In animated videos, visuals speak louder than words. In fact, the visuals set the mood for the whole video. And these visuals, as you may know, are entirely shaped by the color palette you choose. If you got the colors right, you’ve got your message delivered before even a word is spoken.
That being said, let’s jump into how to choose the right color palette for your animated explainers, making sure you get the attention you need with perfect contrast, relentless consistency, and unmatched emotion. In this article we will explore the psychology of color with samples for some major industries.
Let’s make your videos speak loud, even if there’s no dialogue. ;)
Color Guidance by Industry
Though strange it might sound, every industry has a different vibe to it, and the color palette used should perfectly reflect that. To give you an idea, let’s break down which color suits what industry:
Finance and Banking
Finance and banking is an industry built on trust, reliability and stability. And therefore, the color palettes that you often see in the industry’s ads are either navy blue, gray, or other conservative tones. This is because these colors are directly associated with trust and professionalism.
For example, any dark shade of blue directly evokes authority, along with a sense of calm, making it perfect for companies dealing in money matters. On the other hand, gray represents neutrality and sophistication, helping the brand present a classic image. Some brands even use black for added elegance.
Tech & SaaS
Tech and SaaS are always about innovation, advancement, and progress. Which means the color palette used should also be contemporary. It should reflect the modern image of the industry, as well as align with the current design trends, which, today, is minimalism.
And that’s why the most prevalently used colors you’ll almost always see in SaaS animation videos today are either blue, white, green, or sometimes black. These are some of the cleanest tones that represent trust, innovation, clarity, and growth, the four key pillars of the software industry.
By using these colors, you subconsciously tell your audience that you can trust us with your growth!
Healthcare
The healthcare advertising industry is built around two things: calm and care. And as you make your animated explainer, these things should be on top of your checklist, whether it’s in your script or color palette. Your video should feel light and friendly.
While the script is more about your writer’s creative prowess, using colors like soft blues and greens will almost always help.
Some brands also go with white and red, but that really depends on the context of the video since red is often associated with urgency.
E-commerce
If you’re on YouTube, you probably must have come across hundreds of e-commerce product ads at this point. And if you do online shopping, which you probably do, you’ll have visited tens of websites. What do they all have in common? Their color palette. All well-to-do websites and videos have at least one of the three colors: red, orange, and yellow.
That’s because they easily draw attention and perfectly represent the three most important things driving the ecommerce industry: urgency, optimism, and attention.
In combination, these colors effectively trigger emotional appeal and stimulate faster decision-making, making them ideal for an industry as competitive and attention-oriented as eCommerce, where options are countless.
Luxury
Luxury brands are all about exclusivity and elegance. Which means, going with deep, classy colors like black and gold are the best.
You can combine these colors with slow pacing, smooth but minimal color transitions, and just enough negative space to give your video a touch of sophistication.
Introducing other deep tones will add more depth to the overall premium aesthetic.
Sustainability
The visual theme for sustainability-based products has always been the same and will always remain the same, consisting of green and earthy colors. You can also add a bunch of other neutrals and whites for a minimalistic touch, but the main focus should be on the original, green, and earthy colors.
You can combine these colors with a purpose-driven, honest, and humble script without emphasizing the usual “sustainability” buzzwords to create an authentic feel.
Combine it with a light-modded animation style like hand-drawn animation or typography style for added transparency and warmth.
Education
For educational explainer videos, there are two things that matter the most—clarity and engagement. Therefore, using colors like blues and oranges is considered the most appropriate in the industry due to their strong contrast and their representation of focus and enthusiasm.
Using a clear script and typography along with a strong contrast to segment topics will also help.
It will make your video significantly easier to understand, navigate, and retain, making learning less overwhelming, which will ultimately translate into a successful educational video.
Corporate/B2B
Corporate and B2B animation videos are all about professionalism. Therefore, overly colorful animations might not be the right way to go, as they could represent your brand as unserious and unfocused. In such an industry, using neutral color palettes like blue and gray is the best.
These colors represent a powerful mix of stability, trust, and professionalism without being flashy, while giving your brand a modern image without being cold and impersonal.
Your visual identity should communicate clarity, confidence, and authority, and these colors help you do just that.
Start With Brand Colors, Then Adapt for Psychology
Whether you’re making a video for your own brand or for a client, the colors you choose should be more of a strategic choice than creative. That’s because these colors are not just about looking cool– they must work perfectly in motion.
They must shift, transition, and interact with each other in harmony. However, sometimes, core brand colors, although cool in stills, don’t quite work well when put to motion.
So what do we do in such a situation? Well, here are a few smart strategies that could help your brand maintain a compelling presence on screen, even if the core colors are not suited for motion:
Choose supporting colors that enhance emotions
If you think the core colors of your brand are not quite able to communicate your message or support the story, using some nice supporting colors could give your video the much needed practical and aesthetic appeal that it needs. However, these colors should complement each other rather than clashing.
For example, if your primary brand color is blue, using a neutral supporting color like soft green will just create the visual harmony required to balance every frame, and let every character and word shine.
Make the key moments and elements stand out
Here, the philosophy is completely the opposite of what we previously discussed. Here, the colors should not support each other but stand out, break the rhythm, and catch the viewer’s eye. You can achieve that by using bright, contrasting colors on muted backgrounds.
How you do that is totally up to you. You can either use this combination directly at a particular frame for instant impact, or, you can animate the build-up for a smooth transition. No matter which way you choose, the goal should be the same– to bring attention to the critical points.
Adjust tones and background shades for better visuals appeal
Sometimes using your brand colors as-is against a certain background at certain points could result in an unnecessary clash of colors, affecting the video’s whole visual appeal. A little tweak of the tones and background shades could really help you in this regard, as it would make your video visually strong and emotionally on-point, while still helping your core brand colors stand out.
Always prioritize contrast and accessibility
Readability and accessibility are important for any type of marketing. But when it comes to visuals in motion where viewers get only a few seconds to catch texts, these become critical. In such scenarios, you want the main points to be conspicuous. Which means, maintaining high contrast between the foreground (text/characters) and the background is absolutely necessary.
For instance, using a dark-green colored CTA will stand out better than light-green colored CTA on a white background. An easy way to find out whether a certain text goes with a certain background would be to combine them in still images. If the text is hard to notice or read in the still, it will be harder to read in motion.
Final Tips for Creators
1. Flat visuals are your enemy
When everything in the video has the same intensity, it gets dull at a certain point, causing the audience to lose interest. A good strategy to enhance your visuals would be to use saturated colors for important highlights and muted tones for supportive elements. Sprinkling a little bit of negative space here and there would help make the video more dynamic.
2. Palette consistency is the key
It’s ok to add some flashy elements to make your video engaging. But no matter what, always stick to your brand and campaign colors throughout the length of the video. It will help keep your brand image consistent while making your animated content look more polished and intentional.
3. Testing different variations is always good
Not sure what kind of video and color palette will work? Well, the best way to find out is to put different versions of your video out there and collect real data based on the video’s performance and audience feedback. Based on the data, you’ll get a good idea of what’s working and what not, and then optimize your animated videos accordingly.
We Know the Art of Animated Explainer Videos
From remarkable storytelling to using attractive colors and everything in between, we have mastered the art of animated explainers over the course of a decade-long experience, working with top brands around the world.
Reach out to our team here: Kasradesign.com/get-a-quote/