What’s your editorial colour palette and why does it matter?

17/5/2021

Do you know your brand colours? They’re part of what makes you recognizable, so they’re worth paying attention to – and sticking to. Here’s one way to keep track of your choices and enforce consistency.

What is a brand palette?

A brand palette is the group of colours you use across your business materials, including the following:

Advertisements
Brochures
Business cards
Checklists
Directory entries
Emails
Fact sheets

Forum signatures
Publications
Reports
Social media images
Style sheets
Stationery
Website

If we’re communicating in online spaces that we don’t control, we’re limited to a certain extent by the platform’s own brand palette.

For example, we can upload on-brand images to our Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn headers, but we can’t change the colour of the links or icons on our posts.

And members of the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading who advertise in its Directory of Editorial Services can upload on-brand headshots, videos and images to their listings but must work within the CIEP’s unique brand palette.

Do the best you can in the spaces you don’t control. In those you do, go for consistency. Here’s why it’s important.

Why a consistent brand palette is powerful

Think about brands like Coke, Reese’s Pieces, Cadbury, McDonald’s, IKEA and Aldi. You can probably reel off the colours you associate with those companies, and that means you can identify them from afar or with just a glimpse.

Editorial brand palettes work the same way. They make us recognizable such that our colleagues, clients, friends and business partners can identify us in online spaces before they’ve dug into the detail of our messaging.

If we’ve already built trust with those people, they’re more likely to take the time to engage with our content because they know who it’s from.

Of course, they can also decide not to engage with us when our brand colours pop up in their social feeds or email inboxes because they’re not interested in us. Being recognizable means we don’t waste their time, and they don’t waste ours!

Deciding on your brand-palette rules

Once you’ve decided which colours are in your brand palette, consider your rules.

My brand palette comprises grey, white, grape, maroon and teal. My brand-palette rules include the following:

Brand-colour gradients are allowed on some sections of my website
Tints, shades and tones of my brand colours are allowed if UX will be improved
Buttons on my website must always be solid teal
Linked text must always be maroon with a teal hover
Blog-post images take grape boxes on greyscale images

If you’re the kind of editor who can hold several hex colours in your head, all power to you. I’m not. I need to record them so I can access them quickly and remind myself of the ‘rules’ I’ve created.

That's why I built a brand book.

How to record your brand palette

A brand book isn’t the only way of recording your brand colours, but it’s useful if you want a single space in which to keep track of your brand colours, something you can access every time you create content related to your business. Mine's bookmarked so I can get to it quickly.

It's also a one-stop-shop you can send to creative consultants if you’re commissioning artwork or design services.

Don't stop at colours! Use it record all your editorial business's brand essentials. For example:

Audience
Brand colours
Brand values
Buttons
Colour blocks
Fonts

Headshots
Icons
Language, style and tone
Logo options
Text
Website style settings

Here's what mine looks like. Use the thumbnails to move through the slideshow. If you’d like a free copy to mimic, head over to the branding page in my resource library and select the FREE BOOKLETS icon.

If it’s not something you think you can create for yourself, the Canva template is included free with the following courses:

If you’ve already bought one of them, log in to access the template, then copy it and edit it to create your own brand book quickly.

Summing up

A brand palette ensures your editing business is consistently recognizable across multiple media. That means those who already know and trust you can spot you from afar or with a glimpse. And those just getting to know you understand what to expect.

Pick your colours and stick to them. Then keep a record of your choices. It means you can be sure you’ll be on brand everywhere!

About Louise Harnby

Louise Harnby is a line editor, copyeditor and proofreader who specializes in working with crime, mystery, suspense and thriller writers.

She is an Advanced Professional Member of the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading (CIEP), a member of ACES, a Partner Member of The Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi), and co-hosts The Editing Podcast.

Get in touch: Louise Harnby | Fiction Editor & Proofreader
Connect: Twitter at @LouiseHarnby, Facebook and LinkedIn
Learn: Books and courses
Discover: Resources for authors and editors

2 Comments

Vivienne link

30/5/2021 08:45:39 pm

A most helpful post. Does this apply to books, too, because it's difficult when you don't have complete control of the design process.

Geometry Dash Unblocked link

7/4/2026 05:19:41 am

They’re part of what makes you recognizable, so they’re worth paying attention to – and sticking to. Here’s one way to keep track of your choices and enforce consistency.