The importance of colour in your branding

Colour is a powerful way for charities to communicate key messages within their branding.

It conveys emotion and sets the tone that the charity wants to project to the public, its supporters, and service users. Colour is vital for brand recognition and consistency of messaging.

Here we examine why colour is so important to a charity’s branding. Then we highlight examples where charities have ensured colour is a major part of their image.

Boosting brand recognition

According to a survey carried out by marketing agency Reboot, colour substantially increases brand recognition among the public. It found that, among more than 2,600 consumers surveyed, the use of colour increases brand recognition by 80%.

To highlight colour’s power in branding, the survey discovered that more than two thirds of consumers could recognise branding for furniture retailer Ikea from its distinct blue and yellow branding alone.

Nine in ten recognised Google from its use of colour, while more than four in five recognised Starbucks and McDonalds only from colour.

Improving brand consistency

The power of colour in branding helps organisations to more effectively communicate their messaging through using the same colours consistently.

Once a colour scheme has been created it should then be used across all branding, including internal communications as well as externally in advertising and on social media.

Consistency of colour also conveys a sense of professionalism and reliability from a brand. It can show to a variety of audiences that a charity is reliable and organised.

The emotional power of colour

How we feel when we see colour can be subjective, although there are some common themes that emerge when we view different colours.

For example, red can convey power, energy, and strength, while blue can convey trust, loyalty and logic. Orange is often seen as adventurous and warm, while pink shows imagination.

Purple is seen as a good colour to convey vision as well as royalty, and white gives an image of an organisation that is clean and focused on health.

Meanwhile, yellow can give the perception of an organisation that is optimistic, creative, and happy, while green is important for brands involved in nature or looking to convey growth.

Brown can give the impression of heritage, support for culture as well as being dependable, reliable, and supportive, and black can convey simplicity and elegance.

Choosing the right colour to reflect a charity’s messaging and tone is therefore vital. Here are two charities that in 2024 ensured colour was at their heart of their rebrands.

Scope uses colour to show ambition

Disability charity Scope’s rebrand in 2024 had a strong focus on colour as it looked to convey its ambition and vision to support people with disabilities and improve equality across society.

For its rebrand the charity tested more than 3,000 colour combinations to get the best colour contrast as well as consulting over 1,000 people with disabilities, and their parents and carers.

This saw it adopt a strong focus on purple to convey the charity’s vision and yellow to convey optimism. As part of this all its icons, such as to show its email address and phone number, “always sit on a yellow circle to allow for easy navigation and clear signposting”, explains the charity’s Executive Director of Digital and Marketing Kwesi Afful.

He adds: “Our new look and feel will help us to reach this generation of disabled people. A brand that reflects the lives of disabled people in 2024. We will be bolder, more vibrant and more diverse to reflect the audiences that we need to reach.”

Trussell uses colour to improve awareness raising

In rebranding from The Trussell Trust to Trussell in 2024 , the anti-food poverty charity that runs food banks nationwide made sure it paid particular attention to colour.

In focusing on green the charity is showing its commitment to ending hunger, supporting people’s growth, and combating poverty. By mixing this in branding with simple black and white lettering, the charity is conveying that it is an organisation that has a simple message to end hunger and to ensure people can have a nutritious, healthy diet.

Another factor was to ensure it had consistent branding that was accessible, after its previous branding “didn’t meet today’s accessibility standards”.

The charity was also looking to use colour and its new branding to boost awareness of its work.

Its research found that public awareness of its work “was lagging behind other charities and this made people less likely to engage with us, keeping us further from our mission of ending the need for food banks for good”.

Three quarters of people it surveyed said they are more likely to support the charity following its rebrand. Before it rebranded less than half the public felt it was clear at explaining what it did and only a third were aware of its campaigning and research around combating food poverty.