Colour in branding

Member lesson

Secondary palette

Lesson 3 of 11 in Colour in branding.

Brand Color Palettes | 10 Minutes On Brand | Ep.1 · Focus on Brand
Lesson

Secondaries exist because a primary palette of two cannot handle everything a brand has to do: a chart with six series, a range of eight products, a warning state, a set of category dividers. None of those jobs is about recognition. They are about telling one thing apart from another thing, which is a different problem wearing the same material.

primary · almost everythingsecondary · accents andstatesextended · charts and edgecasesif every tier gets equal space on the page, none of them is primary
A primary pair, a secondary set and an extended range, in the proportions each is used.
A doodle of two rows of eight tea boxes, the top row all red with small pale coloured lid bands, the bottom row each box a different loud colour.
Eight boxes share one strong brand red and use quieter colours only to tell flavours apart. Below, loud secondary colours drown the brand red out.
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  1. Question 1, locked

    What happens when a secondary colour is pitched as loud as the primary?

    • Recognition splits between them until neither colour is owned
    • The pair starts failing contrast checks on most backgrounds
    • Every printed job needs a second spot ink, so costs rise
    • The secondary can no longer be used in data visualisation
  2. Question 2, locked

    Which of these words means this? “Colours that support the primaries without competing for recognition.”

    • Secondary palette
    • Non-text contrast
    • Status colour
    • Colour trade mark

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