Insights

Color Harmony and Branding: Easy Color Combinations to Engage Your Viewer

Life is all based on first impressions. That being said, color is one of your brand’s first big impressions. Choosing the proper colors for your brand is one of the most important decisions you can make when trying to engage your viewer. This is where color harmony steps in.

Color harmony helps balance the visual experience. It creates a sense of order and if the visual experience is bland it can disengage the viewer. On the contrary, if your color combinations are so chaotic and disorganized a viewer will mindfully disengage immediately. Neither of these are positive outcomes. Both give the viewer a sense of negativity associated with your brand.

If you’re not a color person choosing the right colors can often be difficult and frustrating especially if you’ve been assigned the task of putting together a powerpoint or quick flyer. The last thing you want to happen is to have your mistake of choosing the wrong colors affect your presentation outcome.

We’ve pulled together two positive and easy to create color schemes to keep in mind the next time you have to create quick collateral to match your brand.

1. A color scheme based on analogous colors.
Analogous colors are any three colors that sit side by side on the 12-color color wheel. The BP logo is a perfect example of this.

BP Oil Brand Logo

Notice how pleasing the yellow, yellow-green, and green are next to each other. It creates a harmonious color combination that draws your eye to the brightest color in the middle – the yellow. Now imagine if the darkest green had been orange or a blue-violet. It would appear chaotic and disharmonious and certainly wouldn’t leave you wanting more. Analogous colors are especially great to use when you want one of your colors to be the main focus.

2. A color scheme based on complementary colors.
Complimentary colors sit directly opposite of each other on the color wheel. For example: blue and orange. Complimentary colors create maximum contrast and maximum solidarity. Both colors appear equally as strong. Here are a few examples:

PNC Foundation Brand LogoLos Angeles Lakers Team Logo

Choosing colors doesn’t have to be difficult and next time you’re asked to pull something together try using the 12-color color wheel, or as we like to call it the color cheat sheet. It’s logical, useful, and makes a world of difference.

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