IXD103 – Medium Branding Article
‘The Impact Colour has on the Branding Process’
Throughout the process of creating my banking brand one of the most important elements for me was choosing the Brands colours, making them relate to the brand and the consumer and it took time to perfect. Therefore, I wanted to show how important the process of choosing a brand colour is in the branding process as it sometimes can easily be overlooked instead of a Brand really looking at the meaning and effect colour can have. For me this topic is interesting due to the process of colour psychology and how each colour can evoke different emotions and impact the consumer in a range of different ways. Colours like Red conveying feelings of love and energy compared to that of Purple which shows luxury and ambition. Companies such as Spotify, McDonalds and Coke have become synonymous with consumers around the world due to their attention to detail when it comes to their colours. The iconic red and yellow of McDonalds have made them forever connected to these colours and a rebrand for them would make little sense due to the success they have with the colours. Their old school view on colour psychology with the red and yellow evoking excitement for their customers. Meanwhile more.
Modern companies today, like Spotify aim to modernize these views on colour psychology and that’s what I have tried to do with my brand. The rich purple colour I chose usually has connotations of luxury and wealth however today is used by companies wanting to promote imagination and creativity. I feel my brand is helping to combine these two ideas as being a banking brand it has the connotations of wealth however with our name ‘Cloud9’ we make the consumer feel like they are among the clouds per say, increasing these feelings of imagination and creativity. Some can argue that putting a lot of effort into a Brand’s colours can be a waste of time and that having a logo and wordmark that work with a range of colours is actually more effective and can help keep a brands advertising fresh for the consumer. A main example of this could be Nike with the company not really having a settled, main colour instead using the ‘Swoosh’ in a range of different colours. Their main colour scheme changes based on their different projects that they are working on at the time and while it is a very successful strategy for them.
When looking into the subject of colour in the branding process I could see how in branding especially, we can choose a colour palette that will reflect the emotions we want the customer to feel when they engage with us and making this first connection is what ends up in the consumer loving or forgetting about your product. When creating my Banking brand, I really wanted a colour that would play an essential role in creating a strong first impression for my customers, using tools like adobe colour wheel to land on the perfect combo. The shade of purple I went for conveys the feelings of luxury and wealth, the perfect combo for a bank in the 21st century and when coupled with my chosen typography I seen how much more effective it would be for me to settle on one main colour instead of a mix of contrasting colours. After the whole branding process its clear for me to see now how a brand having an identifiable colour is what makes them so successful as ultimately to be successful you should create a connection with your consumer and if your brand’s colours evoke different emotions from them then your brand has achieved that.
Link to Medium Article: https://medium.com/@ewart-t/the-impact-colour-has-on-the-branding-process-4c0604b8c184