True Colors: the Science of Picking a Palette

When we build a branding campaign for a client, the color palette is one of the first components we develop. And as you can see from this tutorial by artist Melanie Gillman, there's more to it than just picking colors you like.

In addition to considering contrast and proportions as illustrated in Gillman's tutorial, we also consider how the colors reinforce the message of the brand as a whole. For example, one of our clients--a family-owned grocery store with a 50-year presence in our neighborhood--wanted to update their logo and branding to give it a "modern retro" feel. We selected four colors:

  This was selected for the logo, and is also used sparingly as an accent in other marketing pieces.

  This is used primarily for header text, and on directional signage throughout the store.

  This is used frequently as a color block in ads, and also as the paint color for their cold cases.

  This isn't typically part of their advertising palette, but is used in the store as a wall and tile color.

Coupled with two complimentary fonts and old family pictures that we enlarged and hung around the store, we helped them achieve the look they were going for--a contemporary market that remembers its roots.