What is colour in branding?

Colour is the fastest communicator in your brand. Before someone reads a word, before they register your logo or your typography, they've already had a response to your colour. That response is partly cultural, partly psychological, and partly just human.

Most artists understand colour intuitively in their work. Applying that understanding intentionally to their brand is a different skill and one worth developing.

The definition

Colour in branding refers to the deliberate selection and consistent application of a colour palette across all brand touchpoints — your website, your social media, your printed materials, your photography, your packaging. A brand colour palette is typically two to four colours used consistently enough that they become associated with your practice over time.

It's not about choosing colours you like. It's about choosing colours that belong to the same world as your work and communicate the right things to the right people — then using them consistently enough that they start to do recognition work on their own.

What it looks like in practice

An artist whose work is raw, gestural, and emotionally intense uses a palette of soft pastels across their website and social media. The colour and the work are in contradiction — the brand is promising something the work doesn't deliver, or the work is promising something the brand undercuts.

The same artist uses a palette pulled directly from their work — the ochres, the raw umbers, the particular quality of dark that runs through their paintings. Their website feels like an extension of the studio. Their Instagram grid has a coherent atmosphere. A collector who has seen the work in person and then visits the website feels like they're in the same world.

The common misconception

That brand colour means choosing from a colour theory chart and following the rules. Colour theory is a useful context but it's not a formula. The most effective brand palettes for artists come from the work itself — the colours that already live in what you make are the most authentic starting point for the colours that should live in how you present it.

The other misconception is that more colours means more personality. It doesn't. Two or three colours used consistently create stronger recognition than six colours used loosely. Constraint is your friend here, as it usually is in branding.

how colour is specified — the formats you'll encounter

Once you've chosen your brand colours, you need to record them in a format that can be used consistently across every medium — digital and print. Different contexts require different formats and understanding the difference prevents colours from shifting between your website, your printed cards, and your exhibition materials.

HEX

HEX codes are six-character combinations of letters and numbers preceded by a # symbol — for example #1B5E6E. They're the standard format for colour on screens and the web. Your website, your social media graphics, and any digital design work will use HEX. When you're documenting colours for your brand guidelines, HEX is the format your web designer and anyone building digital assets will need.

RGB

RGB stands for Red, Green, Blue — the three channels of light that screens use to display colour. An RGB value looks like this: 35, 85, 103. Each number runs from 0 to 255 and represents the intensity of that colour channel. RGB and HEX refer to the same colour system — every HEX code has an equivalent RGB value and vice versa. Some design tools use RGB instead of HEX, so it's useful to have both recorded. RGB is for screens only — it cannot be used for print.

CMYK

CMYK stands for Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Key (Black) — the four ink colours used in commercial printing. A CMYK value looks like this: 88, 57, 44, 24. Each number is a percentage of that ink. When you're printing anything — business cards, exhibition materials, packaging, printed publications — the printer works in CMYK. If you give a printer a HEX or RGB value, they will convert it for you, but the conversion is imperfect. Colours can shift in ways that are hard to predict, especially with rich blues, deep greens, and saturated colours. Having your CMYK values documented means what comes off the press matches what you approved on screen.

Pantone

Pantone (also called PMS — Pantone Matching System) is a standardised colour system used in professional printing where exact colour accuracy is critical. Pantone colours are pre-mixed inks identified by a code — for example Pantone 7700 C. Unlike CMYK which mixes four inks to approximate a colour, a Pantone ink is a single premixed colour that produces consistent results regardless of the printer or the paper. Pantone is more expensive than standard CMYK printing and not always necessary — but if you have a brand colour that must be exactly right every time, Pantone is how you guarantee it. Most independent artists don't need Pantone for everyday printing, but it's worth knowing what it is when you see it referenced.

Which format do you need?

For your brand guidelines, document all three: HEX for digital use, CMYK for print, and RGB as a backup. You don't need Pantone unless you're doing high-volume or high-specification print work.

If you have a colour you love on screen but aren't sure of its values — use the colour picker in Canva, Adobe, or any design tool to find the HEX code, then use a free converter to generate the CMYK equivalent. There are many reliable free tools online that do this in seconds.

Why it matters for your practice

Colour is one of the most immediate ways a brand builds recognition over time. It's also one of the most common sources of inconsistency — a slightly different HEX code here, a rough CMYK conversion there — and over time those small differences erode the coherence of your brand.

Your colour palette belongs in your Brand Guidelines — documented with HEX, RGB, and CMYK values so that every designer, printer, and collaborator you work with is working from exactly the same colours. Not approximately the same. Exactly.

→ Start with the free Artist Brand Audit atzandra.ca/resources to see how your colour and visual identity are currently landing.