Brand New Hue: Colour & Brand Creation

Colour plays an active role in the creation of brands, not just their expression. From initial positioning to long-term recognition, colour decisions influence identity, differentiation, and emotional resonance. This session examines how and why specific colours are chosen at key moments in brand creation, and the strategic consequences of those choices.

James Allen of award-winning brand communication agency Guerilla Communications explores how colour operates at the intersection of psychology, neuroscience, perception, and culture to shape how brands are seen, felt, and understood. Drawing on research into human decision-making and visual cognition, James explains why colour is never decorative, but a primary system through which meaning, trust, and value are formed, often before conscious reasoning takes place.

Using real-world brand case studies, including the globally recognised Strategy of the Year-winning Benu brand, James unpacks the colour-based thinking, systems, processes, and design frameworks he uses to create distinctive brand platforms and visual identities. The session reveals how intentional colour choices help brands tell coherent stories, become clearly positioned, achieve differentiation, and connect with audiences on both an emotional and rational level at the level of individual perception.

Beyond colour in isolation, James also explores how colour works in relationship with graphics, typography, and copy to create stronger, more coherent brands. He demonstrates how these elements must operate as an integrated system, reinforcing one another to shape tone, clarity, and meaning, and why brands are most effective when visual language and verbal expression are designed together rather than treated as separate disciplines.

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Host or Publisher Colour Collective UK