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Matisse once said, "If you put a color down on your canvas that you do not like, don't scrape it off. Put down another color next to it on the canvas that makes it work". What he meant is that all color is relative. What looks great in one context is all wrong in another. The color green may look pretty awful on a pair of pants, but it can be elegant in your branding.

Individual colors have personal meaning and cultural significance as well, but those issues will be discussed in a future article. In the practice of branding, it is color in relation to other things that gives it its true meaning.

How can color help me stand out from my competitors and brand me as being unique?

UPS has taken this to the extreme with the most diminutive of colors, brown. They have made it heroic in symbolizing what they do and who they are—a powerhouse of supply-chain efficiency. And yet, how many would have chosen that ugly step-sister of a color to symbolize their company? That is precisely the point! Now UPS owns the color brown. And they've made it into a thing of beauty—unless you are a competitor of theirs.

Why not just choose your favorite color for your brand?

Very often, I've had clients request that I use their favorite color as the basis of their brand. This is a problem when their favorite color is also being used in their competitors' logos and web sites. Using your favorite color can work out OK when it's:

A) Not already taken in your niche, and

B) Has a symbolic meaning related to what you do

But often, personal preference is a poor way to choose the colors for your brand. (There is a way to deal with a situation where a particular color has been dictated, which I'll get to below.)

What, then is a useful process for choosing brand colors?

Survey the competitive landscape

Choosing a color scheme that emphasizes your difference is a powerful way to send a signal that distinguishes you from competitors. Particularly if there's a prevalent theme in your industry. For instance, say you're in the business consulting field, and all of your competitors use cool, muted, subtle color themes, with their name set in traditional, refined serif typography. Ask yourself, what are the colors that reflect your differences from those competitors? Are you more accessible to clients? Are you less risk-averse and more bold in your strategy recommendations?

Let the colors project the meaning

Perhaps you'll want to choose colors that are warm and vibrant, with bold san-serif type, rather than a refined serif font. Here is your chance to send a message with your color choices, and create meaning that differentiates your company. Intense, warm colors can say you are passionate and up-front, more friendly than reserved, more geared toward action than reflection. A bold san-serif font in this context reinforces the feeling you're proactive, and not wishy-washy. Realize that color and style choices are business tools to help you connect with the clients who prefer your approach.

Colors can be mixed to display some complexity of traits

Have you ever noticed how popular the color blue is as a theme for logos and for web sites? Blue is a popular color in general, but it's particularly so in business. It stands for stability, trustworthiness, and analytical coolness. But when there are 8 different companies in your niche, with the same basic color theme, it becomes difficult to stand apart.

Let's say that for one reason or another, the color blue has been dictated in your branding. Here's where a second complementary or analogous color can make all the difference. Match the blue with a bright yellow, or a sunset orange to suggest innovation and warmth of personality. Match it with fuschia or lime green to suggest a maverick quality in your thinking. The possibilities are many, even if the use of a certain color has been pre-ordained in your branding.

Dealing with the reality of the market

Approximately ten years ago as the Creative Director of an advertising agency, I was charged with the rebranding of Sovereign Bank as they entered the New England market. They had acquired nearly 300 branches in the NorthEast, and felt it was time for an overhaul of their logo and signage. Originally, their logo had been a dark, almost blackish blue, and featured the cutout shape of a lantern. At that time in New England, the major players were Fleet Bank (blue), Bank of Boston (blue and green), Citizens Bank (bright green) and US Trust (red), which was being merged into another bank and was disappearing as a brand.

We wanted a color Sovereign could own in this crowded market, so we seized upon the newly available color red. We made it deep and rich-looking to dovetail with the name Sovereign, which suggests royalty and red velvet robes. Their lantern, which was a symbol of the welcoming quality of their branches and employees was given a warm yellow glow, which stood out nicely against the field of red and gave it more depth. This look and color combination made Sovereign immediately recognizable in a new market and allowed them to convey their difference from the other major banks.

Finding the answer

A color choice for a brand cannot be made in a theoretical vacuum. It is a balance between what is available to differentiate your company from competitors, and the meaning you create for your customers. When considering designs for your brand, place them side-by-side with those of your competitors. Let the desire to zig while the others are zagging be the starting point for creating your brand's color scheme.