Color Selection Principles: Distinguish Core Colors from Supporting Colors

Let's say your brand’s hero color was a bright red. Your wayfinding signs should be red to be on-brand, right? Not so fast! Would you put a bright red couch in your living room? What about multiple bright red paintings throughout your home? Again, probably not. For environmental signage and way-finding, we have to think more like interior designers and accessibility experts than graphic designers. Earlier in the rebrand process, we had developed a brand color palette for this particular church with a dark charcoal color we called “Forge Black.” Using this darker, more neutral color as the main background was a good choice for three reasons: It wouldn’t clash with the paint, flooring, and other interior colors of the building. It wouldn’t show dirt as easily as a lighter color. It would allow for the most legibility and contrast for the text. As you can see, we did bring in the red hero color, but only in a very intentional, minimalist way. Even the logo on the signs was intentionally subdued and understated to make room for more important information, like “¿donde esta el baño?”

If you go read online, ask ChatGPT, or just generally do color-related research, you know how big of a topic color really is. If you’re like me, it can leave you feeling a little… lost? People have written books and given 2 hour lectures on color theory, color psychology, digital color management, and everything in between. Even just scratching the surface can feel completely overwhelming. You might be thinking, “It feels like I should be using these principles, but how do I actually put them into practice for my church?” Even after reading my work specifically about church brand colors, it might not be clear how to actually apply this knowledge to your specific needs. And at end of the day, color is just one piece of the puzzle. That’s where having a personal guide can be a total game changer. With someone to make objective recommendations and help you avoid common mistakes, not only will you save time, you’ll save the headache of having to rethink your branding decisions in a few years. Ideally you would want this person to be a proven expert who loves the capital “C” Church and has a strong track record of branding success stories. If you’re looking for that kind of guidance, I’ve spent countless hours meeting with church leaders and translating their gut feelings into concrete messaging and visuals. I know the struggles and hurdles pastors face when nailing down exactly how their church should look, speak, and feel. Book a strategy call with me and I’ll talk with you one-on-one about what your goals are, the context your church is in, and how you can make your branding fit without the DIY headaches. See you there!

Bonus 1: Use a color palette tool Creating, adjusting, saving and sharing color palettes isn’t actually all that easy. That’s where a color palette website can be invaluable. I mentioned this website up above called Coolors. When I first discovered it, I thought “where have you been all my life?!” Unlike most color websites out there, this one lets you do much more than browse and save color palettes. You can visualize your color palette in different contexts, do global adjustments to the whole palette at once, extract colors from an image, and even use a huge library of unique color names. They didn’t sponsor me, but I really like using it. Maybe you will too. Bonus 2: Ignore CMYK and Pantone …unless you’re working with a pro, that is. When I create a brand guide for a client, I include CMYK and Pantones as a nice addition, fully expecting that they will never be used. Almost all print shops and vendors these days have automatic conversion between color spaces that is usually reliable, accurate, and consistent. Even if you’re having screen printed t-shirts made or running off thousands of flyers, Pantone and CMYK values are only helpful in very specific situations. Long story short, HEX codes are probably all you need. P.S. This week I’m focusing on church brand color selection principles, which I’ve gathered the hard way from years of church rebrands. If you want the complete guide, I’ve collected all of the principles into a single post here.

Using tints and shades is a powerful way to get more mileage out of your visual identity without adding new base colors. What this means for color selection is that you don't have to worry about that exact palette working in every possible scenario. A tint is a lighter version of the same color. Shades are darker versions of the same color. Tint = Base color + white (lighter version) Shade = Base color + black (darker version) While you might not need them in everyday use (especially with a professionally designed color palette), there are situations where your standard set of base colors are going to clash or look too opinionated. For example, a limited color palette might handicap your web designer. Because websites are interactive and display lots of information in different formats, they often call for a suite of neutral colors, ranging from dark to light. You might also find that a particular color works well online and in print, but is too strong and vibrant for apparel. A tint or shade of that color might make for a more wearable and fashion-friendly t-shirt than the original swatch. If your palette feels incomplete or you’re looking for good supporting colors, consider using tints or shades of your core colors to round it out. P.S. This week I’m focusing on church brand color selection principles, which I’ve gathered the hard way from years of church rebrands. If you want the complete guide, I’ve collected all of the principles into a single post here.

I recently helped a church rebrand where part of the new identity was the dreaded 👻name change 👻. The church was looking to plant a new congregation in a nearby community in the coming year, and they needed a name that could be shared between them, which was ultimately decided to be “Christ Redeemer.” Starting from scratch with the visual brand, I had nothing to draw on that would be familiar to their congregation. At many points in the project it was a toss up whether the pure excitement or raw terror would win out. Would the elders like the new design? Would seeing the logo concepts make them rethink everything? Would it fall on me if the congregation didn’t like the new name? These were the questions racing through my mind on the Sunday that the church’s leaders presented their new direction to the church as a whole. The next day I got a text from the worship pastor: “We showed the logo teaser and it was received very well. Some people were even teary-eyed.” “That’s great!” I thought. I kept reading. “But… a question came in via email that I’d like your help responding to.” Oh boy… Here was the question: “Hoping to learn about the decision regarding having the c in Christ lower case. I would like to understand this.” This was something we anticipated. For context, here’s the new logo they presented: {{ comp.video({ src:"/img/christ-redeemer-logo-presentation.mp4" }) }} Ultimately, here is the response we landed on: Thank you so much for engaging thoughtfully with the new logo. I love that you’re paying attention to these details—it shows real care for how we represent Christ and our church. You asked about the choice to use lowercase in the wordmark. That decision was intentional. The phrase “Christ Redeemer” is incredibly powerful—it’s really the gospel in two words. When we explored placing it in all caps, the effect was visually overwhelming, almost like the design was shouting. That led us to reflect on the paradox of Jesus himself: he had all power, and yet he did not come in power the way the world expected. Instead, he came in humility, laying down his life for us. We wanted the wordmark to hold that tension: strong yet humble, bold yet quiet. Lowercasing "christ redeemer" became a subtle way of embodying that paradox. As followers of Jesus, we’re called to the same kind of paradoxical life—living is dying, losing is gaining. If you’re interested, here’s a short article that explains some of the design thinking behind lowercase wordmarks in general: Why Some Logos Work Better in Lowercase. We found it helpful as part of our own process. It’s also worth noting: this is specifically a wordmark design choice. Whenever the church’s name appears in documents, online profiles, or other written settings, it will still be written as Christ Redeemer. Of course, the most important thing is not typography, but that our lives together point people to Jesus. The logo is just one small way we hope to embody that spirit. My hope is that every time we see it, it quietly reminds us that true greatness is found in humility, and true power in servanthood. Thanks again for raising the question—I’m grateful for your heart and your care for how we bear Christ’s name. Grace and peace, Hopefully this helps reframe changes and new chapters as an opportunity for pastoral care, rather than a bullet to be dodged! Be strong and courageous. In another post, I’ll outline the specific strategy we used to craft this letter, with explanations of why each section is there.

God’s narrative of redemption told through history has a clear central point: Christ. Throughout scripture we have hundreds of stories, genealogies, songs, and laws that seemingly have nothing to do with the man, Jesus of Nazareth. Still, we know that each one ultimately points to him. Lest someone accuse us of imagining layers of meaning that aren’t there, the Bible itself calls Christ the cornerstone of God’s redemptive plans for his people. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. — Ephesians 2:19-22 Christ is the cornerstone of the church. So how does this relate to church branding? Just like the ultimate and universally profound story God is telling in history, he is telling a nested story in your local congregation. Our job with branding and communications is to shine a light on how that micro-story plays a part in God’s macro-story. Making Christ the cornerstone of your communications means finding a memorable, own-able way to highlight God’s local work in your congregation to his global plans and purposes. Done right, every syllable and visual in your brand points back to the cross of Christ and the good news of the gospel. This means everything from your website headline to your logo should tell the same story, grounding your church in God’s archetypal story of redemption through Jesus. That’s why the first (and most critical) “C” of a kingdom-first brand is Christ.

In 2021, my wife and I moved back to our home town of Bartlesville, Oklahoma and joined the church we now call home - Hope Presbyterian Church. The church had hired a Ukrainian designer on Fiverr and got a fantastic logo design (it even won an award). But there was a problem… All they had was that logo. Their whole “brand” was limited to a gold color and a couple of webp’s. While the logo was aesthetically pleasing, it wasn’t enough to help their people “get” the mission. Each billboard, banner, and invitation card was inconsistent and time-consuming, even for the creative associate pastor. The more they tried to make their branding work in the real world, the more things got messy and out of alignment. Members with design experience were called on over and over again to come in and help “fix” designs, which always ended up being a band-aid for the real issue. What my home church went through is the result of a logo design without a true brand. They needed an easy-to-use branding toolkit with theological depth - one that would represent more than just the name of their church. A kingdom-first brand would have given their congregation ownership of the vision their leaders were casting, and would have attracted more visitors who resonated with the message they preached. And that’s why I stopped designing logos, and started developing kingdom-first brands instead.

As I’ve continued to go deeper into the branding and design industry, I’ve encountered something that is probably not just a hang-up for me, but for a lot of pastors and churches. If you do any research on marketing and branding, you’ll very quickly find lots of resources that are very focused on businesses. For example: “Speak to your ideal customer.” “Drive revenue with these marketing tips” “Create a story that makes customers keep coming back” The customer-centric, profit-driven approach can absolutely work for businesses, but for me, I’ve never felt like it applied well to the church. On one hand, you’re leading a congregation of believers who need to feel united around your vision. They need clarity, language, and visual cues that reinforce who you are as a church and where you’re going. When done well, branding can give your people something to rally around—a shared identity that goes deeper than a logo and helps every member see their role in the mission. But unlike a business, you’re not just trying to “sell” something to a customer. You’re also extending an open invitation to your community. These people are skeptics, seekers, and those who may not understand what your church is really about. For them, branding becomes a bridge. It’s the first impression that points them to Jesus Christ and communicates: This is a place for you. It signals your heart, your values, and the kind of welcome they can expect before they ever set foot inside. Where most churches struggle is trying to speak to both groups at the same time without a clear strategy. The result is confusion, inconsistency, and branding that unintentionally speaks more to insiders than outsiders… or vice versa. The approach I’ve developed in response to this problem is to make Christ the cornerstone of your brand. This seems obvious, but it’s truly countercultural when you compare it to how most agencies and designers work. I believe that a kingdom-first, vision-driven brand matters. It helps you communicate so your congregation is aligned and your community is invited, without compromise on either front.