Palette of success - What brand colours are the best?

90 seconds after first seeing something, people make a judgement about it, and up to 90% of the impression made is based on colour alone. What I want to say is, colours are important (but I don't see much discussion about it)
What are your experiences with choosing the colour for a brand or observing other logo colours? I want to know if you have noticed any patterns? Do you agree with the importance of colour or is the messaging more important?

I would say personal and cultural factors determine them for the most part, so you can’t really be lazy by looking at a picture on the internet containing a simplified classification of the function of different colours and using it thinking you now know it all about colour psychology. You have to keep in mind what emotions you want your audience to feel towards your brand’s personality. The colour you choose may correspond to a general characteristic, but it’s more important that it fits your brand’s personality and gives you an unforgettable look. The notion that green, for example, is a colour of calmness and nature may be known by most people, but that hasn’t stopped a company like Monster Energy which is associated with sports and…well…energy, use it. Yet the colour fits perfectly.

On the other hand common colour associations DO exist, and admittedly, becoming familiar with the colours that affect most people’s perceptions in a mostly similar way is actually a great starting step. So I’ll give a quick guide and hopefully this thread will be a place to gather more opinions and examples regarding colour psychology and colour choices!

SO in general, we can say:


Looking forward to more discussion about this!

thanks for share.

Yellow works well for fun and youth-oriented brands, but tricky to read if overused.

you should have a look a "gesthalt" its courses they give at school aboutbthe psychology of colors and designs

Totally agree When I rebranded my startup, choosing a deep blue really helped convey trust and professionalism.

Great knowledge, really helpful thread

I agree with you that color sets create initial impressions but they need to match the personality of the brand to be effective. Rules exist, but context and messaging matter more than the “red means passion” type guides.

I‍‌‍‍‌‍‌‍‍‌ agree, not many people realize that colour and shapes have a bigger impact on first impressions than most people think. General associations can be of some help, but the main thing that matters is whether it matches brand personality.

Corporations such as Monster or Spotify are examples that non, traditional options can be successful if they are consistent with the brand's ‍‌‍‍‌‍‌‍‍‌vibe.

I think we should use bright colors for designing. The RGB palette is good choice. It makes the design bright attractive and eye catching. It builds a good impression on client. You can use RGB palette for your designs to make them attractive and awesome. But sometimes color is chosen on the base of branding. For example to show the power, uniqueness, motivation and attractiveness etc.

for websites keep it simple -black and white looks best imo

I think color definitely matters, but it works best when combined with clear messaging. I have noticed a lot of brands stick with simple color palettes so they are easier to recognize and stay consistent across platforms. Also seems like there is no single "best" color, it really depends on the audience and niche. What works for one brand might not work for another.

Color wise, dark shades or flat pops, easy.

The best color combinations depend on your brand and the people you want to attract.

one thing nobody mentioned here is how much the meaning of a color shifts across regions. white is clean and modern in the west but its literally the color of mourning in a lot of asian countries. so if youre going international the whole "luxury black and white" thing can backfire hard.

also the monster example is good but i think it works less because green = energy and more because they paired it with black and that clawmark. the green pops against the dark background. context does the heavy lifting, not the hue by itself.

honestly the biggest pattern ive noticed is contrast matters more than the actual color choice for recognition. spotify green, home depot orange, whatever... they all just needed to own one loud color that nobody else in their space was using. being different beats being "correct" imo.

Yeah @Adsmith2026 makes a solid point about contrast. a lot of people overthink the brand color and completely forget about the action color. if a site is a beautiful on-brand blue, and the submit button is also blue... the CTR is going to suffer. the isolation effect is real. sometimes the ugliest high-contrast button that completely clashes with the brand identity is what actually gets the clicks. brand consistency is cool but conversion doesn't always care about aesthetics.

Graphic Designing makes you feel that there is no one particular color that is the best because it all comes down to the branding.

The optimal colors are always about the brand and target audience

The appropriate colors always depend on the company and the target audience.