Distinct brands are not built on colors alone

Distinct brands are not built on color alone 

The human eye is arguably the most important sensory organ in our arsenal.

According to Friezi – a contemporary art magazine, it’s responsible for influencing up to 80% of how we perceive our surroundings.

Among the most impressive aspects of the human eye is its capability to detect about 10 million different colors, all of which are associated with emotional meaning.

That goes some way to explain why the business world utilizes colors as part of countless visual identities, with the goal of creating a positive association. Yet, it’s rarely asked just how effective color is as a part of a brand identity. So, let’s explore that topic some more now.

The color conundrum

There’s evidence to suggest that entire industries correlate around one primary color. There are examples of that in Pakistan. Let’s consider the food and beverages(F&B) industry.

Our research of Pakistani brands illustrates that red prevails as the dominant brand color among F&B brands. That’s not the end of it. Of the Pakistani F&B brands assessed by Brandeeq, they’re largely using one of only 4 shades of red.

There’s the color conundrum in brand-building. In this case, if red has become an established indicator of an F&B brand in Pakistan, and you’re in the early stages of a new business, you can:

1. Also, adopt red as a brand master color, but in doing so, you’re adopting a color that’ll be anonymous in a big crowd of brands, some of whom you’ll be competing with.  
2. Or, aim for greater distinction by not adopting red, with the associated risk that you forego the established signal that you’re a brand in the F&B space.     

In the Pakistani banking sector, greens and blues tend to dominate among established brands. We could go on, but hopefully, the issue is clear to you already.

Just change shades?

At this point, you may assume that the answer is simply to choose a more distinct shade of an established industry color. As ever, it’s rarely that simple. While color plays a role in a brand’s overall visual identity, science suggests that colors are not as critical in creating distinct brands as people assume. In fact, science 2 indicates that colors perform a comparatively smaller role in creating distinction for a brand versus the other elements.

In considering color choice, the real skills in brand development are how a preferred color combines with other brand codes – a brand name, a brand slogan or tagline; a wordmark or logomark; an emblem, or even a sound — to create the distinctiveness.

The color needn’t be a grey area 

All brand owners should be working towards distinctiveness; for if customers can’t recall a brand when they’re in buying mode, then they’re far more likely to spend their money elsewhere.        

Ultimately, we’d encourage novice brand-builders not to think of color as the primary point of distinction. Rather, concentrate on how colour/s will work with the 4-5 other elements of a brand’s identity.

For best results, it’s probably best to seek professional help. If you still feel confused, don’t hesitate to contact our team at Brandeeq for free advice to help you develop brand assets that meet your purpose.