Logos get all the attention.

They sit there in the middle of the screen during branding presentations, waiting to be judged. Like nervous little Victorian children about to recite poems in front of a room full of coal merchants.

People lean in. They squint. They have opinions.

Colour palettes, on the other hand, often get a quieter reception. They’re just a few little squares on the screen. But while the logo gets the spotlight, your colour palette is usually doing an enormous amount of day-to-day work. So, does it matter more?

Annoyingly, as with most things in design, the answer is “it depends”. But let’s have a proper poke around, because I’ve had a few conversations with planners recently that got me wondering.

The logo is important, obviously

Before we start fly-tipping all our logos in a layby, let’s be clear. Your logo matters. It gives your brand a focal point, helps people identify you, and appears across your website, client documents, email signatures, signage, and those nice golf umbrellas you give out but secretly want to keep.

In my last blog, I gobbled down this research in the Harvard Business Review that found descriptive logos can improve brand perceptions, particularly where the visual element helps people quickly understand what a business does. Logos absolutely have a role to play.

But the mistake is thinking the logo does everything.

Colour gets everywhere

Think about how your brand appears in the real world. Your colour palette runs through website backgrounds, buttons, headings, icons, charts, social media posts, newsletter banners, brochures, and presentation slides. In many of those places, the logo might only appear once. Colour runs through everything.

It creates rhythm, separates information, and helps guide those beady eyes. It makes different pieces of content feel like they belong to the same firm. This is why a colour palette is not just decoration. It’s one of the main tools you have for making your brand feel consistent. And consistency breeds confidence.

Colour changes how people feel

There’s a paper published in the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science called ‘Exciting red and competent blue’, which looks at how colour affects consumer perceptions. Across four studies, they found that colour can influence brand personality, purchase intent, likability, and familiarity.

That does not mean we should all start shouting things like “BLUE MEANS TRUST!” or “ORANGE MEANS THIS FIRM OWNS A BEANBAG!” Colour is not that simple. Context, culture, audience, and sector all matter.

But a deep, rich colour might feel established and stable. A bright, vibrant tone might feel energetic and optimistic. A soft, neutral palette might feel refined and understated. None of those are automatically good or bad. The question is whether they support the personality of your firm and the expectations of your clients.

Does the financial services profession have a colour problem?

Many firms gravitate towards similar, safe colours. Or their own favourite colours. Blue. Green. Grey. More blue. A different blue that someone insists is “more premium”. A tiny flash of teal because we are feeling dangerous today.

But a colour palette for a financial planning firm should not be based on the owner’s favourite football team, or a paint sample someone liked in B&Q. I use these examples because they’ve happened before. It needs to feel appropriate for your clients, your service, and the emotional space you occupy.

There is also a downside to playing it safe. If every firm uses the same colours in the same way, differentiation becomes harder.

Trust matters. But so does being memorable.

Your logo and colours need each other

A logo without a strong colour system can feel stranded. A colour palette without a clear logo can feel directionless. Think of your logo as the lead singer – important, distinctive, and usually standing at the front. But your colour palette is the rest of the band, the lighting rig, the stage design, and the person backstage making sure nobody trips over a cable.

So instead of asking whether your colour palette matters more than your logo, ask better questions:

• Do our colours feel like us?
• Are they consistent?
• Do they help people navigate our content?
• Are they accessible?
• Are they memorable, or are we swimming in the same sea of navy as everyone else?

Your logo might be the thing people remember first. But your colour palette is often the thing they experience most.

Class dismissed

If your palette was picked because “we’ve always used that blue”, or because someone liked the colour of a sofa in 2017 (again, a real example!), it might be time for another look. And if you need guidance on building a colour palette that supports your logo, reflects your firm, and attracts the right people, we can help.

For more information email hi@theyardstickagency.co.uk or call 0115 8965 300.