellows

  • Dark yellows and gold-yellow can look antique and represent a sense of permanence

• Cool colors (green, blue, purple, and variations of the three)

  • Colors of night, water, nature

  • Usually calming, relaxing, and more reserved, can seem more professional as well

• Green

  • Down-to-earth, can represent new beginnings, growth, renewal, abundance, envy/jealousy, lack of experience

  • Can have a balancing/harmonizing/stabilizing effect

  • Best for designs related to wealth, stability, renewal, and nature

  • Brighter greens are more energizing and vibrant

  • Olive greens represent the natural world

  • Dark greens are most stable and representative of affluence

• Blue

  • Associated with sadness, calmness, responsibility, peace, and has spiritual/religious connotations in some cultures

  • Light blues are refreshing and friendly, relaxed and calming

  • Bright blue can be energizing and refreshing

  • Dark blues are strong and reliable → good for corporate sites or designs where strength and reliability are important

• Purple

  • Associated with some of the same attributes as red and purple, also associated with creativity and imagination

  • Dark purples are associated with wealth and royalty, luxury

  • Lighter purples are associated with romance and spring

• Neutral colors

  • Often used as the background of designs, usually combined with brighter accent colors

  • Meanings/associations of neutral colors are more affected by the colors around them

• Black

  • Strongest of the neutral colors

  • Positively associated with power, elegance, and formality

  • Negatively associated with evil, death, and mystery

  • Traditional mourning colors in many countries

  • Sometimes associated with rebellion and Halloween/the occult

  • When used as more than an accent/text color, the designs are usually edgier or very elegant

  • Can be conservative or modern, traditional or unconventional (depending on the colors it’s paired with)

  • Commonly used for typography and other functional design pieces because it’s neutral

  • Conveys a sense of sophistication and mystery in the design

• White

  • Works well with any color (like black)

  • Associated with purity, cleanliness, virtue, weddings, healthcare, goodness, and angels (or mourning in some countries)

  • When used as a background, allows other colors to stand out more

  • Can help to convey a sense of cleanliness and simplicity

  • Is popular for minimalist designs

  • Can represent either summer or winter, depending on the other colors around it

• Gray

  • Can be moody and depressing

  • Is generally conservative and formal, but can also be modern (also sometimes represents mourning)

  • Used a lot in corporate design because it comes off as formal and professional

  • Gray backgrounds and gray typographies are very common in design

• Brown

  • Associated with the earth, wood, stone, dependability, reliability, steadfastness, earthiness, and dullness

  • Used as a common background color and also in wood (and some stone) textures

  • Can bring a feeling of warmth and wholesomeness

• Beige and Tan

  • Can take on cool or warm tones depending on the colors around it (warmth of brown, coolness of white)

  • Conservative color and is usually reserved for backgrounds

  • Can also symbolize piety, dullness

  • Takes on the characteristics of the color around it, so it leaves little impression in design

• Cream and Ivory

  • Sophisticated colors with some warmth of brown, but mostly coolness of white

  • Generally quiet and evoke a “sense of history”

  • Can lend a sense of elegance and calm

  • Can take on an earthy quality when paired with peach/brown

  • Can be used to lighten darker colors without the starkness of pure white

In addition to choosing your brand colors, don’t forget to flesh out the other aspects of your branding like defining your brand voice and vision which can be equally impactful!