Balancing Brand Identity With Industry Color Trends

The way colors interact with each other can make or break your brand’s perception. Yet, it’s one of the most overlooked aspects of branding. Many brands fall into the trap of relying on broad, generalized meanings for colors, like red for passion or blue for trust. ↓↓↓ While these are helpful, they aren’t the FULL story. The real power lies in how colors interact with each other within a palette. For instance, vibrant red and green appeal to the holidays, but pair that same red with deeper, muted reds, and you get a luxurious vibe. Hot pink might feel fun or feminine on its own, but combine it with black, and it suddenly exudes confidence and bold energy. The interplay of hues can subtly shift how customers emotionally connect with your brand. But don’t overlook trends either! Take Pantone’s recent Color of the Year, Mocha Mousse. While it might initially seem bland, its ties to sustainability make it a valuable accent for eco-conscious brands. I used it strategically for a high-end chocolate brand, not as the main color, but as an accent. Combined with richer hues, it told a deeper story about sustainable production and high-quality craft, steering away from overused color palettes in the industry. 💡 What’s the key takeaway? Your brand is more than JUST a color. Color is one of the first forms of communication. And how those colors interact, tell a story, and connect emotionally with your audience. Look at how your hues interact across visuals, packaging, and marketing touchpoints. Subtle shifts in contrast or tone can make a big difference in how your audience connects emotionally. Always test your palette as a whole. One approach I love to use when designing brand identities comes from the principles of Joseph Albers, who studied how our brains perceive colors differently depending on their surroundings. For brands, testing how your colors interact with one another is vital. These combinations tell a story about your brand’s tone, energy, and message. Which colors are driving your brand today? Have you considered what story they are telling? #LIpostingdayJune

Every time I work on a brand identity or marketing project, clients usually start with this line: ‘I want my brand to be blue (or any color) because I like it.’ I get it. Colors are personal, and we naturally want our favorites to show up in what we create. But the number 1 thing we should keep in our mind is, we don’t build a brand for ourselves. We build it for the people. And that means the center of all decisions has to be your audience, not just your personal taste. So how do we really decide on brand colors? Here are the steps I follow 👇 1. Audience Psychology Understand what emotions your target audience connects with. ➡ Example: Food brands often use red or yellow (McDonald’s, Domino’s) because they stimulate appetite and energy. 2. Industry Positioning See how competitors use colors and find a distinct space for your brand. ➡ Example: In fintech, many brands use blue for trust (PayPal, Visa). That’s why CashApp chose green to stand out. 3. Cultural Meaning Colors mean different things in different cultures make sure yours aligns with your market. ➡ Example: White symbolizes purity in Western weddings but mourning in India and China. 4. Brand Values The chosen color should reflect your brand’s personality and promises. ➡ Example: Tiffany Blue reflects exclusivity, luxury, and timeless elegance exactly what the brand stands for. 5. Usability & Flexibility Test how the color works across mediums digital, print, packaging, merchandise. ➡ Example: Coca-Cola’s red looks just as powerful on a billboard, a can, or a T-shirt. 6. Longevity Pick a color that grows with your brand, not just one that fits today’s trend. ➡ Example: Coca-Cola red and Starbucks green have lasted for decades because they’re timeless, not trendy. Your favorite color can be a starting point but the right brand color is a strategy, not a preference. It’s about psychology, culture, positioning, and connection. When done right, color doesn’t just look good it makes people remember you. 💡 Save this post for later, use it as a checklist when you build your brand identity.

I was recently asked: “How can a brand with a very specific color palette expand in a natural way to other shades and tones without losing their core color values and ensuring their color story remains cohesive?" Here's how I recommend expanding a palette naturally: The first step is to understand what’s motivating the brand to expand their color palette, and to make sure this motivation is aligned with the brand’s values and purpose. A color palette is designed to achieve a brand’s goals. It does this by each color performing certain job(s) that support those goals. Determine what jobs the brand’s current palette is not accomplishing. Are some customers not able to find a color choice they love? Is the current palette starting to feel stale or too limiting? Are the brand’s products being used in more diverse environments, for different purposes, and/or by a broader range of people than originally designed for? What else? These answers will inform what color families, tones, and shades would be most ideal for the brand to expand into. Before new colors are added, identify the existing colors that will remain in the palette. These colors will be ones that are heavily associated with the brand’s values and identity. They are strong sellers and likely to remain so in the future. They are colors that work well together, that have an energy that reflects the brand’s roots. Carry these colors forward into the more expansive palette; they will become its foundation. Drop any other colors that are not reflective of the direction the brand is going, are duplicitous, or are no longer (or not likely to continue) performing well. Now expand the palette by bringing in new colors. Each new color should be chosen to accomplish at least one of the specific jobs that you identified at the beginning of this process and that the carryover colors are not already satisfying. Make sure that each new color merchandises with the carryover colors and with each other. This part is critical! It’s what makes the palette expansion feel and appear natural and intriguing - all the colors look good together. The palette must look cohesive and beautiful in its entirety, and each color must be unique and tailored to a particular purpose. Base the amount of palette expansion on the comfort of both the brand and its community. For some brands, this will be small; for others, it will be larger. As a rule of thumb, keep it between 10%-50%. Anything less is not meaningful enough; anything more is too disruptive. Honestly, right in the middle of that range is the sweet spot for most. #color #colorpalette