3 Ways to Set The Tone Before They Read—Before You Even Speak.
I am not writing an article on color theory. Wanna know why? It’s only helpful for me, the designer, to know that stuff. You, the visionary, the leader, you have business to lead.
Today I am going to talk about color as it pertains to making the most out of your visual identity, and how you can use it to scale your brand… before you even launch.
Color Sets The Tone
You are an author, perhaps you just launched your book. And the words said blue, but your cover is red. The reader opens your book, expecting to find red, but they read blue. You are a speaker, the stage is purple, but your voice, tone, and words say green.
Color sets the tone.
Why does it set the tone? It’s the most used part of your visual identity. In fact, I would ask you to recall a well-known brand and draw one of its logos. I would then ask you, after you are done with that, to recall at least one of their colors. People remember colors, and color subliminally prompts us to recall memories, for better or worse.
If your colors get people excited about what you sell… that is good, but if they don’t, it might be a different story.
Color Helps You Stand Out
Beige is bland, unless you are in a room of neon; in this case, it is the only way to stand out. Sounds crazy, right? But the best way to stand out is to simply look around and do something different.
But here is the catch to this strategy: you don’t want that one person who is looking to choose you, of all ht people, to say, “hey… they don’t belong here, I am looking for neon… but this one lacks color and personality.” They ended up going for someone with a pastel color, a muted variant of those dressed in neon.
It’s a balancing act between wanting to stand out and wanting to be seen.
Color’s Need To Be Consistent
This is what kills it, because referring to tone… if your color does not match other components of your brand: your website copy, your profile photo, the list goes on, people will feel disconnected, and when things disconnect, a buying decision is shifted in favor of your competitors.
Branding really comes down to one word: Alignment. Your positioning aligns with your audience, and your visual identity must align with both. It has to make you stand out, but it can't make you provocative or too disruptive.
Because let me tell you this, if you offend someone, only to then make them turn away, it doesn't matter if you got their attention, you're building disloyalty.
Recap:
Use colors to set the tone and the mood
Use colors to stand out and empathize with people
Use colors and be consistent with other brand elements
