Let’s talk about color. It can be quite fraught.
Clients generally fall into two camps: 1) they just want blue or 2) they are willing to wade through the chaos of choosing a distinctive palette. On the other side of either scenario, it’s the agency’s challenge to help them make it their own.
Here are five observations about choosing brand colors based on many, many years of doing so at Three Furies:
🎨 There’s a palette for every season, and only in rare cases is it the exact same for 50 years. Let’s take startups: in early phases it helps to look like a safe investment, so conservative palettes can help. Later, it becomes more important to differentiate so the doors open to bolder choices.
👯 Understanding and monitoring the competition does help—because under no circumstances does it make sense to look exactly like another company.
🌳 Emotional maturity is essential. At the end of the day, this isn’t about your favorite color or a color you love with all your heart. Strategy might require the opposite!
🔍 Please maintain a balanced perspective and trust the process. Don’t obsess over how the color differs on various screens or demand 10 swatches that even the designer can’t discern. It’s not helpful or particularly productive.
📝 Make sure your agency specifies all the conversions and then run some tests. It’s awkward to be faced with a major printing job and only have HEX codes because no one thought a tech company would need signage, handouts, or swag.
I have found that a collaborative attitude is best—practical and pragmatic wins the day, especially if you have the chance to really commit to a creative choice.
Three Furies is a certified woman-owned business, brand, and content strategy agency with deep experience in the legal marketing sector, including digital marketing analysis, brand and digital design, communications strategy, and advertising campaigns. We also produce bespoke wine tasting experiences for client development and employee resource groups through our sister company Tipsy.