Show your colours!

Colours evoke certain emotions in us: the yellow of a sunflower is generally perceived as warm and friendly, whereas dark blue is often perceived as serious and distant. Colours are also associated with eras, landscapes and political attitudes, and often take on their own meaning depending on the (cultural) context in which they appear. When choosing a corporate colour for a brand image, emotional, cultural and functional aspects should all be taken into account.

One example where the contextual dimension of colour choice is evident is McDonald’s. With the aim of representing future food trends and healthier eating (away from meat), the brand’s signature colour red was changed to green, which had far-reaching consequences for the company.

Colours have different functions within a company:

• Primary or corporate colours are directly associated with a brand.
• Secondary colours are complementary colours that complete a company’s colour scheme or colour palette.

Both colour palettes can fulfil different tasks within the brand design, which must also be determined in this context. They can be used to separate products, services, information or departments. However, make sure that your appearance does not end up looking like a rainbow circus if you use too many colours.

Humans can only clearly and quickly distinguish a certain number of colours. So if you plan to assign a specific colour to each of your products or services, you will soon realise that your colour palette is not sufficient for this.

When choosing your colour(s), you should also consider which colours your competitors use or whether there is a colour typical for your industry that you can adopt. Perhaps you already identify strongly with a particular colour. Does this colour contribute to your brand identity and your creative concept?

Well-known examples where colours make the respective company clearly recognisable and distinctive are: Veuve Clicquot, Ikea, Nivea, Manner, Tiffany …