So you’ve designed a logo, but one thing stands in your way of creating the most amazing logo of all time—the proper color scheme. Color schemes can make or break a logo, completely changing both the mood and the overall brand image you’ve worked so hard to create. We’ve compiled some basic guidelines for color as well as our favorite resources to help you figure out the best color scheme for your brand.

Color Psychology

First, take time to think about color. Your brand sends a message not just through words. Do a little research about what emotions a color will evoke. This will narrow down your search. Also consider what social context is related to a color and use this as a starting point. For instance, a financial investment group will want to avoid red as its context within that industry means loss in revenue. Green or black work far better for financial companies.

Use Color Theory and the Color Wheel

If you’ve picked one color for the brand, but are unsure of where to go from there, go back to the basics. A color wheel can help you choose how you want your colors to relate and interact with each other.

A good color scheme doesn’t use more than three colors. You don’t have to be an expert in color theory, but here are the four basic color schemes and how they work.

Imagine you have selected purple as your main color.

Monochromatic – A monochromatic color scheme has one color and then varying shades of that same color. These shades are created by adding white to lighten or black to darken. A good way to remember monochromatic is to think about coffee. When you start with “black” coffee you then add white cream – each additional tablespoon gives you a new point on the monochromatic scale. For purple, your color scheme might include:

Analogous – These color schemes use colors that are next to each other on the color wheel. Analogous schemes are calming and often occur in nature. With purple, you’ll find blues and pinks next door.

Complementary – You can find complementary colors by looking opposite the main color. For purple, you’ll find greens.

Triadic – These color schemes use colors that are evenly spaced around the wheel. With purple as our main color we’ll see greens and warm browns in a triadic scheme.

When thinking about your main color play with these schemes and see which feel right for your brand.

There’s An App For That

There are numerous places you can go to get inspiration for colors. These two are user-friendly and great places to start getting ideas.

Saturation is a great start. It has hundreds of premade color combinations to browse. It is interactive and allows users to create dimensionality between colors—inevitably choosing a dominant color for your scheme. Each color is conveniently labeled with the HEX# for accurate, universal use.

Canva, the online design platform, has a great resource in its Colors app. Explore color meanings by clicking any of the swatches. From there you are taken for the hub for that color where you can read about its history as well as the psychology of the color. To the right you’ll find the monochromatic scheme and then can click to look at the analogous, complementary and triadic swatches. Under these find popular combinations using the color and then click on those to get a sample, and the hex codes so that you can apply these colors universally. Finally, you can find templates using your desired color or combination of colors. Here’s a video exploring the color mauve.