“We’re gonna need a system”. No truer 5 words could have been uttered in that moment.
After 5 hours of driving - a .3 mile portage and hours more of paddling - we had finally found our home for the weekend.
There was only one problem.
Instead of the outhouse we were used to having.
We had a privy at this campsite.
Don’t know what a privy is?
Basically - it is a box, with a toilet seat on top of it - in the middle of the woods.
So the chances of one of your 11 best friends - best friends husband etc. walking up on you while you are doing your morning business was high.
Therefore, the first thing we did before setting up a single tent - or stringing up a hammock- was deem a bright blue bandana the “bathroom bandana” and make a rule that you had to take the bandana with you when you went to the privy - in order to prevent any VERY awkward run-ins for the remainder of the weekend.
The bandana was placed under a specific tree with a rock on top - it was a simple system that helped avoid adding any awkward stress or anxiety to an already kinda awkward task (sitting down to do your business out in the open in the middle of the woods).
I guess this is where I tell you two things:
- I am officially back after two weeks out of office, which kicked off with our annual canoe trip and the anecdote I just shared
- You could avoid an equal amount of unnecessary stress if your brand identity had a system. Something that was simple to set up. Simple to implement.
Starting with your brand colors.
Because if I had one “hot take” in the branding world it would orbit around brand colors.
Whether you are just refreshing or doing a total rebrand - brand colors are the easiest change you can make to your brand, and have a bigger impact on how people identify your brand than your logo ever will.
I have audited 20-some brand color schemes inside The Brand Color Kit - my PWYW brand color resource that is only $5 even though I could easily charge $40 because I really don’t think your brand colors should be
- Rocket Science
- Something you stress over that much
- Something you waste any more time on
- or something you have a robot/color generator do for you
Between the brand color kit and working 1:1 with dozens more brands - There’s a chance I am talking about brand colors inside every single one of my offers.
The brands like yours that I am talking to fall into one of two boats:
- They paid someone to design their brand color scheme - but they never really loved it, or knew what to do with it - so they play around in canva and add colors willy nilly when they feel like it because they only really use three of the colors in their brand color scheme anyway.
- They have tried DIYing their brand color scheme 10 different ways, still don't have a system - or know the HEX codes - so they end up eyeballing it and choosing things on Canva that are close enough when they actually make an attempt to design something for their brand.
In neither case is there a system.
So your brand colors just end up being another thing that stress you out.
Another thing that keeps you from creating content.
Another thing that is keeping you from handing work off to someone else.
And goddammit - it shouldn’t be that hard - we just need a system.
If any of the above sounds like you - it’s time we systemize your brand colors.
- First up we are going to pick your primary neutral. This is going to be the background color you use the most often. Typically this is the lightest color in your brand color palette (although it could be your darkest if you are going for more of a moody vibe). I would just advise against this being too neon of a color. You are using this for screens - and reading, and often times larger chunks of font will be on top. So user experience here is key.
- Next up - you are going to choose your primary font color. This is typically going to be your darkest color (unless your background/ primary neutral was your darkest - in which case this would be your lightest). Again - we are going to be using this for paragraphs of content and copy - so we want to make sure that our primary font color is going have enough contrast against the background that it is going to be easy to read.
- One thing I would advise against is using PURE white #FFFFF or pure black #00000 because these colors can appear really harsh on screens. Going for a slightly darker or lighter version of black and white (if that is the color you are looking for) is going to be quite literally easier on the eyes.
- Next up, your primary pop of color - you are going to pick your primary pop of color. This is going to be the color you use for buttons, highlighting sections - anything you need to draw attention to. When you look at all of your brand colors together - this is going to be the color that really pops out to you. That your eye is drawn to. The color with the highest key - the most vivid, saturated, brightest. (and if you are like Catie, I don’t have one of these; everything reads the same level/volume - that is something I see ALL the time and exactly what the Brand Color kit can help you fix).
And just like that you have your primary brand color scheme. The colors your brand is known for and recognized by.
But - us gals, we like our options right?
So to create your secondary color scheme, you will repeat the same process again.
- First choose your secondary neutral
- Then your Secondary font color
- And your secondary pop of color
YES colors can repeat.
And they probably will.
Play with your combinations a few different ways.
If you are finding that you don’t reach for a color very often, you probably don’t need that one!
Now you have two recipes to choose from whenever you are designing something for your brand.
A lot of people ask how many colors they “need” and I tell them 6 - 8. Because with 6, you have a primary and secondary color scheme to work from.
Plus two substitutes to swap & switch things up with.
Because the goal was never just to “pick pretty colors.”
The goal is to know what the hell to do with them once you have them.
To know which color is your background. Which one is your text. Which one is your “hey, look over here” color. Which combinations you reach for when you’re making a post, a sales page, a slide deck, an email graphic, whatever.
That’s the difference between a color palette and a color system.
A palette gives you options.
A system gives you decisions.
And when you have decisions already made? Designing gets lighter. Content creation gets faster. Your brand starts looking more consistent without you having to reinvent the wheel every time you open Canva.
Which is exactly why I created The Brand Color Kit in the first place — not to hand you five random HEX codes and call it a day, but to help you build brand colors that feel like you and actually work when you go to use them.
Still hunting for colors you actually love? → Grab The Brand Color Kit
If you need even more help finding brand colors you love before you can build a system for how to use them — this is your move. The Brand Color Kit includes two rounds of Loom feedback from yours truly, where I break down my entire brand color scheme design process: from getting inspiration, to choosing your colors, to creating guidelines and a system you can actually use. So you walk away with a color scheme that looks like you (not everyone else in your industry) — and WORKS when you actually go to design something with it.
