Colour choices for marketing and reports – how to pick good colour combinations

In this article, I discuss ways to make good colour choices for your marketing and reports to make them look more distinguished

If you have a brand guide to follow then great, stick to the brand colours. Otherwise…

How to make good colour choices when there is no guidance to follow

Check if you have any brand guidelines and if not, consider the following:

• Is this a one-off project or have there been previous publications that are relevant? If so, magpie the styles that were used. You want a consistent library of publications rather than reinventing the style each time.
• Are there any charts, graphs, graphics or images that have been used in the report or marketing piece? Be consistent with content styling and use the same colour set for text, graphs and charts.
• If you are starting from scratch, pick three colours that go well together and stick to those as your core colours. Use them consistently as a language. Main headings in style one, sub-headings in style two and icons using the same colour and style.

The use of harmonious colours with a logical application will make your publication look more professional.

Methods to make your colours harmonious

Some different approaches you could adopt when choosing colour groups:

• If you are starting with a primary colour (red, yellow or blue), pick a complimentary secondary colour (orange, green or purple) and a grey
• Pick a dark anchor colour, a bright accent colour and a mid-tone
• Pick two strong colours that go well together and a neutral that goes with both colours. (If you pick three strong colours, it is more difficult to achieve a sophisticated balance)
• Find an image with the right tone for your piece and pick three colours from that image. Try to pick a dark colour, a light colour and a mid-tone or two bright colours and one neutral.

How to use your three colours

A dark colour will add a sense of grounding, of authority, of trust. Use it for dividing lines and footers.

Use a complimentary mid-tone colour for shapes and icons. Things that do not need to jump to the front but quietly aid the text. The mid-tone will lift the piece and give it middle ground. 

Use a light tint of the mid-tone colour for background colour blocks and watermarks.

It may be helpful to choose a colour that will stand out against white and against your dark colour to give maximum versatility.

It is useful to have a highlight colour. This needs to be brighter than your mid-colour so it jumps into the foreground and is the first thing you notice on the page. Use your highlight colour sparingly so it can do its job with ease. If you highlight everything, nothing will stand out!

Avoid using all three primary colours together; red, yellow, and blue because they can look basic and elementary.

Colours for graphs and charts

Use the same three colours and stick to them as your core colours. You may need additional colours for graphs and charts if you have multiple legends.

Use tints of your main colours to expand the range. Choose tints with at least 20% difference to make sure they are clearly different. If the core colour is a light colour you may only be able to use one tint of 50% to maintain a clear difference. Darker colours will allow for a wider range of tints.

If you need more colour difference then pick a fourth strong colour with tints.

Try to avoid picking all the colours in the rainbow because you will lose that distinguished look the more mixed the palette is unless your brand style is multicoloured in nature.

A distinguished look

A considered use of colour that is easy on the eye will look distinguished and professional. You can create your own colour palette in Powerpoint which will be available to use in Word once saved. Use the same colours for all your related marketing and reports for a consistent professional look.