How much contrast does text need against its background?
4.5:1minimum contrast for normal text (WCAG 2.2, level AA)
- Large text (18 pt, or 14 pt bold)
- 3:1
- Icons, buttons and charts
- 3:1
- Stricter level (AAA), normal text
- 7:1
- White text on logo yellow #FFC800
- 1.55:1
To choose brand colours, pick one main colour, one accent and two neutrals (a dark for text, a light for backgrounds). Then check contrast: text needs at least 4.5:1 against its background (WCAG 2.2), large text and icons 3:1. Colour meanings change with culture, so pick for your customers and your street, not a “psychology” chart.
- A small business needs four colours: a main colour, an accent and two neutrals.
- Text needs 4.5:1 contrast against its background; large text and icons need 3:1 (WCAG 2.2).
- White on bright yellow is 1.55:1, far too faint; black on the same yellow is 13.51:1.
- About 1 in 12 men have a colour vision deficiency, usually red and green: never use colour alone to show meaning.
- Colour meanings change across countries and languages; choose for your customers, not from a meaning chart.
You are about to paint the shop board, print bags and set up your Instagram page, and someone asks: “What are your brand colours?” You like blue. Your brother says red sells. A website says green means trust.
This guide shows a simple way to choose brand colours for a small business: how many you need, how to pick them, how to check that text stays readable (with the actual numbers), and why the colour meaning charts online are best taken lightly.
How many brand colours do you need?
Four is enough for almost every small business:
| Role | What it does | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Main colour | Your signboard, logo and the colour people remember | Deep green |
| Accent | Buttons, prices, “offer” tags; used little | Warm yellow |
| Dark neutral | Text | Near-black |
| Light neutral | Backgrounds | Off-white |
More colours make everything harder: posters start to look different from bags, and staff pick whatever is at hand.
One main colour people remember, one accent for the important bits, and two quiet colours for everything else.
How to choose brand colours, step by step
- Look at your street. Note the colours of the five or ten shops nearest you, and of your competitors online. If every medical shop nearby is green and white, a different main colour helps you stand out.
- Pick the main colour that fits how you want to be seen and that you can live with for years. Try it on a quick board mock-up and on a phone screen, not as a tiny swatch.
- Pick the accent with clear contrast to the main colour. A warm accent (yellow, orange) with a cool main colour (blue, green) is an easy pair.
- Pick the neutrals. A near-black for text and an off-white or light grey for backgrounds.
- Check the contrast (next section), and adjust shades until text passes.
- Write the codes down. Save each colour’s HEX code (like #1E7B34) and, for printing, ask your press for the matching print colour. In Canva, a Brand Kit holds your colours (the free plan keeps one palette of up to three colours, so save your main, accent and dark text colour there).
Contrast: the rule that keeps your colours readable
The most common colour mistake is not an ugly colour. It is text nobody can read: white on yellow, light grey on white, red on green.
There is a real measure for this. The web accessibility standard WCAG 2.2 (from W3C) sets contrast ratios between text and its background, from 1:1 (same colour) to 21:1 (black on white):
4.5:1 the minimum for normal text
3:1 for large text (18 point, or 14 point bold), icons and buttons
7:1 the stricter level for normal text
The rule was written for websites, but it works just as well for signboards, menus and Instagram posts. Here are some real pairs, worked out with the WCAG formula:
| Text on background | Contrast | Good for |
|---|---|---|
| White on bright yellow #FFC800 | 1.55:1 | Nothing: too faint |
| Black on bright yellow #FFC800 | 13.51:1 | Any text |
| White on bright green #43A047 | 3.30:1 | Large text only |
| White on deep green #2E7D32 | 5.13:1 | Any text |
| White on orange #F57C00 | 2.70:1 | Nothing: too faint |
| Black on orange #F57C00 | 7.77:1 | Any text |
| Grey #777777 on white | 4.48:1 | Just fails for normal text |
The lesson: bright yellows and oranges need black text, and many bright greens and reds need a slightly deeper shade before white text works. Free contrast checkers online (search “WCAG contrast checker”) give you the number when you type two HEX codes.
Never use colour alone to say something, like “red price = sale”. About 1 in 12 men have a colour vision deficiency, most often with red and green. Add a word or a symbol too.
Colour meaning: useful, but not a rule
You will find charts that say blue means trust, red means hunger, green means health. Take them lightly. A large study of 4,598 people in 30 countries (Jonauskaite and others, 2020) found that colour and feeling links are broadly shared, but they still differ by country, language and region. And your customers’ own memories matter more than any chart: festival colours, a rival’s board, a political party’s flag, a temple, a team.
So ask practical questions instead:
- Does it look right for what you sell to people on your street?
- Is it different from your nearest competitor?
- Does it carry a meaning locally you don’t want (a party colour, a funeral colour)?
- Will it print well and stay bright on a sunny board?
A worked example: Karthik’s medical shop in Villupuram
Karthik opened a medical shop in Villupuram. Nearly every pharmacy on his road used green and white, so green alone would make him blend in. He chose deep blue as his main colour, kept a green cross as a small accent (customers look for it), and used near-black text on off-white for price labels.
He checked his pairs before printing. White on his deep blue passed easily. His first “offer” tags were white on a light green, which failed; he switched to near-black on the light green, which passed. He saved the four HEX codes in his phone notes, put three of them in Canva’s free Brand Kit, and gave the same list to the board painter. His logo and posts now match; see our guides on designing a logo and Instagram post design.
Using your colours everywhere
Once chosen, the trick is to keep them the same everywhere. Use the main colour big and often (board, logo, page header), the accent rarely (one offer tag, one button), and the neutrals for everything else. On posters and flyers the same contrast rules apply; our poster and flyer guide shows the rest. When your website is built, give the designer the same four HEX codes, so the screen matches the shop.
Questions
How do I choose colours for my brand?
Pick one main colour that fits your business and stands apart from nearby competitors, one accent for offers and buttons, and two neutrals for text and backgrounds. Then check that text on each background reaches at least 4.5:1 contrast, and adjust shades until it does.
How many brand colours should a small business have?
Four is enough: a main colour, an accent and two neutrals. More colours make your posters, bags and posts drift apart and look less like one shop.
What colours go together for a brand?
A cool main colour with a warm accent is an easy pair, like deep blue with yellow or deep green with orange. Whatever you choose, test the text: bright yellow and orange need black text, not white.
Do colours really affect what customers feel?
Partly. Research across 30 countries found shared links between colours and feelings, but they also differ by country and language. Local meaning, your competitors’ colours and readability matter more than a general meaning chart.
What is a good contrast ratio for text?
At least 4.5:1 for normal text and 3:1 for large text, icons and buttons, from the WCAG 2.2 standard. Black on white is 21:1; white on bright yellow is only 1.55:1.
How do I set brand colours in Canva?
Open Brand, choose your Brand Kit and add your colours by HEX code, so they are ready in every design. The free plan keeps one palette of up to three colours; paid plans allow more. Use the same codes when you give files to a printer or a website designer.
Should my brand colours match my logo?
Yes. The main colour usually comes from the logo, and the logo should also work in plain black and plain white for places where colour isn’t possible.
Sources
Checked 18 Oct 2026W3CWeb Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 · W3C2024
Contrast rules: text at least 4.5:1 (1.4.3), large text 3:1, user interface parts and graphics 3:1 (1.4.11), and colour must not be the only way to show information (1.4.1). Large text is 18 point, or 14 point bold. 12 Dec 2024
NEIColor blindness · National Eye Institute (NIH)2025
About 1 in 12 men have colour vision deficiency; the most common type makes red and green hard to tell apart. 5 Nov 2025
PSYUniversal patterns in color-emotion associations are further shaped by linguistic and geographic proximity · Jonauskaite et al., Psychological Science 31(10)2020
A study of 4,598 people in 30 countries: colour and feeling links are broadly shared, but they still differ by country, language and region. Oct 2020
CNVSetting up and using Brand Kit color palettes · Canva Help Center2026
How to save brand colours by HEX code; the free plan allows one palette of up to three colours, paid plans more (and CMYK values for print). checked 18 Oct 2026
Founder of Elathi, Kallakurichi. Writes our guides and builds the free tools that go with them.