Using Colour to Make your Brand Stand Out

Company brands and logos use colour to achieve particular effects. If you are starting a new company, or rebranding an existing one, you should put some thought into how you can use colour to make your brand stand out.

Two Approaches to Branding for a Crowded Market

Unless you have invented an entirely new product or service – chances are that that you will have some competition already in the marketplace. There are two approaches to branding for a crowded market. The first is to mimic the brand leader in the hope that customers will either pick up yours by mistake or look for something similar when the brand leader is unavailable. This is a perfectly viable (albeit slightly unethical) approach. The second is to make your brand distinct from all the others – here’s where colour is your friend.

Do Your Research

Take a look down the supermarket aisles to get a feel for your rivals’ brands and answer some questions about their colour preferences:

• What colours do they use? Look for strong associations between colours and products and then challenge the preconceptions.
  
• Is there a colour that you don’t see? Keep an eye out for potential gaps in branding colours that could be exploited.
  
• Is there a reason why a colour is missing? You don’t see men’s aftershaves in pink bottles because of the strong association between pink and femininity.
  

Watch Where Your Eye is Drawn

Again, a supermarket is a good place to do this because of the range of brands on display all together. You’ll find your eye is drawn to particular products – even if you are unfamiliar with the branding. Try this in an aisle where you don’t know the products well and think about the influences the brand colours are having on you.

Remember Connotations

Some colour combinations are striking, but that doesn’t mean they are the best to sell your product – especially if they have existing negative connotations. Black on yellow famously draws the eye, but also has connotations of danger and poison. This is not good for your new brand of organic nappy cream, but it’s great for your weed killer.

If you want any advice about branding before you go ahead with a massive print run, we are more than happy to work with you on elements of design that will help your brand to stand out. Call us on 01603 488001 or email your questions to sales@col-print.co.uk.

What brands stand out to you because of their use of colour? Let us know on Facebook and Twitter.