(It’s Not Always What We Think!)
If your brand isn’t generating a loyal following, your brand colors might be to blame. Color is a non-verbal form of communication that generates powerful emotional appeal. Although most people are aware of this, they don’t leverage it fully when it involves their brand. Instead they select their brand’s color based on personal preference. This common, semi-random brand color selection isn’t necessarily the problem, however.
The problem only occurs is when brand colors conflict with the verbal communications. Color also creates negatively when it is over-emphasized, creating dis-harmony and imbalance.
Emotional Message in Colors – Both Positive and Negative
RED IS the color of energy, passion, action, ambition and determination. Its negative aspect is anger and aggression, if over-used.
ORANGE IS the color of connection, enthusiasm and creativity. Its negative aspect is pessimism and superficiality.
YELLOW IS the color of the mind and the intellect. It is optimistic and cheerful. Its negative aspect is impatience, criticism and cowardice.
GREEN IS the color of balance and growth. It can mean both self-reliance as a positive and possessiveness or avarice as a negative.
BLUE IS the color of trust and peace. It can suggest loyalty and integrity. Its negative aspect is conservatism and frigidity.
INDIGO IS the color of intuition. It can mean idealism and structure. Its negative aspect is ritualistic and addictive.
PURPLE IS the color of the imagination. It can be creative and individual. Its negative aspect is immature and impractical.
TURQUOISE IS communication and clarity of mind. Its negative aspect is impractical and idealistic.
PINK IS unconditional love and nurturing. Its negative aspect is frilly and weak.
BROWN IS a friendly yet serious, down-to-earth color that relates to security, protection, comfort and material wealth. In negative use it is murky and stodgy.
GRAY IS the color of neutrality – being neither black nor white, it is the transition between two non-colors. In negative context, it is unemotional and detached and can be indecisive.
SILVER HAS a feminine energy; it is related to the moon and the ebb and flow of the tides – it is fluid, emotional, sensitive and mysterious. Negatively, it is cold, and rigid.
GOLD IS the color of success, achievement and triumph. Associated with abundance and prosperity, luxury and quality, prestige and sophistication, value and elegance, the color psychology of gold implies affluence, material wealth and extravagance.
WHITE IS color at its most complete and pure, the color of perfection. The color meaning of white is purity, innocence, wholeness and completion. Negatively, it is void of meaning and sterile.
BLACK IS the color of the hidden, the secretive and the unknown, creating an air of mystery. Negatively it keeps things bottled up inside, hidden from the world.
Color and Other Messaging Must Work Together
Brands create the right brand color impact by ensuring their verbal messages underscore the positive implications, and lead away from the negative. Now you know how to avoid the missteps in your brand colors. Look at your colors and your message together.
It is important to note that few brands have only one color. Those that do tend to be very one-dimensional in their brand personality (sorry, but it’s the truth.) The colors that your brand chooses to combine either create harmony or dissonance, and it is important to note which colors create harmonious – and high-impact pairings.
Here are some inspiring ones, so you can see how it all comes together:
And now, here is a tool you can use to find the right brand color palette for you:
To find out more about what colors and talking points are right for your brand, contact me.
Comments