Here’s how you can use color for effective branding and stay on top of color trends for bloggers.
1. Using consistency and color to create a brand familiarity
The art and science of branding are centered around consistency. You create your logo or pay a designer to create a symbol or wordmark that represents you to the outside world. This is a beacon that represents you on social media, on your website, and in print. To get the most out of that logo you need to use it on everything to create consistency. People associate the value that they get from you with this symbol. Ideally the logo should be infused with the meaning you want them to remember, every time they see it. You also need to wield color effectively as part of your branding strategy, to create a common pattern. This helps to associate the value and/or entertainment that you provide back to your brand and ideally inspire a loyalty. By continuing to re-introduce a specific color – you add a look and feel along with the logo. This attracts attention to the blog a visitor is on and provides a unique experience. Some bloggers use this insight to add a color convention to their featured images as well. On many lifestyle blogs, people are using a pale pink as of this writing – a solid trend for 2016. Here’s an example from Canvas ‘Design School’ demonstrating continuing the use of the same colors throughout different posts. If you can really ingrain the same types of colors and elements in different ways you can really provide some visual cues that will always remind people of your brand. Another example of some branded featured images is this design shops: Some tools for creating images for blogs for non-designers are:
Fotor.com PicMonkey.com BeFunky.com Canva.com
2. Utilizing a complementary but alternate color to inspire action
One way to use color on your blog, or any website for that matter is to use a complementary, but contrasting color that’s different from most of the website to call attention to specific actions you want visitors to take while on your site. So for instance, if most of your website was yellow, you could use a big blue button to get them to sign up for the newsletter or whatever your primary objective for the blog is.
3. Utilizing deep rich colors and subtle pastels – Stylish for 2016 & beyond
Looking at expensive luxury fashion lines out in 2016 from respected designers, and other color experts there are some key things that show up again and again and can help predict where the color trends are headed. Deep rich colors such as a deep blue or deep green are all over luxury brands this year. Big rich reds or oranges as well, but are often paired with pastels like pastel blue, pale pink or cream. A little less often but occasionally there is a bright colored piece like a brighter red/orange or offset with an earth-toned green or brown, or accented with a deeper bright yellow with a hint of green. After sorting through everything from Pantone to Gucci, here are some colors that came often: Pastels will likely play a huge role in the upcoming year in color trends for bloggers, as indicated by Pantone’s color of the year picks a pale pink and a pale blue/purple, and the use of pastels throughout fashion designers lines in 2016. It’s important to review what’s considered fashionable at the moment for these things, never getting seduced into trying to be ultra-trendy. However, a healthy dose of measured style is always useful. Featured photo credit: Housely via housely.com
