Andrew Riedel, SEO Gold Coast
The importance of colour as part of your image is fundamental to successful company branding. It is the first impression a consumer garners of your company and if it’s unappealing, then consumers are less likely to invest time into your company, or your products.
Colour, in particular, plays a predominant part in the image your company presents. It acts as the first interaction point between your company and potential consumers, and invokes a variety of emotional responses within them
Steven Snell mentioned in an article on Smash Magazine:
“If a company has branded itself in a certain way and with specific colours, customers and others familiar with the company will have subconsciously associated those colors with the company.”
According to case studies 60-80% of purchases made by consumers are based upon the product’s colour. Therefore it is paramount that particular care is taken when selecting a company’s future colour palette.
How To Optimise Your Colour Branding
Research Your Demographic/Competitors
This is essential to any company. Researching your competitors/demographic can hint towards the colour palette that is suitable for your product.
The importance of colour is seen when choosing the right colour to suit different cultures. If your company is offering funeral services you may choose to use darker tones, such as navy, or typically black. Black is the colour associated with death in Western society, however, in Northern Asian cultures, i.e. China, the colour white is associated with mourning or death. Therefore, if your funeral services were situated in China, you might ensure your colour palette features white predominantly to communicate you’re a funeral service.
Work Out What Your Colour Communicates
As mentioned before, white is a traditional colour associated with death in China, whereas in Western cultures it’s a colour of calmness, charity and chastity. Therefore it is essential that you surmise what your colour represents and whether it’s reflective of what the company is trying to communicate.
Thai Airways selected purple as one of their main colours. However, in Thailand, purple is associated with mourning. Thai Airways were targeting a Western demographic though, and in Western culture purple is often associated with royalty, wealth and luxury. Therefore the colour communicated they were a luxurious flight experience towards customers.
Go To Stores And Observe The Surrounding Products Colours
If you’re creating a physical product it’s essential you visit stores where your product will be viewed and note the surrounding products. This means you’ll be able to produce products that contrast against your competition, gaining more attention.
12 years ago Heinz released a new type of ketchup that was an immediate success purely because it was green. Heinz sold over seven million of these bottles in the first seven months.
Also, knowing your competition means that you can avoid law suits. Cadbury legally owns (in the UK) the shade of purple they use, to ensure no-one can produce a similar product that may trick customers into buying.
Choose Your Logo Carefully
It is fundamental to reach a balance between your logo and your colour scheme. It is very easy for the combination of your colour palette and logo to become overly complicated. Therefore, reduce your colour palette to two or three colours to avoid this problem. As most art teachers say: “less is more!”
If you find a colour that you just love there is an excellent free tool that you can use to find out the exact colour code. Click on Colour Picker Software to watch a quick video on how to download ColorPix and how to use it.
When considering your company branding, remember that colour has the power to:
- Strengthen/weaken a logo’s design
- Elicit a positive/negative emotional response
- Contrast/subdue your product among competitors
As long as you remember to take seriously the importance of colour into all your branding and web design choices, your company will have a better chance to establish itself successfully.
Written by: AV Collard