This article, by Anindya Kundu, was published in STQ 06. Colours are crucial for brands, especially because of the visual impact they can create in terms of establishing values and ideas a brand would want to project. With their aesthetic properties and psychological impact colours can turn around a brand’s identity.

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Colours are crucial for brands, especially because of the
visual impact they can create in terms of establishing
values and ideas a brand would want to project.With
their aesthetic properties and psychological impact
colours can turn around a brand’s identity.
by Anindya Kundu
Illustration Credit: Anindya Kundu
The roots of the word ‘brand’ can be traced
back to the old Norse word ‘brandr’ which
denotes the ancient use of hot iron to mark
cattle of one farm from another. The word
‘maverick’, which originally meant unbranded
cattle has its origins in the story of a Texas
rancher, Samuel Augustus Maverick,
whose neglected cattle were rounded up by
neighbouring ranchers.
Branding also found its expression in
markings on bricks, watermarks on paper,
and signs on barrels to distinguish products.
Even the signatures of master artists such
as Leonardo da Vinci’s on paintings can be
considered as a form of branding. Much after,
branding was done with the use of logos on
printed posters and product packaging. With
the advent of radio and television slogans,
jingles, and mascots started appearing with
brand advertisements.
Today, a brand is a voice that gives a
unique identity to an organization or entity,
distinguishingitfromothers.Itoftencomprises
the name, corresponding typography,
shapes, symbol, logo or any other design
elements including the colours used by the
organization. Great branding is effective in
driving loyalty, bring to limelight the products
or services offered by a company and boost
sales or transactions in unparalleled ways.
Colour is a prime visual element people
perceive. Hence it plays a crucial role in any
design. It is extremely important in branding
because not only does it add aesthetic value
in terms of art but also because different
colours have different psychological impacts
on viewers. Thus the choice of colours in
brand identity requires to be made according
to the vision of the company and the impact it
wants to create on its specific audience.
A Glimpse into Colour Theory
Colours can be fundamentally described
Impact of Colours
on Brand Identity
Campaigns

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Social Technology Quarterly 06

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using two models – the additive model and
the subtractive model. The additive model of
colour mixing is based on the behaviour of
light mixes. Here red, green, and blue light
combine to produce white light. The behaviour
of mixing of colour pigments like any dye,
paint or ink give rise to the subtractive model.
In this case, any colour can be generated by
mixing the colours cyan, magenta, yellow,
and black, and is the foundation of colour
printing and photography. Colours can also
be defined using the three attributes of hue,
saturation and lightness.
Based on the traditional “Colour Wheel”
that dates back to Goethe’s Theory of
Colours published in 1810, red, yellow, and
blue are the primary colours. By mixing the
primary colours, secondary colours such as
orange, green, and purple are produced.
Consequently, by mixing a primary colour
with its adjacent secondary colour the tertiary
colours - vermilion, marigold, chartreuse,
aquamarine, violet, and magenta - are
derived. Colours can also be divided based
on their relative ‘temperature’, based on both
nature and cultural norms. Warm colours
include red to yellow including orange, pink,
brown, and burgundy. Cool colours include
green to blue including shades of violet. Cool
colours have a calming effect and appear to
recede, while warm colours represent heat
and motion, pop-out and create emphasis.
Hence cool colours are often used for
backgrounds and warm colours for making
headings or graphics to stand out.
While choosing a colour scheme or a
combination of colours that work together,
relative positions of colours in the colour
wheel offer an advantage. Thus some
of the basic colour schemes which exist
are: monochromatic (tones of a single
colour), analogous (colours closely related),
complementary (colours opposite to one
another), split complementary (when
complementary colours are split to two
close and equidistant colours), triadic (three
colours equally separated in wheel), and the
tetradic (also called double complementary).
The Functional Impact of
Colours
The functional aspect of colours is to create
emphasis or prominence, which is a primary
goal of branding. Thus along with using the
other principles of placement, continuity,
isolation and proportion, contrast between
colours is the factor determining readability
and attention of the viewers. Black on
white is the easiest to read on both paper
and computer screens. Other most legible
combinations include black on yellow,
green on white followed by red on white.
As mentioned earlier, warm colours tend to
pop-out more compared to cooler colours,
which appear to recede. This can be used
effectively to emphasize branding.

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The Psychological Impact of
Colours
Different colours have different emotional
impacts associated with specific moods.
Red is the colour for passion. It is known
to increase human metabolism and has an
exciting, dramatic effect. Even the richer
colours- burgundy and maroon find their appeal
amongst wine and fine living enthusiasts.
Orange is an active and energetic colour. It
promotes enthusiasm and creativity. It has a
less formal and more inviting appeal to it. It
works well for anything related to food and
cooking. Being hard to find in nature they
it also stands out and hence used in life-
jackets, road cones and hunting vests.
Yellow is a highly active colour and fosters
happiness. Hence it is the colour of smiley
icons and is commonly used to evoke
friendliness.
Green is the colour for nature and freshness.
It is also associated with currency and hence
wealth and prosperity.
Blue is the colour of tranquillity, peace and
stability. It symbolizes openness, intelligence
and faith. The negative connotation
associated with it is melancholy as expressed
in blues music.
Purple has both the stimulation of red and the
calmness of blue. It is the colour of royalty
and extravagance. This association stemmed
from the difficulty in preparing purple dye in
ancient times. It is also commonly seen in
gemstones, flowers, and wine.
White is the colour associated with purity and
perfection. In some Asian cultures it is the
signifier of death.
In spite of all its negative connotations with
darkness, evil and death, Black is also the
colour of elegance, power and strength if
used appropriately in certain contexts.
Colours and Aesthetic value
The aesthetic values of colours are derived
from the choice of colours according to the
context it has been used in as well as from
the harmony in the colour palette. This
harmony can be obtained from the use of
the basic colour schemes – monochromatic,
analogous, complementary, split
complimentary, triadic, and tetradic. Adobe
Kuler is a great resource for finding and
creating sophisticated colour themes based
on these basic colour schemes.

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Red
Turquoise
Nature & Freshness
Currency & Prosperity
Friendliness & Happiness
Energy & Dynamism
Green
Spring Green
Yellow
Orange

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Cyan
Ocean
Stability & Intelligence
Calmness & Peace
Passion & Drama
Increases Metabolism
Blue
Violet
Magenta
Raspberry

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Use of colours across different
sectors
Different business sectors show particular
preferences towards certain colours:
Food and Beverage Industry
It has an affinity towards the colours red,
yellow, and orange. This is apparent in the
branding of Coca Cola, McDonalds, KFC,
Taco Bell, Café Coffee Day and almost
any other fast food chain. Red stimulates
appetite, while yellow and orange impart
friendliness. Green is also used as in Subway
branding to indicate freshness and nature.
Pepsi and Dominos introduce a relatively
uncommon blue, but it again has red to offset
and contrast it.
Automobile Industry
Automobiles look for a classy appeal and
usually use black and chrome textures.
Prominent examples include Nissan, Honda,
Jaguar, and Mercury. Red is also used
sometimes to evoke passion as we can
notice in Toyota, Audi, Suzuki, Fiat, and many
others. Reliability and stability are evoked
by BMW, Ford, Mazda, Volvo and Saab.
Even the sporty yellow and orange find their
expressions with Ferrari, Renault, Opel, and
Chevrolet.
IT Industry
Computers and IT services companies have
a preference towards blue as it gives the
sense of clarity and stability. DELL, HP, IBM,
Intel, Microsoft, Facebook, and eBay have
blue as the foundation to their branding. In
case of electronics both red and blue find
prominence. Samsung, Phillips, Sony, and
Panasonic use blue while others like LG,
Canon, Toshiba, Hitachi, and Bosh are based
on variations of red.
Telecommunications Sector
Organizations in the mobile and
communications sector have similar colour
preferences in order to represent energy,
dynamism, reliability, and friendliness. Hence
colours such as red, blue, yellow, and orange
are common. For example, the blue branding
of Nokia, Samsung and Ericsson, the red of
Vodafone and Virgin, and orange used by
Orange are examples that stand for these
attributes.
Retail Sector
This sector too uses a lot of red to capture
energy, yellow and shades of orange for
friendliness, and a splash of blue and green
to denote freshness.
Toys
Since children are attracted by primary
colours, logos of toy companies often use
bright primary colours. Children tend to prefer
primary colours and hence clothes and toys
typically have primary colours.
Fashion Industry
The colours associated with luxury are
black and richer shades of red like brown,
burgundy, maroon, and forest green. Hence
most designer labels use either black or
these colours to make their statement to
their niche audience. This is also the case
with most wine, liqueur, and other premium
products.
Colours have a deep impact on the
branding of a product or service due to its
psychological, functional, and aesthetic
properties. Although there are no fixed rules
for choosing colours for a specific brand,
certain trends and patterns according to
the industry and audience profiles can be
mapped. While there are certain norms and
rules based on colour theory, exceptions also
exist and have alternative appeals to stand
out of the crowd.