Every startup founder has been there: choosing a colour scheme for a brand. While the idea of choosing a colour palette might sound simple, the job often turns out much harder than imagined.
“To make consistency in your branding, choose a colour palette that you will stick to within all materials and mediums,” explains Luxembourg-based graphic designer Silje-Marie Molland. “The palette you choose should suit the identity of your brand. If you don’t have a clue, have a read about colour psychology and check your competitors’ colour schemes. In a very simplified way: colours are amongst other things linked with emotions and cultural associations.”
Every colour has a range of shades from vibrant to pastel, as well as gradual transitions towards other colours. Within each colour there are different associations and emotions. This can be seen for example how yellow goes from warm optimistic yellow to yellow with a green tint which can give a sense of unrest.
“A colour scheme for a brand usually consists of 1-4 colours,” Molland says. “Choose a main colour that will be used the most, an accent colour to pair up with your base colour, to be used the second most, and then choose a more neutral colour for backgrounds. This would typically be a white, beige, grey or slightly tinted colour.”
If you wish to make a coloured background behind a text, have readability in mind.
“Luminance is the brightness of a colour,” Molland says. “If you choose two different colours for text and background colour, but the two colours have the same brightness or luminance, it will be hard to read the text, and extra challenging for people with reduced eyesight or colorblindness.”
Molland explains that the colours can be chosen to be monochromatic, meaning different tints of the same colour, like Paypal has done; analogues, meaning colours that are next to each other in the colour wheel such as Mastercard; complimentary in which colours on the opposite side of the colour wheel like Firefox; or triadic where colours that draw in equal parts for three different sections of the colour wheel, like seen with Burger King.
As choosing a colour palette is a massive field in design, Molland recommends familiarising oneself with Matt Ellis’ article that explains the topic further. In addition, the Internet is full of different tools helping you to choose your colour palette, such as Coolors, Canva, and Adobe. However, while these tools can be useful, when it comes to designing the brand colours and manual, turning to the help of a professional graphic designer is often recommended for the most professional and high-quality end-result.
