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HOW TO SELECT A UNIQUE COLOR PALETTE FOR YOUR BRAND


What does your color palette say about your brand?
Design with love by REVIVRE.COM

Why is it important to have a brand color palette? Your brand color palette is a part of building a successful brand identity for your business. It helps connect your audience to you on an emotional level as well as building brand recognition. What a color palette can do for your brand. It provides brand consistency. For example, when it comes to designing your website, stationery, or any marketing materials, a brand color palette will work as a guide to provide you with clarity on the color scheme for your overall design. This also helps your audience identify your brand quickly throughout all visual platforms.

How would I know which color(s) to choose for my brand? As you know color plays a role in customers buying decisions. If you notice restaurants like Chick-Fil-A and McDonald's who use the color red in their brand because, in theory, this is considered an energetic and powerful color for attention. However, you're probably asking yourself if that's a color you should include in your own brand. The good thing about selecting a brand color palette is that you are not limited to just your primary color(s) or what's trendy. It's probably best to not be like everyone else’s, right? For many of you who are small business owners or startups, you are your brand so think of your color palette as the clothing you put on. You get to decide which one aligns with your intention and value as well as which color best represents the emotion you want your audience to experience when they see your brand.

Below are some important questions to ask yourself when it comes to selecting your brand color palette.


  • What are some of your favorite colors? Before you start thinking too deep into your brand, name at least 4-6 colors that you really like. We will revisit this later.

  • What are your top three values of your brand? (Ex: stability, mindfulness, spiritual, affection, grace, ambition, balance, etc.)

  • If you can describe your brand with three words, what would they be? (Ex: sophisticated, modern, warm, relaxed, calm, elegant, classy, joy, hope, strong, etc.)

  • What is your brand personality? Some of you may hear of creating an “ideal client/customer” or “avatar”, it’s important that you don’t skip this question because it adds personality to your brand. So, if your brand is a person, what kind of characteristics would it have? (Ex: witty, joyful, fun, friendly, introverted, relaxed, calm, loyal, loud, etc). By giving it a personality, you'll not only attract these types of clients but it'll also attract people that resonate with your brand value. Will all your clients/customers need to be like this ideal person you design? Absolutely not, they can be anyone that is interested in what you do or offer. The idea of having one is so that it helps you stay consistent throughout all your marketing designs.


What if I don't know who my ideal client/customer is, what should I do?

Think of your ideal client/customer as your best friend. If you were to work with your best friend, what would s/he be like? Where are they from? What clothing do they wear? What kind of career do they have? What are their favorite hobbies? What physical features do they have? Etc. Be as detailed as you would like, you cannot go wrong with this list. This will also help provide a visual so that you can start marketing your stuff around this ideal person.


How would I know which color matches my brand personality?

If you're feeling stuck between colors, create a vision board for your brand. The best place to start your vision board is Pinterest, it's known for pinning anything and everything that resonates with you. Create a board and call it "Brand Vision Board", then start searching and pin anything that resonates with you or stuff you would like to use as inspiration for your brand. Pinterest can be a little addicting once you get the hang of it, so be careful, you don't want to get lost in the rabbit hole. 😆


Not interested in Pinterest? That's okay, open up a google doc. or word doc. and title this "Brand Personality Vision Board", next go to Google and search for colors or topics that interest you, next select the image search tab at the top so that it will only show you the result with images. Save images that you're interested in and bring them into your document. By creating a vision board, you have something to look for inspiration in selecting your color palette. You won't believe the end result, you may find that you're attracted to a certain color(s) that you didn't even think of.


See below for a color chart I created to help you brainstorm color personality.


color personality chart
Color theory personality chart

What to look for when selecting your brand colors palette.

1. Find at least 1-2 Main Colors: These are considered your primary colors and will be the main usage throughout all your platforms. It would be the main overall colors you see throughout all your marketing materials as well. For example, if you notice my brand, the main color is this warm pastel brown, also known as tan. I use this throughout all my platforms to keep my brand consistent so that no matter where my audience is looking for information, they'll automatically know it's a part of Revivre's brand.

2. Select 1-2 Neutral Colors: These colors help tie everything together. Your neutral colors are usually used subtly in the brand such as a muted background, textures, or patterns. My neutral colors are white and light grey, they help create balance in all my designs.

3. Optional: Select 1-2 Accent Colors: These colors compliment your main color. It could be a pop of color that you see in the photos you use for your brand or throughout your website such as lines and buttons colors, etc. Mine is a pastel pinkish purple and a grayish cyan. You probably didn't even notice these in my brand because I don't often use them unless I need it to differentiate between topics or as a pop of color when necessary.


Color combination chart by REVIVRE.COM

Here is a chart that shows some color combinations to get you started. You do not have to use these particular color combos, you can substitute a similar color in the same family to switch them around to fit your brand.


Any colors in the Orange, Yellow, & Red family consider your warm colors. Cool colors consist of blue, purple, and green. Your Neutral colors are the classic black, white, and earth-tone or gray colors.




Still feel stuck on selecting colors combination?

Here's a link that I found helpful when it comes to selecting color combinations. Click on Adobe Color wheel This link will take you to a color wheel that consists of a variety of color combinations that you can play with. You do not have to go with the color they recommend, this is to help you get an idea of colors that compliment each other.


What are the final colors in your brand color palette?

Following back up to the first question at the beginning, does your new color palette consist of any colors from your original 4-6 colors? I would love to see what you end up with, feel free to tag me on IG @revivre_nc if you found this post helpful.


Have a question?

Hit me up with a message. I would love to help you one on one :)





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