Choosing the right colour for your promotional materials!

When you are dealing with any promotional material it is essential that the materials are an accurate representation of your brand and the message that you’re trying to convey. One of the most memorable parts of any marketing campaign is the colour, but different colours portray different meaning and evoke various emotions. It’s also important, when picking you promotional product, to pick a colour that compliments your artwork or choice and doesn’t clash. Thankfully, a lot of the products on our site allow for a wide choice of colours like our best seller; the Horizon Tote Bag and the Cambridge Mug. Because this choice is so important, and you want to get your product looking as perfect as humanly possible, we have investigated what each colour means and we are going to supply some tips for when you are considering your colour choices as well…

The Colours: What do they mean?

When you are looking at the various connotations of colours, it is extremely important to think about the message you are wanting to convey because you could end up using a scheme that delivers a message completely opposed to what you want. If the wrong colour is chosen, it could lead to clients building incorrect impressions of your business or just generally confused. These meanings are especially important with promotional products as they help to convey the message of your promotion. To help you with this choice, below is a list of some of the more prominent colours and their perceived meanings in order to help you find the perfect colour for your product.

RedThe colour red is a very intense colour; therefore, this colour is very eye-catching. There area number of feelings and emotions that are associated with red, strength, energy, power, passion, love, romance are only a few but it gives a good view as to what the colour conveys. It stimulates people to make snap decisions as it fills individuals with a sense of urgency.

 

GreenGreen is usually associated with peace and serenity. This colour is perfect for any promotion that is related to the environment or nature. Green is usually a positive colour because of the below reasons so it will create a good impression with you clients. Green is also associated with courage, nature, freshness and safety.

 

BlueA colour that is considered as more masculine is the colour blue. It is connected to emotions and feelings such as trust, health, intelligence, wisdom and cleanliness. Studies have also shown that seeing the colour blue has quite a calming effect and makes viewers more relaxed, as many begin to think of things such as a clear blue sky or a crystal blue sea. Blue is the most used colour in logos because of this reason.

 

Yellow is a very happy colour and incites joy from viewers because of the things associated to it like sunshine and flowers. Yellow has a few similarities to red in the fact that is it very eye-catching and fills people with energy. Despite the happy feelings the colour usually gives off, it is also use a lot to symbolise caution, shown in places such as construction sites.

 

Typically, pink is used to market more towards women as it is coupled with feminine attributes. Other associations include things like love, nurturing, compassion and understanding. It is used a lot by companies in the beauty and clothing industry.

 

 

WhiteA white is considered by most to harmonise with almost every colour. Symbolising goodness, light, innocence, purity and cleanliness. White is a very simple, working well with simple designs. It is imagined as being cool because of snow and ice.

 

 

Black is the colour of formality. Someone looking for an official look will use products that are black. Things like suits and shoes are black for this reason. Mystery and power are also perceived as well as self-control and discipline, independence and strong will.

 

Complimentary colours: What work well together?

When two colours seem to work well together and look nice when placed next to each other it is considered that they are complimenting one another. If they don’t, it could lead to the artwork clashing with the product and it not looking as good as it could. However, finding a product that does compliment your logo should be as easy as you can normally tell by looking during the artwork approval stage. To make sure that you decide on the correct colour, you can use one of these handy colour wheels.

Colour Wheel

There are multiple ways to use a colour wheel to get the results that work the best. Here are a few examples:

Complimentary Colours: One of the simplest ways of finding the right colour, you merely have to find your logo’s dominant colour and the look at the opposite side of the wheel. This method helps you find the colours that make each other stand out, which is what you want for when you print on one f your products. However, this technique isn’t the best for when you are printing text so try to avoid it, We actually follow this rule on our website. You’ll notice that Polly is majoritively red and the background forest uses a lot of green. This lets Polly stand out more.

Colour wheel complimentary

Analogous Colours: Another simple way to find a colour scheme where all you do is find the adjacent colours to your main one. These colours should go well with each other with a serene feel to it. They don’t make each other stand out but look good in conjunction with each other. For it to work, one colour has to dominate and the others have to support, which works perfect for promotional products as the supporting colour can be the colour of the product.

Colour wheel Analogous

Triadic Colours: To find the colours for this scheme, you have to find your base colour and then draw an equilateral triangle to connect the segments like it is shown in the image. If you are wanting a more vibrant colour scheme then this is a good option. You can see that our logo of Polly is made up of different shades from this method because red, blue and yellow are used in Polly’s design and all work together according to the model.

Colour wheel triadic

Square colours: This method makes a square connecting 4 colours that are evenly spaced from the circle. This includes the complimentary colour from the first method so don’t choose the colour opposite if your artwork contains text. It is also important to make sure that the balance between warm and cool colours is right or it may not look right. The colours that are shown in this formation almost fit perfectly with the colours we use in our branding. The red, blue and yellow are all used in our logo and we use a lot of green in the background.

Colour wheel square

That is the basics of choosing the right colour! We haven’t gone over every colour’s meaning and not every method of finding colours that contrast well but this is a great start to help you find the perfect promotional product. Be aware that this article is more of a guide rather than strict rules that you have to follow. If you find a colour scheme you like, use it! At the end of the day, it’s all about what you want and what you think looks good. So thanks for reading and we hope that you enjoyed. Maybe finding the perfect colour for your promotional products will be a lot more straight forward.

For any further information please do not hesitate to contact us, call us on 0113 3221010, alternatively, you can email us at sales@promoparrot.com.

Please make your selection.