When I initially contemplated starting my own photography business, obviously the first thing I did was design a logo. I’ve been through this a few times over the years—like when I was thinking of starting a web design business back in 2000. That dream never materialized, but you can bet I had a fully designed suite of business collateral up my sleeve, just in case.
The logo design itself, well, that’s an entirely different post—I was all over the place with that. The colors? That was the easy part. Not unlike the color scheme for my ill-fated web design business, I started with purple.
I’ve always loved the color purple—I even had a purple bike when I was little. Pair it with a chartreusey/lime green and I’m sold! That’s how it works, isn’t it? You pick a few of your favorite colors for your business palette, right?
Well, apparently, there’s more to it than that. If you really know what you’re doing, you put a little more thought into it. What core values does your business represent? What emotions are you trying to evoke in your clients or followers? There’s probably a color best suited to what you’re trying to convey.
Have at it on Google and you’ll find plenty articles and color emotion guides. You visual learners won’t be disappointed—infographics seem to be a favored method of conveying this information. I encourage you to open another tab and dig further into this, but here’s a quick teaser of the visual cues your brand colors may be sending:
Yellow: optimism, clarity, warmth
Orange: friendly, cheerful, confidence
Red: excitement, youthful, bold
Purple: creative, imaginative, wise
Blue: trust, dependable, strength
Green: peaceful, growth, health
Gray: balance, neutral, calm
As it turns out, the colors I chose actually fit. In fact, I really like that purple tends towards the creative and imaginative. I’m not entirely convinced on the wise-front, but two out of three ain’t bad!
What are your brand colors and what emotions do they evoke in others?