Choosing the right color palette for your logo and brand is crucial for your company. Your logo will not only represent your brand everywhere you go, but it also has to be compatible with everything your brand does for the foreseeable future. At Zipp, we’ve printed on almost everything. In our years of printing, we have identified some qualities in brand color palettes we’ve worked with that work really well with everything we print.
Do Your Research
The most important thing to ask yourself when choosing a color palette is this: what exactly is it that you do? Zipp’s very own Mel was happy to give us an example. If you’re in an industry like senior care for example, don’t use red. Red has color associations with anger, boldness, and stress. That’s the opposite of what you likely want senior care customers to think of when they see your logo.
Same with any other industry and brand. Take a look at exactly what you’re doing and find colors that are well-suited for that industry. Mel also says that the color blue can be easily overdone. A lot of people tend to use blue because it is a color associated with loyalty, but if it’s overdone in your industry, maybe it’s time to find another color. Whatever color you pick and whatever reasoning behind it, be sure that you know exactly what is subconsciously implies. It might seem like that doesn’t affect your perception too much, but color associations can be stronger than you think.
Avoid Metallic Colors
Metallic colors such as silver and gold certainly have their place in design. If done right, many businesses in the right industry use the colors very well! That being said, you might opt to generally avoid them unless you have a very specific reason to use them.
Again, it comes back to the question: is it a right fit for my business? For example, if you run a construction company, you might not opt for gold in your logo. It just doesn’t make a lot of sense with the industry you’re in.
In addition to only being applicable to certain industries, metallic colors can be a sort of headache for anyone who comes in contact with your logo and palette. So, it’s likely you will pay extra labor or materials cost when sending metallics to print. While this doesn’t deter some, it is something to think about when designing your logo and color palette.
Use Pantone Colors
We can not stress enough how important it is to use a Pantone color! If you don’t know, Pantone is a universal color language. In print and design, Pantone is an industry standard. Generally, using a Pantone color will keep you consistent across all spaces meaning that if you have a Pantone color in your logo, you can pretty much guarantee that it will show up the same wherever you send it and whatever you put it on.
So, use pantone as a resource when choosing your colors. Pantone can also be beneficial to give you inspiration and draw connections in color psychology. Check out their social medias to get inspiration on color association and colors in general.
Contrast Your Color Palette
Lastly, you want to ensure that your palette has contrast. This applies to so many different things and designs, but when designing your color palette be sure you choose colors that work very well together in contrast and compliment. For example, yellow and white look good together, sure, but the moment you put yellow writing on a white background you’ve got trouble. If you incorporate black into the same palette, all of the sudden you can use white and black in contrast with yellow accents. This give you more options and creates a color palette that is more versatile.
Whatever color palette you choose, give yourself options in color and variety. You’ll be pleased with the consistency and your logo will look great throughout time!
Thinking about printing something soon? Contact us today! We will happily help you design, create, and bring to life anything you can imagine. We create quality printing, surprisingly fast.
