Colour psychology: how to choose the right colours for your brand

Before anyone reads a single word on your website, they've already reacted to your colours. That's not a design opinion, it's just how people work. Colour is the fastest thing we notice.

So it's worth choosing yours on purpose.

What colours tend to say

These aren't hard rules, and meanings shift between cultures, but here's how people in North America usually read them:

• Red: energy, urgency, excitement. It's why you see it on sale signs and a lot of food brands.

• Blue: trust, calm, reliability. Banks, healthcare and tech love it for that reason.

• Yellow: optimism and warmth. Great for grabbing attention, tricky to use for text.

• Green: growth, health, nature, money.

• Black: premium, bold, serious.

• Purple: creative, luxurious, a bit unexpected.

Brands that own a colour

Coca-Cola is red. You could see a red can from across a store and know exactly what it is. That's decades of using one colour, everywhere, without exception.

McDonald's pairs bright yellow with red. It's cheerful, loud and impossible to miss on a highway sign.

Tiffany & Co. went with a soft robin's egg blue, which is not what you'd expect from a jewellery brand. That's exactly why it works. The colour is so tied to them that the box alone feels like a gift.

The lesson from all three: pick something and commit to it. Owning a colour takes consistency more than anything.

How to choose yours

Start with your people. Who are you trying to reach and what do you want them to feel? A financial advisor and a kids' party business probably shouldn't land on the same palette.

Match your personality. Are you bold and high-energy, or calm and steady? Your colours should feel like you.

Look at your competitors. If everyone in your industry is navy blue, that might be a reason not to be.

Test it in real life. Try your palette on your website, a social post and a business card before you commit. Colours look different on screens, paper and signage.

Need help building a palette that actually fits? That's my favourite part of a branding project.