Something I noticed when researching design ideas, was that all intranets, providers, consultants and the like seem to stick to blue. Whether this is a reference to SharePoint, or if blue has some underlying meaning, I don’t know? Apparently, it’s the colour of trust. Would a potential client trust me more because I have a blue website? It’s a colour to induce calm, convey serenity and peace. But is that what we want to portray? It can also be seen as aloof.
But here we are, every site seems to promote blue. Now, don’t get me wrong, a few companies have recently thrown in a little grey, black, and even a snazzy orange and an iridescent purple into the mix. But the primary colour is still blue. I’m not innocent in this, my site has been blue for the past few years… but why? Why did I choose blue?
Going through a company rebrand to support how society is embracing a digital culture, I’ve decided to look at other options, and to step away from the blue!
But, to step away, took me to a place of where are we now? Where will we be in 12 months, 3 years, 5 years… and can we even predict that far ahead? I wanted to show how far we’ve come, and how much our industry is changing, every single day! I’ve been working with intranets for a very long time, but still learn something new each time I read a post, watch a video, attend an event, talk to people…
So, how could I show this in the new branding? Let’s take a look at basic colours, and what they represent:
Red: passion | drama | attention - creative
Orange: excitement | warmth | enthusiasm - communication
Yellow: optimism | youth | energy - decision making
Pink: tranquillity | tenderness | safety - motivation
Blue: trust | calm | peace - order
Green: growth | health | security - reliable
Violet: spirituality | royalty | luxury - wisdom
Brown: earth | neutral | confidence - stability
Grey: gloom | depression | conservative - formal
Black: mysterious | powerful | sophistication – authority
Ok, so do I want to promote creativity, communication, decision making, motivation, order, reliability, wisdom, stability, formality or authority? Or do I just want to think, you know what? Perhaps people don’t think in a certain way when they visit a website, they just want information!
In which case, I might go for a sophisticated black, with a mix of pink tranquillity and just a touch of green/blue for growth and trust. Well, I think I just made up my own mind, decided on a brand colour scheme, and I’m so pleased I wrote this to share my decision-making process with you (should I include yellow?)... Oh dear.
