Step-by-Step Guide to Choosing Your Color Pallete

Your brand is more than just a logo or a name; it's an experience, a connection, a vibe. At the heart of this experience lie the colors we choose to express ourselves. They are the silent but powerful communicator of who you are and what your brand stands for. Colors evoke emotions, tell stories, and create an immediate connection with your audience. Colors have the power to put your ideal clients in a readiness to connect with you. But I know you are probably saying: “Okay, Hanna, I get it. Colors are important, but how do I choose the best ones?” Well, that’s what we are talking about today. I’m sharing the step-by-step details to DIY your own branding color palette, which in so many ways can be the foundation for all the brand decisions you’ll need to make as a small creative business.

Ok, so let's get started with 5 steps that will help you create the perfect palette for your brand - one that speaks to your creative soul and resonates authentically with your audience. Even if you don’t identify as creative or tech-savvy, you’ll be able to follow this strategy!

Step One: Get to Know Your Brand

Before you dive into the world of colors, it can be really helpful to make sure you KNOW yourself and your brand. These are the questions I ask my branding clients to get them thinking aboutWho they are? What does their business stand for? What values does their brand embody?

WHAT 3 ADJECTIVES DESCRIBE YOU? YOUR BRAND? AND ARE THEY SIMILAR?

I find branding your business off of things you are and love makes this process a lot easier. It makes it easier to know your ideal customer because in some ways you are a version of them. But even if this is not your goal, it’s helpful to describe yourself and the brand you are going for and identify the differences and similarities.

IF YOUR BRAND WERE A SEASON, WHICH WOULD IT BE?

Winter, Spring, Summer, or Fall?

WHAT WORDS COME TO MIND WHEN YOU THINK OF YOUR BRAND?

Perhaps it's bold, intuitive, and authentically connected. These words will serve as guiding lights in your color journey.

Beyond these, I encourage you to simply take a moment to explore your brand and how you want it to make people feel. What does it stand for? What values does it embody? Your brand is an extension of you, and getting to know it is like discovering a part of your own identity.

Step Two: Get to Know COLORS

Did you know that every color has a meaning and the palette you put together says a lot about your goals as a business and brand? That may feel like a lot of weight to put on colors, so I want to keep things simple. I’ll be sharing the psychology of each branding color; their meaning, their family, and how they communicate who you are to your audience. So, let’s start with colors and what they mean and make you feel when it comes to the beautiful world of branding your small business.

RED

an intensely emotional color that commands attention with its bold presence. It reminds your audience of the elements of fire, the life force of blood, the caution of danger, the authority of power, and the profound emotions of love, passion, and desire. It is the featured color for some of the most established and long-lasting brands in the world like Coca-Cola, Netflix, and McDonald’s.

BLUE

a color exuding professionalism and instilling trust carries an aura of maturity and security. It reminds your audience of the elements of water, the emotion of calm, the movement of waves, and evokes a sense of trust. Often linked to notions of cleanliness, purity, and dependability. It is the featured color in well-known brands like Facebook and Ford.

YELLOW

a fun and energetic color. It reminds your audience of the element of sunshine, the emotion of happiness, and evokes optimism above all else. It’s a very playful color and can bring levity and youthfulness to any brand. It is the featured color in famous brands like Post-It and Best Buy.

PINK

a feminine and positive color. It reminds your audience of the elements of girlhood and the emotions of innocent love and sweetness. It can also be a powerful symbol of hope and friendship. It’s another playful color that builds unassuming connections to your viewer. It is the featured color in popular brands like T-Mobile and Victoria's Secret.

GREEN

a color that breathes life and inspires growth. It reminds your audience of the earth and the emotions of healing. Green can be a great color for organic and natural brands while it also evokes optimism and stability with its classic connection to money and wealth. Overall, it’s calming and trustworthy. It is the featured color in brands like Whole Foods and Starbucks.

ORANGE

the best friend color. It reminds your audience of friendship and brings a joyful impression to those experiencing your brand. Its association with citrus makes it a great color for food brands and health brands. It is considered playful, cozy, and inviting. It’s the featured color in everyday brands like Home Depot and Nickelodeon.

BLACK

a bold, classic, and edgy color. When left on its own, it can remind your audience of directness and stability. It’s used for brands that want a timeless aesthetic or who want to give off a mysterious vibe. It’s the featured color in brands like Nike and Chanel.

There are a lot of different ways to understand color families. Words like shades, hues, tones, and tints likely come to mind—all different ways of mixing color to produce the perfect color vibe you are looking for. But for simplicity's sake, I’m just going to share 4 main color families you’ve likely heard of and some of the meaning behind these color families when used in your branding.

Monochromatic Family. This is basically using the same color but in different shades or tones. If you love the meaning behind one particular color, this can be a precise way to offer variation in your brand without competing messaging. They speak to certainty and professionalism and are best used for big brand companies.

Pastel Family. This is a very popular version of tint (adding white to a color) and is often used with a mixture of different colors, but all with a similar amount of white. They evoke feelings of playfulness, softness, calm, minimalism, and cleanliness. They can be really welcoming to your audience and are great for personal brands.

Jewel/Vibrant Family. This is another popular family but on the other side of the color spectrum from Pastel. They are typically a mixture of pure color and those mixed with blacks and greys. They evoke boldness and courage. Jewel tones are inspired by gemstones, in particular, offering that energy of luxury and royalty. If winter is your season, then jewel tones are a must, but all year round, these are a great way to connect to your audience with energy and authority.

But when it comes to color families, it’s important to know you can always mix and match from different families to make your perfect color palette. It’s all about what inspires you and what you are trying to express out loud.

Step Three: Get Inspired

This is probably the most fun part. Remember scrapbooking or cutting out magazines as a kid? Well, think of your branding board as a thoughtfully curated vision board. Go exploring for images and things that inspire you. Have you seen an image that gives you all the feelings you want your audience to feel? Do you know parts of nature that speak to you and your personality? Go pull all you can and lay it all out visually. Pinterest can be a great resource for creating a board of inspiration to pull from. Some colors will stand out and, from there, you’ll be able to truly pull together the perfect color palette.

Example and Inspired Color palette

Step Four: Get It All Together

Once you've gathered inspiration and defined the meaning behind your brand and colors, the next step is to bring it all together. I recommend that brands stick to 1-2 main colors—these are the foundational hues for your brand. They can either be different shades of one color or two colors that complement each other seamlessly. Additionally, incorporate 1-3 neutral colors, which typically include white and black, and perhaps another shade of gray or brown that aligns with your branding.

To complete your color story, introduce 1-2 accent colors that enrich your palette. These can be used as vibrant pops of color or to add depth to your main colors. Once you've established your color scheme, you'll be well-prepared to move on to the next steps, such as designing your logo and selecting appropriate fonts. Stay tuned for more blog posts that will guide you through these essential branding stages.

Step Five: Get the Tools

So you may be looking at all of this and thinking: “Ok, but how do I pull this all together? How to make a color palette and brand board on my computer and not just a pile of magazine clippings on my bedroom floor or all over my wall? Well, I’m going to share with you my 3 tools for creating a branding board.

1. You already know about Pinterest. It’s basically an online version of that wall covered in magazine clippings. You can pull things from within Pinterest or save them from other websites onto a Pinterest board so you can return to them over and over. Now, a brand is not built in a day, so it’s totally ok to take your time collecting inspiration over weeks before you take a look at what you’ve compiled. A few ideas for searching: choose words that resonate, places you love, colors you love, things in nature that inspire you, and photographs that have stopped you in your tracks. All of these can be a great jumping-off place to find inspiration.

2. The Color Pick Eye Dropper Plug-in: this is a secret weapon of mine. It pulls the color code of any web page color. So, if you are surfing Pinterest or another website and find a color you love, use this tool to grab the universal color code. This can be used in every other platform to always identify that color. This link is usable for Chrome plug-ins, but likely something similar can be found on other web browsers.

3. Canva : This is a very simple design tool that allows you to pull it all together. Search mood board, branding, branding board, or color palette and it will give you templates to add your own inspiration and colors. This will help you get organized and stay consistent. The image below is an example of a recent branding board I’ve created using Canva.

Web Designer, Social Media Supporter, Content Creator, Photographer for the last 13 years, #Boy Mom, and lover of the self-employed lifestyle!

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In conclusion, your brand is more than just a visual representation—it's an emotional connection waiting to be forged. As we've explored the intricate world of DIY brand color palettes, delving into color meanings, psychology, and understanding your brand's essence, remember that the ultimate goal is to create an experience. Your brand should evoke feelings and resonate with your audience authentically. The colors you choose play a pivotal role in this connection, influencing perceptions and establishing a unique identity. By taking the time to learn about your brand, experimenting with colors, and utilizing the practical steps and tools provided, you're not just crafting a color palette; you're shaping a distinctive journey for your brand—one that resonates and connects with exactly the audience you envision.