Using Colors in Your Brand

Color is the most important part of your brand image, as that is the literal picture people think of when they imagine your business.  If your brand has colors that fit your business, the results can be quite powerful.  Unlike other business decisions, choosing colors takes knowledge of psychology and art, plus the designer must also be very creative and unique if they wish to make an appealing and thought-provoking color scheme.  Choosing the colors for your business is difficult, as you need to take a long time to think about what would work.  Once you pick your colors, it is difficult to change them, because then the majority of previous branding work would have gone to waste.  Color schemes should match the aura and feel of your business.  If you sell a light, calm product and want to be seen as easy-going, you should use a mix of two or three tinted colors.  If you want to be seen as a very strong, powerful company, then multiple, heavily contrasting colors should be used.  Unlike other parts of your brand, color scheme cannot be changed later on without drastic negative effects. If your business goes through a large change, such as moving from a medium sized company to a large company, or adding several additional categories of products, then some changes to the scheme could be made.  However, it is not the colors that should be changed, but the way they are arranged.  For example, if your color scheme was gradients of black and red in a rectangle, you could change to gradients of black and red in a yin-yang as a symbol of your growth.  As long as the shape change is not too drastic (a yin-yang is essentially a circle and rectangle to circle is still consistent with geometric shapes), it can be executed successfully.  Changes can potentially work out very well, especially pre-planned changes.  Letting your customers know of a big alteration can stir excitement and anticipation.  Websites that pre-announce redesigns usually see substantial response from their visitors/members, and the same could work for any business.  Whatever changes are made, the colors must stay the same, because those colors are in everybody's mind and you do not want to throw all that away.