The Science of Design:
Creating a Color Palette
Welcome to our blog series on basic design principles tailored specifically for scientists, engineers, and tech companies! Visual communication is critical in technical fields, and a well-defined visual strategy elevates the clarity and impact of your work. Today, we’re exploring how to build a strategic color palette for your science brand. Whether you’re developing brand guidelines or preparing figures for publication (more detail in this post), color plays a vital role in setting your company apart.
Why a Color Palette Matters in Science
You might wonder why a scientist should worry about a color palette. Surprisingly, a well-chosen color palette can make your presentations, reports, and websites feel organized and cohesive. Moreover, colors have the power to evoke emotions and underline your goals.
This is essential in connecting with your specific audience. Consider what look and feel you want to convey through branded material. For example, blue often evokes calm and trust, which is why it’s prevalent in the life sciences.
Choosing Colors for Science
Where do you begin, when choosing your colors? One of the best places to start, is to define your company’s emotional focus. That may sound antithetical to a science or technology company, but it’s perhaps even more important.
- Do you want to evoke excitement and a bold vision, try bright, bold colors.
- What about safety and trust? Consider blues or subdued tones.
- Are you focused on sustainability? It might sound like a cliche, but there is a reason why many green energy companies rely on green.
One of our favorite tools for creating a color palette is a web app called Coolors.co. This tool helps you pick a primary color and then suggests secondary highlight colors.
You can see SayoStudio’s color palette below, where we use brighter secondary colors for elements like buttons and headlines to draw attention. Those of you who are familiar with our work, know that our visual systems of illustration, moving animations, and design use a whole spectrum of colors.
Where our palette is powerful, is pulling all of these varying pieces together. We use it for our fonts and background colors across our website, promotional materials, and our social media platforms to keep our content on-brand, cohesive, and visually appealing. At SayoStudio, we help biotech, climate tech, and deep tech companies translate complex research into cohesive visual brands. When we develop a science branding suite, keeping consistent colors ensures that your journal illustrations, pitch decks, infographics, and website all align seamlessly.
When we are working with companies, keeping consistent colors is one key way to help make sure that figures, illustrations, marketing content, and scientific art align with the overall branding strategy.
The Ubiquity of Blue in Life Science and Tech Companies
If you’re in the life sciences, you’re probably familiar with the ubiquitous cyan blue. Psychological studies have shown that blue evokes feelings of calm and trust, sentiments that align well with pharmaceutical companies researching new therapies. Even with the same blue as 50 other companies, you can choose bold secondary colors to complement and set yourself apart.
Life Science color palette examples, beyond blue
Here are a couple of example palettes we generated using Coolors to expand on the basic cyan blue color with interesting supporting colors to build a unique look and feel:
In the palettes above, you’ll see three color codes: HEX, RGB, and CMYK. You can use these in any design program to make sure you’re getting the exact match. Curious about what they mean? Here is a quick summary:
HEX color code definition
- Meaning: Six-digit hexadecimal number.
- Format: #RRGGBB (e.g., #FFFFFF for white).
- Use: Web design and digital graphics.
RGB color code definition
- Meaning: Red, Green, Blue.
- Format: rgb(R, G, B) with values from 0-255 (e.g., rgb(255, 0, 0) for red).
- Use: Digital screens (monitors, TVs).
CMYK color coded definition
- Meaning: Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Key (black).
- Format: cmyk(C%, M%, Y%, K%) (e.g., cmyk(0%, 100%, 100%, 0%) for red).
- Use: Printing materials (magazines, flyers).
Color Theory for Science to Build a Brand
All these elements that help create a consistent look or style are what we mean by branding. A strong brand will give your lab or company a memorable look, regardless of who is presenting or what platform you’re sharing on.
You may ask, do you ALWAYS have to use your color palette? Of course not, but the more you can pull in some of the colors, the more memorable your vision will be. If you find yourself consistently straying from your palette, ask yourself if it’s time to readjust and redefine your colors.
In future posts, we’ll dive into the importance of white space, the power of effective font choice, and how to choose the right design elements to communicate your science.
Need a Custom Color Palette & Visual Strategy for Your Brand?
By following these basic design principles, you can create more impactful and visually appealing presentations, reports, and other materials.
At SayoStudio, we specialize in creating custom visual suites that capture attention and build trust.
👉 Get in touch with our team today to discuss your upcoming project.
