Brand colors are chosen for the jobs they have to do, not only for how they look on their own. A working set is small, usually one main color, one or two supporting colors and a neutral, and each one has a role: what the logo uses, what a button uses, what the text sits on. Then each color is written down as exact values, so it comes out the same on a screen, a sign and a printed card.
What the colors have to survive
A color that looks right on your designer’s monitor still has to work on a phone in sunlight, on a vinyl sign, on cheap paper and next to your competitors’ colors. Two questions settle most choices. Can people read text on it? And would a customer in your area mistake it for another business in the same trade?
Colors also carry associations that differ by industry, so the right choice for a bakery can be the wrong one for an accountant. That is a reason to choose with your customers in mind rather than from a favorite.
Signs your brand colors are not set
- Nobody can tell you the exact values, only “the green one”.
- Your printed pieces come out a different shade from your website.
- Text on your colored backgrounds is hard to read, especially on a phone.
- Each new vendor has added a color, and you now use five or six.
- A competitor down the road uses nearly the same colors.
How 76 Design Solutions solves it
Colors are part of the brand identity work at 76 Design Solutions: a color palette with values, alongside the logo and its variants, typography, usage rules and tone of voice, written into one guideline document. See 76designsolutions.com/branding-marketing.
If you want to see your colors on a real page before committing to them, start with the Website Plan and Homepage Mockup from 76 Design Solutions: a page plan and a homepage mockup for desktop and phone, built on your logo and colors, delivered within 5 business days for $49.99. The full $49.99 is credited toward a Small Business Website build, and the credit does not expire.