Color guidelines for brands

A while ago I received an e-newsletter from Mitch Meyerson, an associate and advocate of Jay Levinson of Guerrilla Marketing fame. Mitch and Jay produced together an analysis on the use of color as it relates to marketing. Though general in nature, I think its a valuable guideline to choosing a dominant color for your branding palette. Their thoughts are listed below.

Red evokes aggressiveness, passion, strength, vitality. In business, it is great for accents and boldness, stimulates appetites, is associated with debt.

Pink evokes femininity, innocence, softness, health. In business, be sure you're aware of its feminine implications and associations.

Orange

evokes fun, cheeriness, warm exuberance. In business, it's great to highlight information in graphs and on charts evokes positivity, sunshine and cowardice. In business, it appeals to intellectuals and is excellent for accenting things. Too much is unnerving.

Green evokes tranquility, health, freshness. In business, its deep tones convey status and wealth; its pale tones are soothing.

Blue evokes authority, dignity, security, faithfulness. In business, it implies fiscal responsibility and security. Plus it is universally popular.

Yellow is an optimistic color that almost always evokes a positive response. Yellow gets you motivated; it stimulates creative and intellectual energy; it's cheerful and easygoing.

Purple evokes sophistication, spirituality, costliness, royalty and mystery. In business, it's right for upscale and artistic audiences.

Brown evokes utility, earthiness, woodsiness and subtle richness. In business, it signifies less important items in documents.

White evokes purity, truthfulness, being contemporary and refined. In business, it enlivens dark colors and can be refreshing or sterile.

Gray evokes somberness, authority, practicality and a corporate mentality. In business, it is always right for conservative audiences.

Black evokes seriousness, distinctiveness, boldness and being classic. In business, it creates drama and is often a fine background color.

I’ll just add this: when you put colors in combination, guidelines can become unreliable in no time. There are several authors who have addressed emotions evoked by colors in combination, particularly two Japanese scholars, Ikuyshi Shibukawa and Yumi Takahashi, who have created a five-volume set of soft-cover, modestly priced books under the name, Designer’s Guide to Color. For branding, volumes 1, 2 and 3 are most helpful.I'd try Amazon and buy used from a partner listed there.

Martin Jelsema
Signature Strategies
Helping smaller companies profit from the power of branding

303-242-5975