Check out myPantone.com for more examples
If you are in the creative field then chances are you know what Pantone is, used it a million times, and none of this will be news to you. However, you may be taking for granted that outside of the creative community Pantone isn’t necessarily a house hold name and you may be passing up an opportunity to better streamline your clients projects. Let me explain…
When I’m working with a new client and going over the layout and design of a project, albeit a print piece or a website, etc… There comes a point when “color palette” comes into play. After all, the branding colors used in a project are just as important if not arguably THE most important element in reaching an emotional response from ones customers. Blue for example speaks “trust” or “confidence” whereas red is more of an exciting color speaking “action” or “immediate attention”. Then you have a myriad of other possibilities to choose from including unique shades of those very same emotion evoking colors.
In most cases a customer with an undefined brand may need some help defining the best color palette for their customer base. In these instances I like to interview them and ask questions like: “what does your brand or product do?”, “what is your key demographic?”, etc. in order to better understand the direction of their project. Then I use my best judgement as a designer to match a color selection to what I feel their brand needs to meet the desired end result.
In some cases, a product or service may just be open to interpretation and in these instances I like to leave it up to the customer to determine a few color choices to base their project off of. For these instances I often refer them to myPantone as a means to get started. Here designers and non-designers alike can choose from submitted palettes by moods such as “love” or likenesses such as “kids” or “military” for example. The naming conventions of some of the submitted palettes can get pretty entertaining and outlandish. Nevertheless, I’ve found that in a pinch a client can spend some time on this site as a means to choose a few colors from the thousands on display and help get them and you started in no time.