Colour and brands

Using colour makes your target audience twice as likely to notice your business-to-business communications. Companies need to be aware that:

Colour is the first thing we look – 80 per cent of our response to colour is unconscious

Colour increases message understanding and retention by 78 per cent

People are 85 per cent more likely to take action when reading colour as opposed to mono.

What does this mean for businesses? Colour is a powerful communicator and if used effectively, it can give your business a competitive edge. However, if companies get their colours wrong, it will not matter how beautifully your design is laid out, nor what typography you use – you will already have turned off your potential customer.

Therefore, when designing company logos, designers should select their corporate colour palette before finalising other features.

How to use colour effectively

As people’s response to colour is not influenced by culture, age or gender, organisations, when choosing a primary colour, should focus on their brand and offering, instead of attempting to appeal to certain demographic groups.

Red catches the attention first, it communicates physical strength and basic, uncomplicated values. Red provides a clear call to action. Used wrongly, it can be perceived as aggressive and very harsh.

Pink is physically soothing and nurturing, it represents motherhood and survival of the species. Negatively, pink can be physically draining and men will find too much of it emasculating.

Blue is instinctively associated with clarity and with things working efficiently. Blue is the colour of trust, reliability and integrity. The negative possibilities of blue are that it can be perceived as cold, unfriendly and bureaucratic. Blue will work very well if you need your customers to trust you – solicitors, accountants, insurance companies, technology companies and roofing contractors.

Yellow lifts the spirits and communicates youth, regeneration, dynamism and innovation. Yellow can be too stimulating, and can cause anxiety.

Green is the colour of balance. We are instinctively reassured by green and it is the best colour to use anywhere where financial transactions are taking place (eg. around a payment area). The negative possibilities of green are that it can be stagnant and far too bland. The reassurance of green will be particularly effective for a business whose customers are likely to be nervous – eg. anything medical.

Orange is sensual, and activates awareness of secondary survival issues – food, warmth, shelter and physical enjoyment. Negative perceptions of orange can be a lack of seriousness, or intellectual values. Orange is the most powerful colour for selling food, heating systems, anything associated with home comfort – and pure fun.

Purple psychologically creates an expectation of the finest quality and very high standards. It is the best colour to emphasise premium quality. Negatively, if it is used wrongly, purple can come across as false, and anything but premium quality. Purple will work well for any company concerned with selling the finest quality goods at the top of the market.

Brown is essentially a serious colour, having obvious associations with the earth and nature – it is always the best colour to communicate no-nonsense, down-to-earth ideas. Negatively, the seriousness of brown could be perceived as humourless and heavy. Avoid Brown as a main corporate colour unless your business is to do with the environment or the natural world.

Pure white is a very strong colour. It is aspirational and communicates uncompromising quality, hygiene, sterility and attention to detail. If you wish to use white for your company, make sure the colours with it are cold and sharp.

Black is a cold colour and uncompromising; it can be menacing. It can be very effective in communicating sophisticated elegance, materially aspirational products and glamour.

Grey says virtually nothing, and usually indicates lack of confidence. It is never to be recommended in any corporate communication.

Be complementary

Once you have chosen your core colour you will need a second colour as people respond to combinations of colours, rather than to just one. It is a good idea to use a small quantity of an ‘opposite’ colour to the core colour, to balance the picture.

The classic complementary colours are:

Red and green; Blue and orange; Purple and yellow; Black and white. You cannot go wrong by using any of these pairs.

When approaching the initial printed communication design process businesses need to decide on their colours first. They should pay attention to their brand and resist the temptation to copy someone else’s colour choice. And finally, it is essential that companies ensure that their core colour is relevant to their organisations’ activities.

Related content

Access full article

Propolis logo white

B2B strategies. B2B skills.
B2B growth.

Propolis helps B2B marketers confidently build the right strategies and skills to drive growth and prove their impact.