The relevance of color in branding

“If you want something to die, hold it still” – J. Drexler

Every day we are surrounded by a large number of visual stimulus and a wide variety of brands that offer us several options for any product we look for, making competition amongst them very fierce. With 99.7% of the companies in Mexico being at an early stage, businesses need to understand the importance of having a strong identity and a unique personality that will make them stand out in a crowd of competitors.

Branding takes into consideration different elements that shape and give personality to a new business. Color is one of them and a crucial opportunity to establish a strong identity and communicate a defined brand essence and core values. Color experts state that this is the first attribute from a brand that our brain processes above shapes and letters. When we think of brands like Coca Cola, Ikea, Best Buy, McDonalds, Starbucks, the first thing we identify and remember is their color whereas the details or typography of the logo might not be apparent or well defined.

The use of color helps to communicate the nature of your business and contributes to the identification of your brand’s personality. While specialization will make your target remember your product or service, color serves as a strong differentiator from the competition that really makes a brand stand out.

Research shows that we relate brands to human traits such as warmth, sophistication, and friendliness producing strong emotional connections. It sounds quite logical to think that we give familiar attributes to brands in order to feel either related or drawn away from them according to our personality. Cultural background and personal experiences also play a significant role in color psychology as we relate color to different emotions. For example, when we think of an ice cream place or a law firm, the color palette that comes to mind is completely different. The ice cream place might evoke feelings of friendliness and joy and even childhood memories, so it will make sense to have a brand identity full of vibrant colors and contrast. On the other hand, it is known that most law firms are very formal and trustworthy and that lawyers wear dark suits everyday, therefore it will be hard to relate them to flashy or vibrant colors so we think of a monochromatic, darker and simple color palette.

The construction of a brand identity deals with many factors however it is important to consider color as one notorious characteristic to keep in mind.

by @jules_hr