Exploring Colour
Considering Colour Theory & Colour Psychology
After researching into colour theory and colour psychology and how colours can be used to create an emotional connection or represent a brands personality I had a good idea on what sort of colour I wanted to used for my modern bank brand, this colour is possibly one of the most widely used colours throughout branding especially in the financial industry – this is the colour blue.
When I was conducting my research on colour psychology I noticed that colours can have a variety of meanings depending on locations and culture, this is something I would have to consider as my bank brand should be aiming to go global as opposed to staying in one country or continent. The colour blue work across multiple culture and usually represented honesty, trust and loyalty which is what my bank brand aims to be, as a bank you would want your customers to trust you with their money which would mean you would have to be honest with them and keep the business and client trust.
I also want my brand to come across as being professional but still modern and fun, when I think about modern brands with a professional aesthetic the first brand that comes to mind is Apple where the stick with a very simplistic theme throughout their brand which really works with their product. When I looked at Apple and their overall brand I noticed that they mainly used black and white colours or a greyscale colour palette with hints of colour, this gave me an idea of just using the colours black and white for my brand to show a sense of simplicity and professionalism. I also love minimalism so I think this would really appeal to me when it comes to designing the overall brand and the landing page for this project.
I have included a link to my colour psychology research below.
Week 05 – Colour Psychology & Brand Guidelines
Competitor Research
Before I start deciding what colours I want to use for my bank brand I wanted to take a look at some current banks that already exist, both traditional banks and more modern banks to give me an idea on what sort of colour I should go for. When I first did research into bank brands at the start of the semester the first thing I noticed was that a lot of banks, both traditional and modern, use the colour blue, this can be seen in traditional banks like Nationwide and Danske Bank along with many others. The colour blue is also used in modern bank brands like Monzo where they use a dark blue alongside the vibrant, neon style orange colour they use for their debit cards. The main thing I noticed with these traditional bank brands is that the majority of them all use the colour blue and they’re all very similar in the way they have been stylised and designed, as my bank brand aims to be modern I want to try and find a modern solution for my brand colours but still considering the colour psychology aspects as this is something that will help my brand build a subconscious emotional connection with the brand.
As my bank brand is aiming to include cryptocurrencies and the future of finance I wanted to consider what some crypto exchanges and other financial brands are doing when it comes to colour for their brand. Coinbase is a well-known cryptocurrency exchange that has recently gained a lot of attention and have had an advert featured in the super bowl half-time show, when I looked at their brand I noticed that their main colour was a bright, vibrant blue as opposed to a dark blue colour like some traditional banks. I also wanted to look into other digital payment methods like PayPal as they use the colour blue throughout their branding as well, I noticed that PayPal went with two different tones of blue for there brand colours, both a dark blue and a light blue, I personally think this works well but I the more I look at banking brands and what colours they use the more I think the darker blue colour is getting a little outdated. This gave me an idea to use a vibrant blue colour on a dark theme for my brand, I think this colour palette could work extremely well in representing a modern bank brand that aims for the future.
Bridging Colour & Brand Personality
Before I decide on my brand colours I want to give some thought into how I could bridge the brands personality with the colours of the brand, when I think about what I want my brand to be the first thing that comes to mind is that I want my brand to be professional, clean and modern but also fun and laid-back without being too up-tight or snobby. As my brands target audience is the younger generation I want to make my brand more enjoyable and appealing towards this generation and age group but still maintaining a professional appearance as the brand is within the financial industry. When I thought about this I realised that these ideas could clash with each other, when I think about modernism and clean design for brands I think minimal colour palettes featuring black and white with a dash of colour but when I think of designs that are fun and give a sense of enjoyment I think of a range of bright, vibrant colours. This is a bit of an issue an I need to decide what I want as the forefront of my brand, do I want my brand to be professional with elements of fun or do I want my brand to be fun with elements of professionalism?
I started to think about colour theory and how colour palettes and colour combinations could be made through basic colour theory, this gave me the idea of using an additional colour palette that could be used for extra sections throughout the brand – almost like a supporting colour palette that’s used when the brand colours are becoming overused. Creating an additional colour palette could be done in a number of ways all of which yield a different result, these included analogous colours, complimentary colours, square colours and triadic colours along with a handful of others, this gave me an idea of taking the primary colour of the brand and using it to generate various different palettes to allow me to select colours to work in harmony with the primary brand colours I will chose or create contrast with the primary brand colours I will chose.
Final Brand Colours
Primary Brand Colour Palette
After looking at other bank brands and conducting research into colour theory and colour psychology I came to the conclusion of using the colour blue for my bank brand project as this colour evokes trust and security which is crucial for my brand and works my brands core values. I drew inspiration from the crypto exchange Coinbase as this is a brand that has a similar product to what my brand would offer in addition to being a more modern method of financial management and investing, for their brand colours they opted for a bright, vibrant blue colour which is something I wanted to factor into my brand.
As I wanted my brand to have a professional and modern aesthetic with elements of simplicity and cleanliness I decided to choose a simple black and white colour palette and have the primary blue colour as an accent colour throughout the brand, overall I want my brand to have a dark theme meaning the main colour would be black with supporting elements like text being white but I also want my design to work well in both light and dark versions of the brand. I personally think this would work well as the blue would have a nice contrast between both the black and the white. Overall I feel like these three colours work really well together and have a modern, minimalistic appearance to them, for a modern bank brand I thin this colour palette is a great fit for the products and services the brand has to offer.
I have included the primary colours I will be using for my brand below to give you an idea on how they work together.
Secondary Brand Colour Palette
I really like the primary colour palette I created for my bank brand but I feel like its a bit too corporate for my brands personality, as I want my brand to come across as fun and playful I thought it would be a good idea to include an additional palette that could be used to support the primary colours I had defined for the brand. When I was looking through my blog I came across a project that we did last semester where I had drew inspiration from the Bauhaus design movement and their use of the primary colours red, blue and yellow, this gave me an idea of using a similar colour palette for this secondary colour palette. As I am already using the colour blue I need to think of a different colour or multiple different colours that could be used alongside the primary brand colours.
I decided to take the blue colour I had selected into Adobe Color to see what results I got from different colour modes, I tried each colour method to see what variations I got but I felt like these colours were too bright and vibrant to work with the primary blue I had selected. This gave me the idea of using the colour palette similar to the Bauhaus one I had created last semester where the yellow, red and an off-white/cream colour are supporting the blue and black colours, when I placed these colours together I really liked how they all worked together, I felt like this secondary palette was a little bit more vintage in tone which created a nice contrast between the primary and secondary colour palette.
I have included the secondary colour palette I will be using as an additional supporting element for my bank brand make the brand appear less corporate.
