How many brand colours should I use? How do I pick them?

The choice of colours in your logo is a critical factor in brand recognition. Colour plays a significant role in brand recognition, with 45% of brands identified primarily by colour. Choosing the right colour palette is crucial, as it can significantly enhance your brand's recognition and recall. It ranks just below the logo (75%) and visual style (60%) in importance and well above the tone of voice (25%).

We've seen articles suggesting picking up to 10 colours. But does that add anything to your brand's message or confuse it?

You may approach 10 across the brand identity, but these choices fit your brand's strategic plan. 

Case in point, at Starbucks, we counted 32 colours in their brand palette. If you look through the Starbucks brand guidelines and navigate to colours, they have a core set of colours, all the greens, with some additional neutrals. But then, depending on the season, they have a range of seasonal colours and how they use them. This is critical; they have 32 colours for a reason - to illuminate the brand at specific times of the year. However, they still use the distinctive green and white colours. That's the colours on signage across their website. That's the brand's core colours.

There's no one-size-fits-all when  picking your brand colour palette

Every brand has unique characteristics people seek to enhance or downplay through colour choices. Choosing the right colours and understanding their psychological impact can be challenging. However, you can use colour to reinforce your message, reflecting your mission and the values you want to instil in your business.

A few examples

• Brands with a purpose at heart must be very careful not to be seen as purpose-washing or green-washing — check out Meatable for a great example.
• New brands that enter the market will often gravitate to conventional colours synonymous with their industry. If they are in healthcare, they go for the medical aqua blue. If they're a daycare, they hit bold and vibrant colours like red, yellow, and blue.

Just because a color is synonymous with an industry, doesn't mean you have to pick it. If it's in your brand's nature to be rebellious, pick what you're drawn to and what will make you feel something. This freedom to experiment with unconventional colours can inspire creativity in your branding.

What colours should I pick, and how many do I need?

The good news is, there's no strict rule. You can choose colours that best represent your brand and its values. You're better off reading our blog post on "How to choose your brand colours" first, as we constantly learn new things and actively update all our posts to reflect the latest information.

Let's move on to how many colours you need.

Start out with two colours for your core brand. These can reflect the message you sell. 

Then add 1-2 secondary colours. Think of these as accent colours that are used across promotional material and the website. 

Finally, don't just select black and white as your neutral colours. You could do black, navy, dark grey, deep green, dark purple, or brown. Or pick lighter colours like white, cream, light grey, and any other pastel colours you can dream of. 

Make sure that the combination of colours is chosen with accessibility in mind.

So now you know how many colours you need, you need to consider the psychology behind using them, warm and cool colours, monochromatic, complementary. A colour like bright yellow is regarded as a comforting colour, while orange is striking and eager for attention. Orange and reds are used heavily in the food manufacturing and fast food industries. Blue triggers calm feelings, so a lot of medical businesses use it. Facebook uses blue to calm people and ensure they are comfortable lingering on the platform. Greens are organic and environmental but are also used in banking and insurance. Black, white, grey and deep purple have that regal, high-end feel. 

You need to match the colours to the vibe that you're creating.

Selecting your colour palette

1. ‍The first step is to identify your direction. What's your purpose, mission and values?
2. What's your brand message, and who are you talking to?
3. These answers will give you a swinging chance of picking a colour palette that will resonate effectively with the audience.
4. Think of the colours like an 80/20 split. You use the core colours 80% of the time, and your seasonal/special use colours 20%. This keeps the palette distinctive but prevents boredom and adds variety. 
5. Always try to break down colour palettes into the following colour standards: RGB, CMYK, HEX codes, and, if you have access to a Pantone guide, PMS colours.

Avoid these colour palette mistakes

Don't pick colours from thin air; scroll Instagram or look for trendy colour palettes. Trending colour palettes, such as Pantone's Colour of the Year, highlight a particular colour they think is topical — some of the previous colours have focused on things like sustainability, nurturing kindness, compassion, or connection. And while these terms are so important for some of our clients, they don't fit every business. 

If you're picking colours from things you're seeing, there's a good chance it's coming from personal preference, which is ok, but it might not be a colour your customers resonate with the most or what makes you stand out from competitors.

Hypothetically, imagine you have a clothes label. You know your ideal target market, understand your customer personas, and have a clear personality to communicate your message easily. 

You design environmentally friendly, long-lasting clothing and put in all the hard work before diving into your visual identity. 

You target women who hate fast fashion and want to save the planet by owning quality clothes that last longer. The brand is backed by research and finding new ways to contribute to cleaning the oceans. You want people to know that the brand is credible and that you test products and maintain high levels of quality control.

Your goal is for people to consider their purchases and know where their clothes come from. There's no place for hesitancy when it comes to protecting the planet. If we are looking at brand archetypes, it would be a mix of the sage and caregiver.

Words used to describe it are bold, radical, unforgiving, and fearless. What brand colours do you think would be a good match?

What brand colours should be picked for an eco-fashion brand?

If we were picking a colour palette for this brand, we'd first look at what its competitors do. This would ensure we don't pick something identical and help make a final decision easier—remember, we want them to stand out, not blend in!

Competitors use white, black, greys, and sage greens—soft, clean-cut colours. One stood out using blue and red.

We'd look at the brand personality and words like fearless and radical to set it apart and mix that with the target market.

We lean towards picking a solid core colour like bright yellow, which indicates a brighter future, and complementing it with one or two colours like hot pink as an accent. Perhaps a slightly toned-back version of pink, with a hint of yellow. Finally, we'd choose two neutrals: a dark ocean greeny/blue colour and a crisp white.

And remember, even if you pick a similar colour palette to a competitor, how you apply it will change the feeling you're creating. If they pick a complimentary sage green and use it 10% of the time, you could reverse this and make it your core (primary) colour — using it, say, 80%. 

Stuck picking brand colours

We know it's hard to reiterate what you need to do.

1. Outline the colours the audience resonates with. If you're unsure, ask them. Think about how and where they are applied and in what proportion.
2. Make sure you love your colours, too – If you do not love your marketing content, you might end up flipping them and breaking the consistency you aim for. You'll start losing out on all that squishy brand recognition and undoing your hard work. ‍
3. A consistent colour palette increases brand recognition by up to 80%.‍
4. Be careful, too. Certain brands have their colours nailed down — Cadburys trademarked the exact purple they use. Fast food chains use reds to signal hunger cues. But even smaller brands can start owning colours if they consistently use the same one.
5. Suppose a brand in your industry is known for a particular colour. In that case, looking at different options or flipping that round is a good idea.
6. The audience's state of mind plays a big role. For instance, if you're a yoga studio trying to instil calmness or balance, you probably wouldn't want to introduce bright, bold colours or patterns.
7. Culture can also impact the meaning and interpretation of colour, so be sensitive to others' feelings. This is important if you intend to make your products and services available globally. In Japan, purple represents power and wealth, but in Thailand, it's the colour worn by widows.‍
8. If you're struggling to pick your colours, work on eliminating colours first, as I know this helps me when I am struggling.

If you follow the tips above and maybe look at a site like Pinterest, this will give you some colour combination inspiration and get you well on your way to choosing brand colours.

And remember, brand colours are much simpler to choose if you are clear on your brand strategy.