This is a guest post by Max Ottignon, Co-founder, Ragged Edge. Ragged Edge is a branding agency working with businesses to build brands capable of creating change.

这是 Ragged Edge 联合创始人Max Ottignon的来宾帖子 。 Ragged Edge是一家品牌推广机构，与企业 合作建立能够创造变化的品牌。

Visual identity conversations are often dominated by logos. They’re given the most attention during the branding process, and they’re fetishised by the design community. But are they your brand’s most important visual asset? Sometimes. But definitely not always.

视觉识别对话通常以徽标为主导。 在品牌塑造过程中，他们受到最多的关注，并且被设计界迷恋。 但是，它们是您品牌最重要的视觉资产吗？ 有时。 但绝对不总是如此。

When you’re walking along a supermarket aisle, the first thing your brain processes is colour. And it’s the same thing whilst mindlessly scrolling Instagram, staring across a tube platform, or diligently browsing a price comparison website.

当您沿着超市过道走时，大脑处理的第一件事就是颜色。 这是同一件事，同时漫不经心地滚动Instagram，盯着电视台平台或努力浏览价格比较网站。

What do you notice when you come out of the tube at Bond Street — a swarm of bright yellow bags or the sans serif Selfridges logotype that’s printed on them? When you think about Monzo, are you imagining the ‘M’ icon or that eye-popping coral card? If you’re looking for the Financial Times, are you scanning a newsstand (or app screen) for their masthead or a flash of salmon pink?

当您从邦德街的地铁中走出来时会注意到什么？一大堆鲜黄色的袋子或上面印有无衬线的Selfridges徽标？ 当您想到Monzo时，是在想象“ M”图标还是那张令人eye舌的珊瑚卡？ 如果您正在寻找《金融时报》，您是否正在扫描报亭(或应用程序屏幕)上的标头广告或闪烁的鲑鱼粉？

As a young business, you have less money, less awareness and less engagement than your more established competitors. In any battle for attention, the odds are against you. To redress the balance you need to make less mean more. Picking the right colour is a chance to stack the deck in your favour.

与年轻的竞争对手相比，作为一家年轻企业，您的金钱，知名度和参与度较低。 在任何引起注意的战斗中，赔率都是不利于您的。 要纠正这种平衡，您需要少赚更多。 选择正确的颜色有可能使您喜欢的纸牌堆叠起来。

Here’s how to get that decision right.

这是正确做出决定的方法。

1.与众不同 (1. Be Different)

It’s tempting to look at your competitors and copy them. Borrowing category cues can help people understand your offer, and reassure them you know what you’re doing. This is a standard operating procedure for health brands, where NHS blue never fails to make an appearance. But doing what everyone else does isn’t a particularly effective way to stand out.

吸引您的竞争者并复制他们是很诱人的。 借用类别提示可以帮助人们了解您的报价，并向他们保证您知道自己在做什么。 这是保健品牌的标准操作程序，其中NHS blue永远不会露面。 但是，做其他人做的事情并不是一种特别有效的方法来脱颖而出。

When thinking about colour, the first thing you need to do is map the category. Who is using what? What are the trends? Where’s the space to stand out? Once you know that, you can start making some strategic decisions.

考虑颜色时，您要做的第一件事就是映射类别。 谁在使用什么？ 有什么趋势？ 哪里有脱颖而出的空间？ 一旦知道了，就可以开始制定一些战略决策。

In the energy category, everyone was using traditionally trustworthy corporate colours. Inoffensive CMYK blue was big. So for Bulb, we set out to stand out. The bright RGB pink we chose was miles away from the rest of the category. But it also sent a strong signal. Digital, not analogue. Bright, not boring. This was an energy company daring to do things differently.

在能源类别中，每个人都使用传统上值得信赖的公司色彩。 无礼的CMYK蓝色很大。 因此，对于Bulb ，我们开始脱颖而出。 我们选择的明亮的RGB粉红色与该类别的其他类别相距甚远。 但这也发出了强烈的信号。 数字的，而不是模拟的。 明亮，不乏味。 这是一家能源公司，敢于以不同的方式做事。

2.有意义 (2. Be Meaningful)

Distinct is great. Meaningfully distinct is better.

出色很棒。 有意义的是更好。

Colours have meaning built up over centuries. Blue is trustworthy, orange is friendly, red is exciting, green is peaceful. But context is everything. Green takes on a different meaning for a brand associated with sustainability. Or for a brand that’s all about speed and opportunity, maybe green means go. For Careem, the UAE’s domestic alternative to Uber, green — a colour indelibly associated with national identity — meant local (The choice worked. When Uber bought them, they kept the brand).

颜色的意义已累积了数百年。 蓝色是值得信赖的，橙色是友善的，红色是令人兴奋的，绿色是和平的。 但是上下文就是一切。 绿色对于与可持续发展相关的品牌具有不同的含义。 或者对于一个与速度和机会有关的品牌，也许绿色意味着成功。 对于阿联酋国内替代Uber的Careem来说，绿色-一种与民族身份不可磨灭的色彩-意味着当地(选择行之有效。当Uber购买它们时，他们保留了品牌)。

For Bulb, pink was more than just disruptive. It was warm, progressive and human. It was meaningfully distinct.

对于灯泡而言，粉红色不仅具有破坏性。 这是温暖，进步和人性化的。 这是非常有意义的。

3.专一 (3. Be Single-Minded)

Multi-coloured brands look great in design presentations. They’re vibrant, exciting and flexible. But don’t be seduced. It’s hard enough to get someone to associate one colour with your brand, let alone a rainbow’s worth. Why make things more difficult? If you don’t know what colour your brand is, your audience won’t have a clue.

多色品牌在设计展示中看起来很棒。 他们充满活力，令人兴奋且灵活。 但是不要被吸引。 要让某人将一种颜色与您的品牌相关联是非常困难的，更不用说彩虹的价值了。 为什么使事情变得更困难？ 如果您不知道您的品牌是什么颜色，那么您的听众将不会有任何线索。

That doesn’t mean you can’t use secondary colours. But the word ‘secondary’ is key. Be disciplined. Maybe they’re there for functional reasons, like in the UI. In which case don’t use them on a billboard. Or maybe they’re there for a change of pace, or to make the brand feel less ‘corporate’. Sure, but don’t use them for your app tile. Define clear rules, make sure that everyone understands them and commits to enforcing them.

这并不意味着您不能使用第二种颜色。 但是“中学”这个词是关键。 纪律严明。 也许它们是出于功能原因而存在的，例如在UI中。 在这种情况下，请勿在广告牌上使用它们。 或者也许他们是为了改变步伐，或者是让品牌感觉不太“公司化”。 可以，但请勿将它们用于您的应用程序图块。 定义清晰的规则，确保每个人都理解它们并致力于执行它们。

When Deliveroo launched their new identity, they ran a multi-coloured ad campaign. Every poster was a different colour. Red, green, orange, purple. You name it, they ran it. It would have looked great in the concept deck, but in the real world, it was a mess. They were sacrificing one of their most recognisable assets (and the only one they’d carried over from their previous identity), making it harder for their audience to join the dots. These days, every Deliveroo ad goes big on that distinctive turquoise. The same distinctive turquoise that’s on every rider’s jacket, every piece of packaging, every screen on their app and every other part of the brand experience.

当Deliveroo推出他们的新身份时，他们进行了多色广告活动。 每个海报都是不同的颜色。 红色，绿色，橙色，紫色。 随便你说，他们就跑了。 在概念平台上本来看起来不错，但在现实世界中，情况一片混乱。 他们牺牲了他们最知名的资产之一(也是他们从以前的身份继承下来的唯一资产)，从而使听众更难以加入。 如今，每一个Deliveroo广告都以这种独特的绿松石为基础。 每位骑手的外套，每件包装，其应用程序的每个屏幕以及品牌体验的其他部分都具有相同的独特绿松石色。

4.发挥作用 (4. Be Functional)

Branding is as much about scalability and usability as it is about anything else. So when you’re choosing colours, you need to know you’re going to be able to use them the way you need to. How do they work across different screens, materials, media? Achieving colour consistency is one of the hardest brand management challenges out there, and some colours are easier than others.

品牌塑造与可扩展性和可用性同样重要。 因此，当您选择颜色时，您需要知道自己将能够按照需要的方式使用它们。 它们如何在不同的屏幕，材料和媒体上工作？ 实现色彩一致性是目前最困难的品牌管理挑战之一，有些色彩比其他色彩更容易。

Make sure that the colours you’ve chosen work across RGB and CMYK (find out the difference between the two colour models here). Test them everywhere, and make sure you’re aware of the compromises. To find something more distinctive, some digital brands decide to sacrifice accurate reproduction in CMYK. On the flip side, brands doing lots of print might be influenced by whether there’s a paper stock that’s a close match — I’m sure the Colorplan range of papers has driven a few choices. But whatever your focus, be clear where you’re happy to compromise, and where you’re not.

确保您选择的颜色可以在RGB和CMYK上使用(在此处查找两种颜色模型之间的差异)。 在任何地方对其进行测试，并确保您了解其中的危害。 为了找到更独特的东西，一些数字品牌决定牺牲CMYK的精确复制。 另一方面，是否有大量相匹配的纸张可能会影响品牌进行大量印刷的品牌-我敢肯定， Colorplan纸张系列已经推动了一些选择。 但是无论您关注什么，都要明确您乐于妥协的地方，而不是乐于妥协的地方。

You’ll also need to think hard about accessibility. If you’re going to pick a bright poppy colour, you’ll probably run into contrast issues when using it with white type at smaller sizes. Make sure you have a plan to tackle that. And look at particular colour combinations too. The most common forms of colour blindness (deuteranomaly and protanomaly) result in a difficulty distinguishing between reds, greens and browns, so using these together isn’t a good idea. Google has a useful tool to help get this right.

您还需要认真考虑可访问性。 如果要选择鲜艳的罂粟色，则将其与较小尺寸的白色类型一起使用时，可能会遇到对比度问题。 确保您有解决此问题的计划。 并查看特定的颜色组合。 色盲的最常见形式(申花肉瘤和色盲)导致难以区分红色，绿色和棕色，因此将它们一起使用不是一个好主意。 Google有一个有用的工具可以帮助您实现这一目标 。

5.不要把它留到最后 (5. Don’t Leave it Till Last)

We’ve learnt our lessons from too many late nights before presentations spent frantically weighing up different colour options. Colour choice is too important to be left to the last minute. If you’re spending more time debating typefaces than your brand colour, you’re doing it wrong. It should be a strategic decision and it should come with a clear, logical rationale that goes beyond aesthetic preference.

我们从很多深夜中学到了教训，然后演讲才疯狂地权衡各种颜色选项。 颜色选择非常重要，不能停留到最后一刻。 如果您花更多的时间在字体上而不是品牌颜色上，那您做错了。 这应该是一项战略性决定，并且应该具有超越审美偏好的清晰，合理的逻辑依据。

If someone asks what colour your brand is, you need a good answer.

如果有人问您的品牌是什么颜色，则需要一个很好的答案。

Originally published at https://www.seedrs.com on December 23, 2019.

最初于 2019年12月23日 发布在 https://www.seedrs.com 。