How to choose the right colour palette for your brand

Carving out your own little corner in a crowded marketplace can be tricky. But as a designer or maker, that’s exactly what you have to do. Finding what makes you different from everyone else is your key to success – and the best place to start? Colour.

A striking colour palette is the difference between someone walking past your garments at a trade fair or making a big wholesale order. While a bold and bright logo ensures you stick in a customer’s mind.

In fact, research shows that 85% of consumers say colour is the biggest motivator to choose a product, while 92% agree visual appearance is the most persuasive marketing factor overall. With that in mind, here’s how to create a palette that will help your brand to pop.

Go mad for moodboards

Your signature colours shouldn’t just inspire your customers – they should fill you with excitement too. To find the shades that mean the most to you, it’s important to seek out ideas from as many sources as possible.

Build up a picture of colours you like by creating a large-scale moodboard. Start with a clean, blank wall and pin up magazine cut outs, Pinterest print outs and fabric swatches.

And why not take your search out into the world around you? Look at brands you admire and note what colours they like to use. Snap photos of colours you see in the stores or on the street. Soon you’ll have more inspiration than you know what to do with. That’s where step two comes in…

Minimise to maximise

Too many colours and your palette will lose impact. Once you’ve gathered up all your inspiration, it’s time to edit it down to just a few shades. Yep really.

Generally speaking, three is the magic number and is known in design terms as the 60-30-10 rule. Using this approach, every brand needs:

A primary shade – this is the colour that symbolises your brand, you’ll use this the most (think Coca Cola’s instantly recognisable red).

A secondary shade – this needs to either complement or contrast with the primary shade.

A third shade – to highlight details and create depth.

When paring down your palette choices, try to think about colour psychology. Some shades have the power to energise and inspire, while others having a calming effect. Your palette should go hand in hand with your brand identity so it’s important you know who you are before you decide what you look like.

Be fearless with experimentation

How will you know if you’ve chosen the right colour palette if you don’t see it in action? Trying and testing different colour combinations is one of the best things about being a designer, so don’t be afraid to have fun with it.

Pin swatches onto your garments, design an email newsletter using your new colours, use fabric pens to draw different logos on your designs and don’t forget to ask for feedback from your Instagram followers. There’s a million and one ways to switch up your colour palette – so why not start exploring your options today?

And if you need a little help…

Once you’ve got your shades spot on, you might need some technical advice. If you need to know what fabric will make your palette pop, which woven label size works best with your logo or if your slogan will fit onto some cotton ribbon – we’re here for you. Pop us an email or drop us a line and get your burning questions answered today.

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