Do you have brand colours, and what do they mean to you? Equally as important, what do they mean to your audience?
Colour psychology is fascinating, and I'm loving the opportunity to deeply reflect on my brand colour choices, as well as consider those around me. Of course, there is always some individual interpretation into how we feel about different colours, but extensive research has revealed some significant trends. These are influenced both by 'natural association' and 'cultural association'.
Angela Wright is a color psychologist known for her research on how color influences human behavior and emotions. She proposed that although individual colours definitely provoke certain emotions, it's also the context and different colour combinations which have the most significant effects. Groups of colours have been popularly described as 'seasons' and is used across branding, interior design and personal styling. These descriptions do make a lot of sense to me, so I'd love to hear how they resonate with you and your brand?
Spring - "spring brand personalities are youthful, fun and creative. Like a best friend, this brand is zesty and spontaneous and always ready to have an adventure."
Summer - "summer brand personalities are known for their romantic and graceful presentation. Elegant, soft and warm, these brands feel timeless!"
Autumn - "Autumn brand personality is all about earthy, natural and warm. Oftentimes, brands with this personality don’t focus on material things but rather creating experiences."
Winter - "Winter is all about drama, luxury and never settling for less. They're bold, compelling and never compromise. Many high-end and luxury brands are Winter personalities, as well as most brands that relate to finances."
Here are colour samples of the four seasons: Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter (right to left!)
What do you think, do you get the same vibes as the descriptions above? Can you place your brand into one of them? What about some of the brands you know and love?
I think my Strength in Feathers branding is 'Summer', and the description is quite accurate for my work too, with perhaps a tiny bit of Autumn mixed in!
Within the seasonal palettes, you of course have individual colours. Ideally a brand will have about three of these to play with, contrasting enough that you can use them next to each other effectively (text on a background, for example.)
Each colour carries its own associations and these vary across cultures, but popular Western colour associations are listed like this:
Red: Passion, energy, excitement
Blue: Calm, trust, serenity
Yellow: Happiness, optimism, warmth
Green: Growth, harmony, nature
Purple: Royalty, luxury, creativity
Orange: Energy, enthusiasm, warmth
Black: Power, sophistication, mystery
White: Purity, cleanliness, simplicity
Do these feel relevant to you?
In my branding, it makes sense that blue is dominant as this is the essence I started with in my coaching. Stability, safety and trust are the cornerstones of where all my work starts from (and fits perfectly with my yin yoga!) Once these are in place, I add a sprinkle of more dynamic, creative energy, which is where I'm starting to bring some brighter tones in. I actually use some pink on my website, and a tiny bit of gold on my Instagram.
I also have a huge number of coastal photos which use the turquoise-side of blue and the yellow/brown of sand and rock, which I replace with white in my branding. If you can tie in your brand colours with the main subjects of what you're photographing regularly, this is so helpful for your Instagram and brand colour continuity!
You'll notice that I rarely post any photos of inside locations without natural daylight, and if I do I usually put them in black and white, because otherwise they really clash with my brand colouring.
Take a minute now to have a look at your branding. Try and imagine you are someone seeing it for the very first time, and without reading any of the content just feel what the colours communicate.
If this isn't in alignment with what you want your brand to be expressing, don't panic! So many brands change and shift their visual identities over time. The most important thing is that you are happy with it and what it reflects. I also love creating mood boards on Canva or Pinterest where I gather inspiration and create a coherent look that I love the feel of. If you haven't tried this yet, I completely recommend!
Branding and marketing is about feelings, and colour and tone are such an important part of that.
I hope you have the best fun fine-tuning and creating your visual branding, it should be a beautiful reflection of you and everything you represent!