The Impact Color Matching has on Your Brand

Written By: Matthew Metzger

When you think of red and yellow, do any brands come to mind? How about blue and yellow? Personally, I think of McDonald’s and Best Buy, but there are plenty of other businesses that have chosen to utilize these colors as part of their identity. Color represents your brand just as much as a graphic or text on your logo. When thinking about how to brand or rebrand your business, consider the following points to help you choose the best colors to increase the quality of your brand.

Utilizing Branded Colors

First, let’s talk about the different types of color and the various media on which they will be represented. Color is subjective from person to person, computer screen to computer screen and printer to printer, meaning everyone sees color differently. As printers and designers, we break colors down to their components or color formulas to ensure we can replicate your brand colors in future work.

Printing

For print, we break colors down into their cyan, magenta, yellow and black (CMYK) components, simply because those are the colors of ink inside a digital printer. For websites or digital mediums, we break colors into red, green and blue (RGB). The RGB color spectrum has more color options available but can never be matched perfectly on a printed document due to printer limitations.

Due to the subjective nature of colors, in 1963, Lawrence Herbert created an innovative system of identifying, matching and clearly communicating colors to produce accurate color matches within the graphic arts community. He founded Pantone, the undisputed industry standard in color matching. When selecting the color or colors for your brand, designers and printers alike encourage you to explore Pantone colors. Their website even has a tool to help you find your colors at pantone.com/color-finder.

Brands Around You

Be sure to look up competitors in your field and take note of the colors used in their branding. You will often find certain industries tend to use similar color schemes. Hospitals and healthcare companies often use soft blues and greens. Fast food restaurants typically use combinations of yellow and red. Try identifying a color pattern amongst your local competitors. Using different colors in your branding will help your business stand out to potential clients who are researching their options.

Pantone colors will also guarantee brand consistency across all types of media over time. It gives you peace of mind knowing all printed materials will have a consistent look no matter where you go. It also allows you the freedom to pick the best printer for your budget. Once you’ve picked your colors and established your brand identity, create a brand guide that you can provide any company that will print or present your materials. Learn more about making a brand guide here: blog.hubspot.com/marketing/examples-brand-style-guides.