# Brand colors examples: what famous palettes teach [Canonical HTML page](https://gradiently.design/guide/brand-colors-examples) The best known brand colours are not clever. They are chosen once and then repeated for decades. Here is what a handful of famous palettes actually teach, and how to use the lessons on a small brand. ## The short version - The most recognisable brand colours work because they have been used consistently for a long time, not because the hue itself is special. - Coca-Cola red, Tiffany blue and Cadbury purple show the power of owning one colour within a category. - IKEA's blue and yellow and McDonald's red and yellow show that a fixed pair can be as recognisable as a single colour. - Google's four colours and Instagram's gradient show that a multicolour system can be distinctive if the order and mix stay fixed. - A small brand can borrow the method behind famous palettes: one lead colour, strict roles for the rest, and years of repetition. The best **brand colors examples**, from Coca-Cola's red to Tiffany's pale blue, have one thing in common: a colour chosen early and then repeated, in the same role, for decades. None of them is a secret shade. What they teach is method. Own one colour or one fixed combination in your category, give every other colour a strict job, and keep going long after you are bored of it. Below are five lessons, each drawn from widely documented palettes. The swatches are approximate screen colours for illustration, not official brand codes. ## Lesson 1: own one colour in your category **Coca-Cola** has used red for well over a century, on bottles, trucks, fridges and signs. **Tiffany & Co.** made its robin's egg blue so central that the colour is a registered trademark in the United States and has its own custom Pantone shade, named 1837 Blue after the year the company was founded. **Cadbury** has used purple since the early twentieth century and fought a long legal battle in the UK to register a specific shade for chocolate, which it ultimately lost on appeal. - Cola style red: #e41e2b - Robin's egg blue: #81d8d0 - Chocolate purple: #4b0082 - Parcel brown: #644117 Approximations of four single colour brands: red, robin's egg blue, deep purple and the brown UPS uses on its vans and uniforms. Each one is ordinary on its own and unmistakable in context. Notice that UPS turned **brown**, a colour most marketers would avoid, into an asset by using it on every van and uniform, and even asking "What can Brown do for you?" in its advertising. The lesson: in your category, an unexpected colour used everywhere beats a fashionable one used sometimes. Whether you can protect a colour legally is a separate question, covered in [can you trademark a colour](https://gradiently.design/guide/can-you-trademark-a-color). ## Lesson 2: a fixed pair is just as strong **IKEA** uses blue and yellow, the colours of the Swedish flag, so its stores read as Swedish from the motorway. **McDonald's** pairs red and yellow. **John Deere** pairs green and yellow so consistently that "John Deere green" is used as a colour name in its own right. In each case neither colour is unusual. The pair, used together every time, is what people recognise. | Brand | Colours | What it teaches | | --- | --- | --- | | IKEA | Blue and yellow | A pair can carry meaning, here a national origin | | McDonald's | Red and yellow | Warm, high contrast pairs read from far away | | John Deere | Green and yellow | Repeat a pair long enough and the colour takes your name | | FedEx | Purple and orange | A clashing pair is memorable when it is fixed | Four colour pairs and the lesson in each. Two colours give more flexibility than one without losing recognition. ## Lesson 3: a multicolour system needs a fixed order **Google** uses blue, red, yellow and green, and the order in its wordmark has stayed recognisable through every redesign. **Microsoft's** logo is four squares in orange red, green, blue and yellow, always in the same arrangement. Many colours can be distinctive, but only when the set, the order and the proportions stay put. A rainbow that reshuffles every time reads as generic. ## Lesson 4: a gradient can be a brand colour When **Instagram** redesigned its icon in 2016, it replaced a brown camera with a warm gradient running from yellow and orange through magenta to purple. The gradient became the brand colour: you can recognise it on a tiny icon or a giant billboard. [Famous gradient logos](https://gradiently.design/guide/famous-gradient-logos) looks at more examples. Instagram style gradient (approximate): `linear-gradient(45deg, #feda75 0%, #fa7e1e 25%, #d62976 50%, #962fbf 75%, #4f5bd5 100%)` An approximation of the 2016 Instagram gradient: yellow, orange, magenta, purple and blue. The order is the identity; shuffle it and it stops reading as Instagram. Gradients are harder to own than flat colours because they are easy to approximate, as this one shows. That is the problem Gradiently was built around: a Mark is a gradient and material look with exactly one owner at a time, crafted by Gradiently and checked against every other Mark so no two look alike. ## Lesson 5: break the category convention on purpose Banking has long leaned on blues, which is why the hot coral cards of the UK bank **Monzo** stood out so quickly. **T-Mobile** built its identity around magenta in a telecoms market full of blues and reds, and its parent company has defended that magenta in court more than once. If every competitor uses the same colour, choosing a different one is the cheapest distinctiveness available. [Colour psychology](https://gradiently.design/guide/color-psychology) explains the associations; convention explains why breaking them works. ### What people copy - The exact shade of a famous brand - Whatever colour is trending this year - A new palette for every campaign - Five colours used in equal amounts ### What actually works - A colour that is unusual in your category - A choice you will still make in ten years - One palette repeated until it is yours - One lead colour, the rest in strict support roles ## Applying the lessons to a small brand 1. **List your competitors' colours** Screenshot ten profiles in your category. The colour that is missing is your opportunity. 2. **Choose a lead colour or a pair** One colour you will put on everything, or a fixed pair. [How to choose brand colours](https://gradiently.design/guide/how-to-choose-brand-colors) has the full method. 3. **Give the others jobs** A ground, an ink for text and one accent. The [60 30 10 rule](https://gradiently.design/guide/60-30-10-rule) is a useful starting proportion. 4. **Write down the codes** Hex, RGB, CMYK and a Pantone reference, so every printer and developer gets the same colour. See [brand colour codes](https://gradiently.design/guide/brand-color-codes). 5. **Repeat it for years** Recognition comes from repetition. Change the words and pictures, not the colours. A portrait social post for a bookshop announcing late opening every Friday, set on a single colour gradient background A small brand using the method: one lead colour family, one ink, one accent, repeated on every post. ## FAQ ### What are some famous brand colour examples? Coca-Cola red, Tiffany blue, Cadbury purple, UPS brown, IKEA's blue and yellow, McDonald's red and yellow, and Google's four colours are among the best known. ### Why are brand colours so recognisable? Mostly through long, consistent use in the same role. The hue itself matters less than the repetition. ### How many colours should a brand have? One lead colour or a fixed pair, plus a ground, an ink and an accent, is enough for most brands. ### Can I use the same colour as a famous brand? Using a similar colour is common, but some colours are protected within their category, and copying a famous brand's palette makes you look like an imitation. Choose a colour that is unusual among your own competitors. ### Can a gradient be a brand colour? Yes. Instagram's 2016 icon gradient is a well known example. The order and mix of colours have to stay fixed for it to be recognisable.