How to buildan intentional color palette for your brand

The anatomy of a brand color palette

Creating a brand is more than just designing a logo and choosing a name. One of the most important aspects of building a brand is selecting a color palette that represents your business’s personality and values. Color can convey meaning and elicit emotion, so it’s essential to choose colors that align with your brand’s identity and message.

Ask yourself the right questions

Building an intentional color palette involves asking yourself the right questions. You need to consider:

1. How you want people to feel when they see your brand,
2. What emotions your product or service should evoke, and
3. The buzzwords that describe your brand

Once you’ve identified these factors, you can select colors that best represent them.

Consider which colors evoke the feelings you’ve identified

For example, sage green invokes feelings of calmness and healing, while mustard yellow represents energy and optimism. By selecting colors that align with your brand’s values, you can create a color palette that speaks to your target audience.

Choose a base color and build around it

The five elements of a color palette are the primary brand color, the secondary brand color, a neutral color, a pop of color, and an optional second neutral.

Start by selecting a primary color that represents your brand the most. Then, choose a pop of color that’s opposite in temperature from your primary color. To create your secondary color, darken, lighten, or add a tone to your primary color. Then, choose a neutral color that pairs well with all the other colors in your palette.

Putting it all together

Design tools like Canva can be extremely helpful in experimenting with different color palettes. You can try overlapping colors to ensure that they don’t clash with each other.

It’s essential to feel good about the colors you select. If they’re true to your brand but don’t feel true to you, you’ll never feel aligned with your visual identity. Experiment with various shades and tones until you find the perfect color palette that speaks to your brand’s personality and values.

In conclusion, creating an intentional color palette for your brand is crucial in building a successful brand. By asking yourself the right questions and experimenting with different colors, you can select a color palette that aligns with your brand’s personality and values. Take the time to find the perfect color palette that represents your brand accurately, and you’ll create a visual identity that resonates with your target audience.

Overwhelmed with where to start? Building a color palette is a super complex and challenging task within the art of brand-building. It’s worth investing in professional help. Feel free to reach out to us for more information about our services and how we can help you build a brand you’re proud of.

Not ready to work with a designer? Check out our Brand Building Blueprint, a guide in where to start when it comes to building an intentional brand that will grow with your business.

Learn how to boost your business by building a strategy-backed brand with intention.

Become an expert in your target audience
Craft a professional mission & vision statement
Determine trust-building core values
Tell your brand story in a way that resonates
Discover your design vision & style
Craft a one-of-a-kind visual identity
Determine your logo style & color palette
Create organized website content that converts