Color Palette 101

Your brand color palette consists of a set of colors that define your brand. When creating posts, products, and any other visual element of your website, it is important to use these specific colors in order to make a cohesive brand. If your brand doesn’t have a set color palette, it may be time to style your brand.

Why? Here are a few reasons:

Branding

Step one in color palette 101 is all about branding. The colors that you use on your website, promotional materials, social media, etc., are what people will associate with your brand. It’s important to choose a color palette that reflects your brand image. Your brand’s personality can often be expressed through these colors. For instance, brighter colors are often seen as fun and more approachable so they’re perfect for companies that specifically target younger demographics.

On the flip side, if your brand caters to older demographics, it is best to use neutral colors that are timeless. For example, white and gold would be a great choice for an upscale jewelry brand. This color palette is classic and well known without being too flashy or garish. If you own an all natural brand, earthy tones would be an ideal fit, etc.

Aesthetics

Step two in color palette 101 is all about aesthetics. When you create social media posts or other marketing materials, you want your feed to look cohesive and you want everything your brand creates to be memorable to the consumer. When you use the same color palette, your posts are more likely to be shared and viewed closely because they are more pleasing to the eye. And if everything looks beautiful on your feed, why wouldn’t someone follow your brand?

Recognition

The final step in color palette 101 is recognition. The colors that you choose for your brand will help people recognize your posts and remember them. The reason it’s good to have a cohesive feed with everything branded is because you want viewers to come back time and time again. If you want to become a well recognized brand or even a household name, brand colors make your brand memorable.

Research shows that 85% of consumers choose products based on color palette and 92% choose visual appearance in marketing efforts overall.

For example, Tiffany and Co. and Coca Cola are both largely recognized for their color palettes and branding. Both companies have very different color palettes that are infamous and well known to identify those brands. You may have even heard of the hue “Tiffany blue.” Of course, this color would not be common knowledge let alone even exist without the likes of Tiffany and Co. Coca Cola is also very well known for their brand colors and many other brands create products in the “Coke red” color palette that is easily recognizable and totally unique to Coca Cola. This color palette consists of a bright red, white, and black.

Although larger companies such as these often rebrand their logo, website and other marketing materials, these iconic colors are still visible throughout their marketing materials even today. When choosing your color palette, it is important to consider the longevity of the colors you choose. For example, bright pink may not be a color associated with your brand in the future so you might want to rebrand in 5-10 years.

Deciding the color palette for Kendall Media Co. was easy for me. I knew I wanted to look sleek and sharp, modern and minimalistic. I want to create content that appeals to all genders and many personalities. I chose a mix of neutral tones using my branding kit on Canva. Now when I hand out my business cards or write on social media, it’s clear that everything belongs to me and creates an image people won’t forget. Who wouldn’t want that?

For more branding info, click here.