How to create a signature colour palette for your personal brand: Elevating your visual identity

Learn how to curate, test and commit to a refined colour palette that strengthens recognition, builds emotional connection and elevates your personal brand with confidence. 

A signature colour palette for your brand makes you recognisable and memorable. This isn’t a quick aesthetic decision; It’s your visual language. it’s a carefully curated one designed to communicate with meaning and emotional resonance - for your community and yourself. 

Your visual identity sets the tone for your personal brand before you’ve even said a word. So, let’s discuss how to create the design-inspired colour palette that feels cohesive, timeless and unmistakably yours. 

1. Moodboard on Pinterest first

Don’t simply open Canva or Adobe and expect inspiration to flow. Create like a designer and moodboard first. If you follow this blog, you’d know how much I love using Pinterest to ‘Build my Second Brain’, as I share in my blog, How I Use Pinterest Boards to Rewire My Brain and Upgrade My Life.

Create boards and sub-boards to explore ideas. This can be as specific as colours of interest, colour combinations and differentiating between shades of the same colour. Search Pantone and HEX references, which will often also give you comparisons of shades. But don’t simply stick to typical branding imagery. Draw inspiration from lifestyle, photography, fashion, food, architecture or more. This will paint a more holistic picture of the application of certain colours and also give you clues about what you are most compelled by. 

I personally recommend moodboarding your colour palette on Pinterest for months before making any further moves to refresh your personal brand. Colours you love one day will tire you another, while easily overlooked colours will suddenly catch your attention.

2. Curate your palette on Canva 

When the picture of your palette starts to get clearer, curate on Canva to finesse your favourite finds. Aim for up to 3-7 colours across: 

• 1-2 Primary core/anchor colours: Identity signature colours that appear more often.

• 1-2 Primary neutrals: Allow breathing room for the other colours.

• 1 (potentially 2) accents:  Add a hint of personality to your brand.

• 2-3 text colours: Ensure you have colours that are suitable for text.

• 1-2 Secondary neutrals: Build a bridge between other colours, without stealing attention. Add layers and visual variety. 

To perfect my palette, I work through ideas for the colours alongside the website coolors. It will help you pinpoint the right shade for you and distinguish between tiny differences, while presenting your colours in a palette so you can visualise them alongside each other. 

The magic for my own colour palette really came to life when I created it as a moodboard on Canva: 

• Pinpoint the images you keep coming back to most from your Pinterest boards. 

• Build those images behind your colour palette. 

• Pick the shades that most resonate with you. 

Learn more in my earlier blog, What your personal brand colours say about you, and how to choose them carefully

3. Co-create your colour palette with ChatGPT

One of the most impressive ways I have seen ChatGPT as personal assistant has been in refining my colour palette. To make the most of the platform as your creative partner:  

• Brief ChatGPT on your brand.

• Share the colours you’re considering and request feedback.

• Don’t settle for initial thoughts, ask for further recommendations and challenge it. 

• Share your palette progress. 

• Upload images and request feedback.

4. Add emotional resonance. Name your colours 

The best brands don’t simply jump on trends; enduring branding creates emotion, memory and meaning. 

When picking your colours and even the images that inspire them, consider what is most meaningful for you or most reflects your existing personal style. Whether it’s the colour of your favourite signature drink, the colour of the stone in your home or your favourite furniture. It could be the colour of your signature lipstick or the memory of your grandma’s scarf. Find what feels right long-term for you. 

Colours on Pinterest in other platforms will often come with names. Don’t feel confined to these. Naming my palette with my own emotional resonance is what made it feel right for me long term. It made it feel inspired. Colours I thought most important didn’t make the cut and unexpected additions did. Enduring brands understand this well. For example, the famous Hermés orange began during WWII material storage. The brand embraced the unexpected colour’s warmth, now synonymous with the luxury icon. 

5. Do a soft launch 

If you follow this blog, you’ll know how much I love the concept of Tiny Experiments. When you’re the CEO of your own personal brand, you don’t have all the pressure of big brand launches. You can conduct trial runs. Test your new colours on parts of your website or social graphics for a few months and see how they resonate with you in their everyday application. A digital soft launch gives you more flexibility before making any more permanent changes to brand touchpoints you might have. 

6. Ship your work

Don’t get so caught up in the creative curating that you stall on embodying your brand across all touchpoints. In his book, The Practice, legendary Seth Godin also advocates for committing to practice. But don’t simply hoard the fruits of your practice. As he says, ’Ship your work.’ Because it doesn’t count if you don’t share it. The quest for perfection can also be procrastination in disguise. With the continuous cycle of creating and shipping, resistance and fear become disempowered. 

Commit to a hard launch of your new brand palette. Update your palette across all touchpoints. I’ve personally come to love the approach of launching without announcing. Showing up as the new, elevated version of your personal brand without shouting about it can be a stronger power move than overexplaining every new chapter. 

Instead of aiming to create a masterpiece, focus on the smallest unit of your genius; this compounds to create stunning results. And remember, you can always evolve later if you change your mind. 

Curate your brand to stand out in style

A carefully curated colour palette for your personal brand quietly speaks for you. It’s everywhere you show up, communicating what you represent and the type of community you want to connect to. Embrace colours as your visual language to communicate exactly how you want to, and create inviting spaces for others to experience your brand. 

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