Why small brands should own fewer colours

Almost every brief I receive asks for a colour palette. Usually it means six or seven colours, each with a role: a primary, a secondary, two accents, a background and a text colour. On a screen that works fine. On a shelf, in print, on a box made in a run of five hundred, it quickly becomes expensive and messy.

Every extra colour is an extra plate, an extra check and an extra thing that can go slightly wrong. Small companies print in small runs, often with different printers, and the colours drift. After a year, the brand that looked so balanced in the presentation looks like five brands standing next to each other.

For Ember Ceramics we took one colour from their own yellow glaze and matched it on paper, fabric and screen. Everything else is black, white and the natural colour of the clay. Because there is only one colour to control, it is always right, and customers now recognise it from across a market.

For Noir Tea Co. we went further and used no colour at all. The boxes are black on black, and the only colour in the shop comes from the tea itself in glass jars. It sounds strict, but it gives the product all the attention.

Look at what you already make. The colour of your material, your glaze, your ink or your oil is often a better brand colour than anything picked from a swatch book, because it is true. Then ask your printer to match it on the paper you will actually use, and keep that sample on your desk.

Restraint is not about being boring. It is about choosing one thing and doing it so well that nobody misses the rest.