Branding
How many colours does a brand really need?
Most small brands need three colours, not nine. Here’s how to choose them, when to add more and a squint test that settles arguments.
Open a tin of 120 colouring pencils and most of us reach for the same six. Brands work the same way, however long the palette in the guidelines.
We’ve built identities with two colours and identities with nine. The ones that last tend to sit at the small end, and here is why.
The honest answer is three
Three shades will carry almost any small business: one to be recognised by, one to write in and one to rest on.
Role | Job | Share of the page |
|---|---|---|
Main | Gets you recognised | About a third |
Ink | Carries the words | A little |
Background | Gives everything room | The rest |
Everything else is decoration, and decoration is where budgets and consistency go to die.
When you’re allowed more
Rules are there to be bent, carefully. A few businesses do need a longer list.
You sell many flavours
A coffee roaster with eight farms or a bakery with a seasonal menu can give each product its own hue, provided the logo and the type never change.
You make things for children
Bright and plentiful suits the audience. Even then, pick a leader and let the others follow.
The squint test
Pin your packaging to a wall, step back and squint. If you can still tell it’s yours, the palette works. If it turns into confetti, remove one and squint again.
How Fern & Fable ended up with three
Fern & Fable Books arrived with a mood board of fourteen shades, all lovely. We spent an afternoon in the shop and noticed the bottle green of the old door, the cream of the pages and a red ribbon the sisters tie round every purchase.
That was the palette. It was already there, and customers already knew it.
“The hardest part of choosing colours is leaving good ones out. It gets easier after the first three.”
Mira Hale, co-founder of Sunday Studio
Pick yours this afternoon
You don’t need a designer to make a start:
Write down the single colour people already link with you.
Choose a dark shade of it, or a plain ink, for text.
Add one quiet background: off-white, grey or cream.
Use only those three for a month and see what you miss.
If the answer is “nothing”, you’re done. If you miss something badly, say hello and we’ll help you find a fourth that earns its place.
