Choosing the perfect colour palette for your brand (with 24 brand moods you can steal!)
Searching for a way to intimately connect with your target market and make them fall head over heels in love with your brand? Say hello to colour psychology.
For thousands of years, humans have studied the psychology of colour. Even the ancient Egyptians were fascinated by how colour impacted our mood and believed that specific colours had special healing properties.
And when you think about it, it really does make sense. I believe colours have their own personalities, inspiring us to feel certain emotions when we’re in their presence.
Which, as you can imagine, is pretty darn powerful when it comes to choosing a colour palette for your brand! ‘Cos depending on the colours you select, you can make your audience feel …
- Calm and creative
- Playful and lively
- Elegant and graceful
- Earthy and passionate
- Dramatic and dynamic
It’s up to you!
So if you’re ready to make your brand emotionally compelling, come along with me as I walk you through how to choose a colour palette for your brand.
Step one: Identify how you want your brand to make your target market feel.
Grab a notebook and pen and write down every descriptive word you can think of that illustrates how you want your target market to feel when they interact with your brand.
Some words to get you started: Empowered, entertained, inspired, appreciated, loved, joyful, educated, informed, focused, passionate, relaxed, calm, zen, fresh, romantic, creative, playful.
Step two: Identify how you want your brand to feel.
When your target market interacts with your brand, what words do you want them to associate with you? What would you like to be known for being? Continue your list with these words.
Some words to get you started: Dependable, approachable, friendly, relaxed, casual, professional, formal, educational, graceful, caring, detailed, elegant, timeless, sweet, thoughtful, soothing, aspirational, compelling.
Step three: Cull your list down to two to three words.
These should be the words that MOST describe who your brand is and how you want to make your audience feel.
Step four: Choose your dominant colour.
You can then cross-reference your words with this colour psychology list to choose a dominant colour for your palette.
Step five: Choose up to four complementary colours.
You can use the same list to come up with four complementary colours for your brand, or choose colours based on how they match your dominant colour.
And voila – you’ve chosen a colour palette for your brand AND aligned it with colour psychology so your visual branding has maximum emotional connection!
But … if you’re feeling a little stuck and want more “done for me” than DIY”, here are four ready-to-go brand colour palettes you have my full permission to steal.
