Choosing colours to represent your business can be tricky. Colours have a lot of different meanings and depending on the message you are trying to convey will depend on what colours you go for.
You’ll be surprised by how colours influence the human mind and how it plays a massive part in people’s decision making. Every single colour has connotations, particularly when it comes to logo and branding design, although there may be some disagreement over the messages!
Generally, bright colours will obviously grab attention more, but present a brand or company to be outgoing and loud, whereas more muted colours are sophisticated and professional, but can be overshadowed among competition.
COLOUR MEANINGS
Here are some of the general meanings behind some colours:
Red: Passion, energy, danger, warmth, aggression. Red is often used in food packaging or in restaurant branding as it can stimulate hunger in people.
Blue: Professional, serious, sincere. Blue is used in lots of corporate logos, studies have suggested people associate blue with authority, hence why lots of government bodies use blue in their branding.
Orange: Modern thinking, innovative, fresh, fun. Orange is usually used for start up companies or businesses that are trying to really do something different.
Green: Healthy, ethics, organic, natural. Green is often used when companies want to represent their ethical, or natural products or ingredients. Financial products and some banks use green too.
Yellow: Warm, friendly, sunny. Yellow does have a lot of negative connotations against it as it is often related to warning signs, so a lot of companies try to avoid this in their branding.
Purple: Royal, luxury, dignity, wealth. Popular with brands that are trying to convey elegance, purple is a great choice if you have a luxury product or service.
Pink: Fun, feminine. Probably the only gender specific colour, generally pink is associated with services or products for women, although it has been appearing more and more in male dominated sports recently.
When trying to match more than one colour together, there are many different colour schemes to take into consideration. You want to select colours that complement each other well and represent your brand’s ethos.
Are you in need of some colour expertise? Our branding and identity services cover all these areas, and we will work with you to develop a fresh brand that matches the message you are wishing to convey.
How do you choose your colours? Would you agree with these colour connotations or do you think they mean different things? Share your view in the comments below!
