So many colors…Stage 2

The saga continues as we move towards our new house. This week we’re determining the colors we will paint on the walls of our house. I don’t know whether you’ve been to the big-box store lately, but there are so many colors to choose from! How does someone make the choice? And what brand of paint?

Having renovated several houses, I have a process that has worked for me. First, if it’s a smaller home, color consistency is the best. Choose three colors and use them creatively throughout the house. It’ll give a “designed” feel to the house, and give it a bigger feel.

When trying to choose those colors, look at your family (they have to live with them!) and the existing structure that the colors have to work with. For us, that would be the fireplace bricks, bathroom tile and flooring that we’re going to keep. And our family likes fairly conservative colors (but then again, I didn’t necessarily ask my teens…)

Every business has a visual look that is established by a professionally designed logo. After that stage is approved, a color suite has to be determined. These colors will be used consistently on your materials. Subtly, they start to sub-conscientiously represent you.

But there are so many colors to choose from! Pantone Color Matching (PMS) system is the industry standard that printers and graphics industry will recognize. If you want us to use a specific color, you should tell us the PMS number. We’re guaranteed to match it worldwide.

But there are over 1000 standard PMS colors. Which do you choose?

Well, research of color psychology helps us match the right colors to your audience or product. Certain colors evoke certain emotions or responses. So make sure you choose the right ones!

Once a dominant color is chosen, we select a complementary secondary color — and then a tertiary color that will be used sparingly. We like to say a “suit” of colors — the dominant color is the color of the suit you’re wearing, the secondary color is the shirt color (that has to coordinate very well). Then the tie adds some “pop” to the overall look. You wouldn’t want to have a whole suite in the color of the tie. But used sparingly, the tie adds to the overall look.

Then your logo needs to adopt one or more of these colors, in such a way that you can save money by printing material in “spot” colors. The process where the printer uses only specific colors rather than printing something “full color”.

As you use these colors consistently in ALL your materials, you start to build a brand. And like painting a house, it represents what our family likes.

Next stop after color? That would be brand positioning. I’ll tackle that in an upcoming post.