Looks Good, Feels Wrong: Decoding the Subconscious Signals Your Brand Send

Colour Psychology isn’t what you think it is

Ever noticed how nearly every environmental company uses green in their branding? There’s a reason for that. Your brain creates shortcuts (heuristics) that instantly connect certain colours with specific meanings. But here’s where most businesses get it wrong.

Those cute little colour psychology charts that tell you “red means energy” and “yellow means happiness” are massively oversimplified. They’re based on Western cultural norms that don’t necessarily translate globally. In fact, colours can mean completely different things depending on which country you’re in.

Here’s what actually matters with colour:

• Contrast is top dog: I can’t tell you how many brands I’ve seen lately with colour combinations that fail basic contrast checks. If 30% of your audience can’t read your text because there’s not enough contrast between text and background, what’s the bloody point?
• Cultural context matters: If you’re planning to go international, the colours that work in Australia might send the wrong message elsewhere. Own your space locally before trying to expand.
• Accessibility isn’t optional: As I’ve gotten older and needed glasses, I’ve become hyper-aware of how many brands create beautiful but completely unreadable designs. If people can’t easily read your content, they’ll just skip it.
• Tints create versatility: You don’t need 10 different colours in your palette. Use tints (percentage variations of your main colours) to create depth and versatility while maintaining cohesion.

The bottom line with colour? Make sure it aligns with what you’re trying to communicate. If you’re meant to be ballsy and unapologetic, don’t use soft pastels without something bold to break it up. And for the love of cheese, check that contrast!

Typography speaks louder than words

Here’s something wild, people choose fonts because they like them, not because they match the message they’re trying to send. It’s exactly like picking colours based on personal preference rather than strategic brand alignment.

Just like we have colour psychology, we have font psychology. Every curve, angle, and shape in a typeface communicates something specific:

• Rounded shapes = softness (think childcare, health, wellness)
• Sharp angles = boldness (think tech, sports, innovation)
• Script fonts = elegance or personality (depending on execution)
• Clean sans-serifs = modernity and clarity

These tiny details matter way more than most people realise. For example, when I want to communicate softness and approachability, I literally hunt for fonts with a specific type of rounded ‘a’ because that single character can change the entire feel of a word.

If I find a font, I love but the edges are too sharp, I’ll manually adjust and add curvatures to soften it. These tiny tweaks most people would never consciously notice are exactly what separates forgettable brands from the ones that stick.

And just like with colour, accessibility matters. If your font is too decorative to be read easily or your text is too small, you’ve prioritised aesthetics over function, and that’s a fast track to being forgotten.

Dynamic identities are taking over

Static, rigid brand systems are dying. I’ve been banging on about this for at least two years, but now we’re seeing it everywhere – brands need room to breathe and evolve.

Look at what’s happening with typography right now. All those hard and fast rules that typography purists swear by are being broken left and right. Why? Because rigid systems can’t keep up with how quickly culture is changing.

The future belongs to dynamic brand identities – systems that:

• Have consistent frameworks but room for creative expression
• Can adapt to different contexts without losing recognition
• Evolve naturally with cultural shifts
• Don’t require a complete rebrand every 3-5 years

Think about it like this, if you designed your brand based on 2023’s trends, you’re already looking dated. But if you designed a flexible system that can evolve, you’re set for years to come.

This is why I consider brand a separate category from marketing now. Brand is a memory that lives on even when you stop actively marketing – just think about Blockbuster. They’re not selling anything anymore, but they still live rent-free in our collective consciousness.

So, how do you level up your visual ID?

Start by running a quick contrast check on all your branded materials. Go to Google and search “contrast checker”, if your colour combinations don’t pass, you need to adjust them immediately.

Also, look at your entire digital presence as one cohesive story. When someone lands on your Instagram profile, what does the big picture tell them? It’s not about individual posts, it’s about how your bio, profile pic, pinned posts, and visual style work together to tell a consistent story.

Keep in mind, your visual identity isn’t just your logo – it’s how everything works together to create a memory in someone’s mind. If one piece is off, the whole thing falls apart.

What every brand needs is a comprehensive visual system that can evolve with your business while still keeping you instantly recognisable, so people actually remember you