How many colors should be in your brand palette? It’s a question we often get asked as a brand and web design agency when we begin the brand design process for business owners and visionaries. The truth is, there is so much more that goes into building a strategic color palette that actually speaks to your audience, rather than just selecting a pre-made Canva color palette or using an online color palette generator.
Here’s everything you need to know about thoughtfully choosing colors for your color palette and building an intentional brand palette.
How Many Colors Should Be in Your Brand Palette?
Our answer? We recommend no more than 6 colors, but you don’t have to count neutrals toward that total. Remember, your brand is never just one color. For example, you could have 6 colors with black and cream as neutrals.
When it comes to choosing colors for your brand palette, the most important element is contrast. As you create your brand palette, too many colors on opposite ends of the spectrum are too chaotic and distracting. The best practice is to stick to either a warm or cool palette – don’t try to mix the two. (Mixing tones can make your brand photos super tricky to edit as well, for light).
Also, keep accessibility in mind when choosing your brand palette colors (contrast helps with this!). Don’t pick colors that are hard to read as headers or text for your website or for your social media designs. I know we all know this, but it’s worth mentioning only because I still see this not happening.
Choosing Your Brand Palette Colors
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First things first, when choosing colors, it’s important not to rely solely on your preferences or favorite colors. This isn’t to say that you can’t include the colors you want, but when choosing colors, you should keep your audience in mind.
Choose colors that will speak to the type of clients or customers you are trying to attract. When your ideal audience sees your branding, how do you want them to feel? How do the colors you are considering reflect those feelings?
The truth is—your brand palette colors are not just for aesthetics or for you—they should be strategic. Colors trigger psychological responses before conscious thought occurs. When potential clients see your brand, color creates immediate impressions about trustworthiness, competence, warmth, and fit—often determining whether they engage further.
Start by picking one or two colors (not all of your colors at once) and strategically build your color palette from those initial colors. Choose brand colors that convert by understanding the psychological associations your ideal clients have with colors and selecting hues that align with your brand archetype and the emotional response you want to trigger.
Beyond Single Colors: Your Brand Color Palette Strategy
Your color palette should include:
- Primary color (dominant)
- Secondary colors (supporting)
- Accent colors (highlights)
- Neutral colors (backgrounds, text)
- Combination Effects
Your colors should interact in the following ways:
Contrast for visibility, harmony for cohesion, and remember, proportion always matters.
5 Steps to Build a Strategic Brand Color Palette
Step 1 – Learn about color psychology
Color psychology in branding is the strategic use of colors to evoke specific emotional responses and influence consumer behavior. It involves selecting colors that authentically communicate your brand’s personality and connect with your ideal clients on a subconscious level, rather than merely choosing colors based on personal preference.
We have several resources on our website where we discuss more about color psychology. We recommend starting here – Color Psychology in Professional Services Branding: A Complete Guide.
Step 2: Identify your brand archetype and core message
Are you a Sage (knowledge-focused)? Or a Caregiver (nurturing)? Your brand colors should reflect this foundation.
Step 3 – Learn more about brand color terminology
This can help you to really understand how colors work together, and what colors you should use where. Here are some terms we recommend you know:
- Primary color
- Secondary color
- Color hues
- Color schemes
- Monochromatic palette
- Complementary palette
- Color wheel
- RGB
- CMYK
- HEX
Step 4 – Research your colors
Test your color combinations for accessibility and emotional impact. Ensure sufficient contrast for readability while maintaining the psychological resonance you want to create across your website and marketing materials.
Step 5 – Build and balance your color palette
Once you’ve done your research and chosen colors that are psychology-backed, you can begin to build and balance your color palette. You can either go the freestyle route or a formula-based route to create your palette. We recommend using the formula-based method for the best results.
RESULTS THAT SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES
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Branding Next Steps
Your brand isn’t just a logo, color palette, and fonts. While these are all non-negotiable assets of your brand, there’s much more that goes into building a memorable brand. Your logo, color palette, and fonts all fall into the category of brand design. The visual identity of your brand is what most business owners mistakenly start with, but then they are left wondering why their brand doesn’t feel like them and isn’t converting.
If you’re just starting to build your brand, before you jump into building your color palette, start with your brand strategy. If you want a brand that connects, converts, and makes sense to the people you’re trying to reach, strategy is non-negotiable and where your brand design process should start.
Once you have your brand strategy and brand design in place, it’s time to start thinking about what comes next. This should include brand photography, copywriting, and website design. For a comprehensive branding checklist, go here!
Unearth Your Brand® with Bethany Works®
Converting brand colors are not about your personal preferences or following trends—they’re about strategic alignment with your audience’s psychology and your brand’s core identity.
When you choose colors that are based on research and psychological principles, they become powerful conversion tools that work consistently across your website, marketing materials, and all brand touchpoints.
At Bethany Works®, we specialize in psychology-backed brand strategies for fierce visionaries and tenacious creatives on a mission to elevate their brand. Our branding process uncovers your unique positioning to express your brand in a way that actually means something to your audience.
If you’re ready to stop leaving money and impact on the table and craft a unique brand identity, learn more about our design services here or get in touch with us here!
