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Your color palette is an important aspect of your brand identity, as it contributes to your visibility, credibility, and memorability. So how do you determine the right colors so that your corporate identity sends the right message to potential customers? Erin Ferree, founder of elf design, recommends choosing colors that:

• Have a positive meaning in your industry. For example, red is a great color for a flower company, since it’s the color of roses, but it’s a poor color choice for a gun shop because of the association with blood.

• Reflect the emotions your customers have for your business. If you have a high-energy business, consider corporate identity standards that use bright, clear colors. If your services are more complex, consider choosing complex colors such as sage green, slate blue, maroon, or another muted tone that speaks to the intricacies of your work.

• You like. Colors that excite you will generally have commonalities with your personality, and will give potential customers a greater sense of who you are and the way you work.

• You wear. If you’re a consultant or a sole proprietor, use your personal color palette for your business as well. What you wear reinforces your brand to people you meet.

• Match or complement each other. Eye-catching colors that match or complement each other will be more pleasant for your customers to look at.

• Contrast with each other. You will save money if you use a limited color palette (one or two colors) in your printed marketing materials, so choose colors that contrast each other for your logo. They’ll still be legible and eye-catching.