Changing the color palette during rebranding
Why do companies change the palette at all if it is so risky
Color does not become outdated by itself, but together with the associations it carries. Mail in 2019 year abandoned the blue-orange palette precisely because this color pair began to be read as a sign of the 'old internet' — the visual language of portals of the early 2000-s. In its place came a salad green, which solved two tasks at once: refreshed the brand image and increased contrast per WCAG standards, improving interface readability for visually impaired users.
Another motive is competitive pressure on the shelf or in the feed. Berlingo switched from red to violet not for aesthetic reasons, but because the red-and-white palette was occupied by competitors before it: customers physically confused the brands in the store. Changing the color here works as a way to break through visual noise, not as a whim of the art director.
The consequences for brand recognition are always two-sided. In the short term, the brand loses part of its 'automatic' recognition — the eye gets used to looking for the logo by color spot, not by shape. In the long term, if the color is chosen precisely, recognition recovers within a few months and becomes stronger because the new palette better reflects the current positioning.
How to choose a primary color so that it survives on all media
The color that looks great on screen often falls apart in packaging or on the outside. RGB on a monitor is always more saturated than CMYK on paper, so a saturated sage or bright violet on screen can turn into a pale spot in print. Color swatches on real materials—film, cardboard, fabric—are mandatory before final approval of the palette, not just viewing on a designer's monitor.
Next comes the 60-30-10 rule: 60% of the visual composition is given to the brand's main color, 30% to auxiliary shades, 10% to the accent color for calls to action and key elements. This is not an aesthetic recommendation but a way to avoid an overloaded, 'shouting' palette that doesn't scale well across formats—from billboards to app icons.
- Account for the traffic acquisition channel: if 95% of the audience comes from mobile screens, priority should be given to contrast and readability in digital form, not effect in print.
- Relate saturation to the age of the target audience: people 25-34 years old usually prefer a more restrained, less aggressive palette than the 16-20 year-old audience, which better accepts bright and contrasting solutions.
- Check contrast according to WCAG—the ratio should be at least 4,5:1, otherwise text on the brand background will be unreadable for some users.
- Factor in geography and cultural context: the same color in different regions may carry opposite associations—from celebration to mourning.
How consumers react to a change of 'their' color
The reaction to a change in the brand color is almost never rational — it is emotional, and this is the key point that teams planning a rebranding often miss. The Cracker Barrel case is illustrative in this sense no less than Gap: an attempt to visually 'lighten up' and simplify the brand style is perceived by the audience as a rejection of the brand's history, rather than an update. People defend not pixels, but memory — memories, habits, the feeling of stability associated with a specific shade.
Several factors influence the strength of the rejection response: the age of the core audience (the longer a person uses a brand, the more painful the reaction to a color change), the degree of emotional attachment to the product (a bank is perceived more acutely than a food delivery service), and how sharp the transition was. A gradual evolution of color is almost always better accepted than an abrupt radical jump.
| Factor | Mitigates rejection | Intensifies rejection |
|---|---|---|
| Speed of changes | Phased transition, test regions | Instant launch everywhere at once |
| Communication | Explaining the reasons for the change in advance | Silent replacement without explanations |
| Retention of elements | The shape, logo, or font remain recognizable | Everything changes at once |
| Audience age | Young, recently arrived audience | Long-term loyal customers |
What methods to use to test the palette before launch
Testing the color is not a one-time focus group survey, but a sequence of checks, each of which addresses its own risk.
- A/B test on real website or app traffic — comparing behavioral metrics (clicks, conversions, time on page) for the old and new palette on a limited sample.
- Contrast check according to WCAG for all text-background pairs, especially in the mobile version, where the screen is smaller and lighting conditions are worse.
- Color samples on physical media — packaging, signage, employee uniforms — to eliminate the gap between screen and printed color versions.
- Qualitative interviews with audience segments by age and region — not a general survey, but a conversation specifically with the group that is most loyal to the current brand.
- Testing in the context of competitors: placing mockups next to competitors' packaging or interfaces to check whether the new color creates visual confusion.
- Pilot launch in one region or channel before full rollout — this is what companies do after learning the lessons of Gap.
Common mistakes when changing color
The most common mistake is changing the color for the sake of renewal, rather than to solve a specific positioning or recognition problem. If there is no clear answer to why the color is being changed, the result will be random, and audience reaction will be unpredictable.
The second mistake is to ignore the demographic gap: brand manager teams are often younger than the product's target audience, and what seems fresh to designers may read as alien and inappropriate to the 45+ target group. The third is testing the palette only on screen, forgetting about print and offline touchpoints where color physically behaves differently. And finally, underestimating emotional attachment: for a loyal customer, brand color is part of personal identity, and its abrupt replacement is perceived almost as a personal loss, not as a logo update.
How to maintain the balance between renewal and recognizability
The working methodology is not based on choosing 'change everything or nothing,' but on dividing identity elements by their degree of 'inviolability.' The logo shape, distinctive font, or recognizable silhouette of a character can be left unchanged while the palette changes — thus preserving an anchor for recognition. Conversely, if the shape changes, it's wiser to retain at least a muted shade of color as a transitional bridge. That's exactly what Mail did, preserving the geometry of the logo while fully changing the color palette — the audience recognized the brand by silhouette even before becoming accustomed to the new color.
Why do companies change the palette at all if it is so risky
Color does not become outdated by itself, but together with the associations it carries. Mail in 2019 year abandoned the blue-orange palette precisely because this color pair began to be read as a sign of the 'old internet' — the visual language of portals of the early 2000-s. In its place came a salad green, which solved two tasks at once: refreshed the brand image and increased contrast per WCAG standards, improving interface readability for visually impaired users.
Another motive is competitive pressure on the shelf or in the feed. Berlingo switched from red to violet not for aesthetic reasons, but because the red-and-white palette was occupied by competitors before it: customers physically confused the brands in the store. Changing the color here works as a way to break through visual noise, not as a whim of the art director.
The consequences for brand recognition are always two-sided. In the short term, the brand loses part of its 'automatic' recognition — the eye gets used to looking for the logo by color spot, not by shape. In the long term, if the color is chosen precisely, recognition recovers within a few months and becomes stronger because the new palette better reflects the current positioning.
How to choose a primary color so that it survives on all media
The color that looks great on screen often falls apart in packaging or on the outside. RGB on a monitor is always more saturated than CMYK on paper, so a saturated sage or bright violet on screen can turn into a pale spot in print. Color swatches on real materials—film, cardboard, fabric—are mandatory before final approval of the palette, not just viewing on a designer's monitor.
Next comes the 60-30-10 rule: 60% of the visual composition is given to the brand's main color, 30% to auxiliary shades, 10% to the accent color for calls to action and key elements. This is not an aesthetic recommendation but a way to avoid an overloaded, 'shouting' palette that doesn't scale well across formats—from billboards to app icons.
- Account for the traffic acquisition channel: if 95% of the audience comes from mobile screens, priority should be given to contrast and readability in digital form, not effect in print.
- Relate saturation to the age of the target audience: people 25-34 years old usually prefer a more restrained, less aggressive palette than the 16-20 year-old audience, which better accepts bright and contrasting solutions.
- Check contrast according to WCAG—the ratio should be at least 4,5:1, otherwise text on the brand background will be unreadable for some users.
- Factor in geography and cultural context: the same color in different regions may carry opposite associations—from celebration to mourning.
How consumers react to a change of 'their' color
The reaction to a change in the brand color is almost never rational — it is emotional, and this is the key point that teams planning a rebranding often miss. The Cracker Barrel case is illustrative in this sense no less than Gap: an attempt to visually 'lighten up' and simplify the brand style is perceived by the audience as a rejection of the brand's history, rather than an update. People defend not pixels, but memory — memories, habits, the feeling of stability associated with a specific shade.
Several factors influence the strength of the rejection response: the age of the core audience (the longer a person uses a brand, the more painful the reaction to a color change), the degree of emotional attachment to the product (a bank is perceived more acutely than a food delivery service), and how sharp the transition was. A gradual evolution of color is almost always better accepted than an abrupt radical jump.
| Factor | Mitigates rejection | Intensifies rejection |
|---|---|---|
| Speed of changes | Phased transition, test regions | Instant launch everywhere at once |
| Communication | Explaining the reasons for the change in advance | Silent replacement without explanations |
| Retention of elements | The shape, logo, or font remain recognizable | Everything changes at once |
| Audience age | Young, recently arrived audience | Long-term loyal customers |
What methods to use to test the palette before launch
Testing the color is not a one-time focus group survey, but a sequence of checks, each of which addresses its own risk.
- A/B test on real website or app traffic — comparing behavioral metrics (clicks, conversions, time on page) for the old and new palette on a limited sample.
- Contrast check according to WCAG for all text-background pairs, especially in the mobile version, where the screen is smaller and lighting conditions are worse.
- Color samples on physical media — packaging, signage, employee uniforms — to eliminate the gap between screen and printed color versions.
- Qualitative interviews with audience segments by age and region — not a general survey, but a conversation specifically with the group that is most loyal to the current brand.
- Testing in the context of competitors: placing mockups next to competitors' packaging or interfaces to check whether the new color creates visual confusion.
- Pilot launch in one region or channel before full rollout — this is what companies do after learning the lessons of Gap.
Common mistakes when changing color
The most common mistake is changing the color for the sake of renewal, rather than to solve a specific positioning or recognition problem. If there is no clear answer to why the color is being changed, the result will be random, and audience reaction will be unpredictable.
The second mistake is to ignore the demographic gap: brand manager teams are often younger than the product's target audience, and what seems fresh to designers may read as alien and inappropriate to the 45+ target group. The third is testing the palette only on screen, forgetting about print and offline touchpoints where color physically behaves differently. And finally, underestimating emotional attachment: for a loyal customer, brand color is part of personal identity, and its abrupt replacement is perceived almost as a personal loss, not as a logo update.
How to maintain the balance between renewal and recognizability
The working methodology is not based on choosing 'change everything or nothing,' but on dividing identity elements by their degree of 'inviolability.' The logo shape, distinctive font, or recognizable silhouette of a character can be left unchanged while the palette changes — thus preserving an anchor for recognition. Conversely, if the shape changes, it's wiser to retain at least a muted shade of color as a transitional bridge. That's exactly what Mail did, preserving the geometry of the logo while fully changing the color palette — the audience recognized the brand by silhouette even before becoming accustomed to the new color.
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