What is the best colour for branding?

The simple answer answer to this question – “What is the best colour for branding?” – is “it depends”. There are lots of factors to consider when it comes to the importance of colour in branding. In this post we take a look at a few of them.

The first point to consider is, the role of colour in your identity. You only need to think of brands like Coca Cola or Cadbury, to appreciate the impact colour can have. So choosing the right colour for your identity is just as important as the design of your logo or the typeface you choose.

The second point to consider is colour association – what do certain colours make people think of? This is really important when it comes to the image you want to project. Some of this is obvious. Red is “danger” or “excitement”. Green is “natural” or “healthy”. There’s lots of information available online.
 

Making the best use of colour

But what can be useful to consider, when it comes to developing a brand identity, is not a specific colour – red, blue or green – but the tone of colour that you use. So if you want people to see your organisation as “dynamic”, you might choose a vibrant, eye catching colour. And this could be a red, blue or green. They could all work, if they have a vibrant tone. By contrast, if you want people to see your organisation as well-established with a strong heritage, you might choose deeper, richer colours. They could still be red, blue or green, but with a much deeper tone.

The final point to consider is your competitors. What colour do they use? According to research, 33% of the top 100 businesses use blue in their identity. So, understanding what your competitors are doing gives you two choices. Choose a similar colour, so you look like you belong in that category. Or choose a different colour, so you look different and stand out.

When it comes to the use of colour in your brand, it all depends on the image you want to project for your organisation.

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