You may not realize the power you hold when choosing your brand’s color palette. You can influence the thoughts, feelings, and emotions your audience feels simply by color choice. No matter what you’re offering, you want to draw your audience in and keep them coming back for more, and the best way to do this is by using color psychology in your marketing materials.

By choosing the appropriate color palette for your marketing materials, you can influence your audience’s thoughts, feelings, and emotions. Creating a memorable and consistent palette will make your brand stand out. 

Color can change your viewer’s entire experience and influence whether or not they will follow your brand. In this article, I’ll show you:

• Why color choice is important
• Which emotions each color evokes
• How to create a strategic color palette
• Tips and tricks to grow your audience through color choice

Colors are important

Every successful brand has what is known as a “brand kit” – a collection of visual elements that establish the identity of the business. These elements include style, logo, typography, and color choice. You can develop a nearly-perfect strategy for your business, but without a unique brand kit, you probably won’t gain much traction. 

Think about top brands like Coca-Cola, Lyft, Netflix, and Facebook. All of these big guys have a unique brand kit that is used consistently in all marketing materials, like the red ribbon “N” at the beginning of all Netflix movies or the bright “Lyft” logo in every driver’s window. 

Without a brand kit, your audience will have a difficult time developing an emotional attachment to your business. More importantly, without a brand color palette, your company will get lost among your competitors. 

Your color choice will elicit an emotional connection with your customers. You can control how they feel about your business simply by pairing the correct colors and using them consistently in your: 

• Logo
• Website
• Business cards
• Social media content
• Marketing materials
• Invoices
• And more…

The most important thing to remember when creating content is to remain consistent. You should utilize the elements of your brand kit in everything you produce. Your goal is to create a lasting impression on your audience through these elements, and the only way you’ll do this is by staying consistent.

Knowing your audience

At this point in your brand’s development, you should have an idea of what you will be offering, as well as who your target audience is. Once you understand who you are producing content for, you can determine which emotions they should be feeling when they consume your content. 

Determining your audience is crucial to determining your color choice. Think about this – a financial consulting company plans to target business professionals. If they opt to choose red and purple in their color palette, their customers might feel confused, unprofessional, and maybe even angry. On the other hand, red and purple are perfect color choices for Taco Bell because they have a completely different target audience! 

If you are a yoga instructor, you want your audience to feel calm and tranquil. If you are a high-intensity fitness instructor, you want your audience to feel powerful and passionate. Create a short list of feelings you want your audience to have when looking at your content and thinking about your brand. 

Psychology behind each color

Now that you know who your content will reach and how they should feel, you can pick your dominant color, or the color that you will use in most of your content. 

Thanks to color psychology, we know which colors elicit which emotions:

1. Red

Red is commonly used in marketing materials because it draws out excitement, passion, and even anger. A strong emotional color, red indicates power. It can also increase appetite, which is why it is used often in restaurant marketing. Like a STOP sign, red advertisements usually force you to stop and look. 

2. Orange

Orange is also a warm color that elicits excitement, but is much softer and warmer than red. Orange gives a feeling of playfulness, creativity, and cheer. This color is also widely used in marketing materials because, similar to a traffic cone, orange advertisements cause the reader to slow down and look.

3. Yellow

Yellow is a bright color that evokes feelings of optimism, positivity, and overall happiness. Yellow is used in lighthearted material because of its association with the sun. This color makes viewers feel warm and hopeful, like they would feel on a sunny summer day.

4. Green

Green represents health, wellness, and tranquility. This color is soft on the eye and prompts feelings of being in nature, which is why it is often used to demonstrate sustainability and eco-consciousness. Green also elicits a feeling of new beginnings and growth. 

5. Blue

Like red, blue is commonly used in marketing materials, but for a very different reason. As a cool color, blue evokes calm feelings. This color is also commonly associated with trust, dependability, and loyalty. Blue gives consumers a sense of rational decision making, which is why many consumers purchase from brands with blue color palettes.

6. Purple

By combining high-energy red and calming blue, purple creates a sense of mystery and illusion. This color demonstrates luxury and exclusivity, giving consumers a feeling of wealth and power. Many high-end brands use purple to impersonate royalty in their marketing materials. 

7. Black

Black is a unique color because it can be paired with nearly any other color to elicit very different emotions. Alone, black evokes elegance and sophistication. Many brands use a simple black logo to evoke feelings of power and class. When paired, black can make yellow feel more professional and purple feel more chilling, showing its versatility.

8. White

As opposed to black, white can be paired with other colors to soften emotions. Alone, white brings out feelings of peace and purity. Many cleaning products utilize white marketing materials because it demonstrates cleanliness. White also elicits feelings of wholesomeness and innocence. 

Developing a color palette

Now that you know the basics of color psychology, it’s important to understand the elements that make up a brand’s color palette: 

1. Dominant color – the color used in most of your content to represent your brand’s mission.

2. Supporting color – the color used in some of your content to support your dominant color (think text or logo color).

3. Accent color – the color used infrequently to accent your color palette or create contrast (think background color).

Let’s pick apart my color palette: 

1. Dominant color 

Tan elicits feelings of warmth and reliability. It highlights support, which I provide through my services. It also gives my audience a look into my style, which is strong and simplistic. Lastly, I love the earthy feel it gives my work. 

2. Supporting color

Black evokes feelings of professionalism and elegance. It supports my dominant color without taking away its allure. 

3. Accent color 

White brings everything together without conflicting with the other colors. It provides contrast to the black, but does not add or take away any meaning from the tan. 

Pairing colors

When pairing colors in your palette, think about what style you want your audience to see. Do you want to have a traditional feel or do you prefer to modernize your content? Take a look at these style options: 

• Complementary 

This style pairs colors from opposite sides of the color wheel. This can create contrast or make certain colors pop. Using black or white creates a traditional look, while using bright complementary colors gives a retro feel.

• Analogous

This style pairs similar elements from the color wheel, like pairing warm colors together (red, orange, yellow). This can create a uniform and blended look. Pairing warm colors can create a bright and cheerful mood, while pairing cool colors can give a reliable and professional look.

• Triadic

This style pairs three colors from various areas of the color wheel. This is a great option for brands who want to include multiple bold colors. 

• Monochromatic

This style pairs different versions of the same color by adjusting hues, tones, and shades. This is a great option for brands committed to one particular color. This style creates a modern look.

Remember that each color has different hues, tints, shades, and tones. Experiment with different variations of your dominant color to find the most visually appealing option. From there, you can create the rest of your color palette. 

Final Tips

Now you have an idea of what you want your viewers to feel when looking at your brand’s content. The next step in choosing your color palette is to do a little market research. There are a few things you should look out for before settling on your color scheme: 

1. Competition

Take a look at the market you’re entering and think about your competitors. Does your direct competitor have the same color scheme as you? Is there a trend in your market that all your competitors are sticking to? Is there a color scheme that will make you stand out among the others? 

2. Beliefs

Think about common beliefs that are centered around the colors you choose. Will your audience make assumptions about your company’s beliefs? Do your color palette, logo, and font reflect a particular religion, political stance, or socioeconomic class? Are these associations necessary or intentional?

3. Culture

Keep your target audience’s culture in mind when picking your colors. The thoughts and emotions certain colors elicit in one country may not translate in a different country. If you plan to venture into foreign markets, research the psychology behind color choice in that country before making your decision.

Color choice is a major element in your brand kit. You can strategically influence the thoughts and emotions your audience feels simply by using color psychology to your advantage. Experiment with different color choices, ask friends and colleagues for their opinions, and don’t forget to have fun with it!