How to Pick Brand Colors

It's no secret I love playing with color. And I also understand choosing brand colors can be overwhelming because there are so many color combinations. 😩

This blog post makes the color-picking process simple. 🌈

Not in the mood for reading? Watch the video version on Instagram!

The first thing you’re going to do is create a moodboard. A moodboard, simply put, is a vision board for your brand style.

Go on Pinterest, Google, and free stock image websites and gather images that represent the vibe, look, and style of your brand. Open a Google Doc or Word Doc and drag and drop images from your browser window to the document. It does not have to be pretty—this moodboard is for your eyes only. Add and remove images until you have a moodboard that represents what you want your brand to look like.

Once you have your moodboard, you’ll see certain colors will dominate among the images. You might also see color combinations naturally occur that you can pick as your brand color palette. Or, if you already had a brand color in mind, you can find in your moodboard a color that would complement your pre-chosen color.

Pick no more than 2 colors! It gets a little complicated to use larger color palettes without a design background. Keep it simple and remember black and white are also colors. So, perhaps, you only need to choose 1 additional color and pair it with black or white.

After you’ve picked your colors, google the meaning behind these colors. Each color has an associated psychological response. It’s great to know the meaning behind your colors because it will give you insight into how your target audience is perceiving said colors. If your findings align with who you want to be as a brand—great!

But, what if your findings don’t align perfectly? For example: Let’s say you want to be an energetic brand, but your brand color is sky blue, which is associated with calmness. Consider adding an energetic color such as yellow, orange, or red.

Once you’ve decided on your color palette, step back and look at the meanings you found, the vibe and style of the colors, and ask yourself: “Will my target audience resonate with this palette? Is this representing my brand’s point of view?” If the answer is yes, congrats you have your brand color palette!

If the answer is no, go back to the moodboarding process, look for new images, create a new moodboard, or adjust your existing one and find those brand colors that, most importantly, you love!

Let me know your thoughts! I would love to answer your questions about color!