Hey there! Are you looking to design a logo, website, or other materials for your healthcare business? Choosing the right colors is so important. The colors you pick will influence how people feel when they see your brand.
As a healthcare provider, you want to make people feel comfortable and reassured. Your color palette should be soothing and friendly. Bold, energetic colors may work well for other industries, but likely not for healthcare.
Here at Ladybug Studio, we specialize in healthcare branding and design. Over the years, we've found that the top 2 color schemes that really work for this industry are:
1. Blue and Green
This color combo is a home run for healthcare brands. The mix of blue and green naturally brings to mind ideas like:
- Water
- Nature
- Cleanliness
- Calmness
- Healing
These are all emotions you want people to associate with your healthcare business!
Different shades of blue and green work beautifully together. Light blue can represent tranquility, while forest green conveys life and renewal. Teal blue has a nurturing vibe. Mint green comes across as gentle and refreshing.
Play around with different tints and tones of these cool colors to create a soothing palette. We recommend choosing one as your dominant shade and the other as an accent color.
For example, you may use a soft powder blue as the main color and add in touches of muted olive green. Or make seafoam green the star and incorporate sky blue highlights.
Pro tip: Avoid neon blues and greens. While eye-catching, these bright hues feel too harsh for healthcare brands. Stick with muted, dusty versions instead.
2. Purple and Green
If you want something a bit different than classic blue, another excellent option is pairing purple with green.
This combo works well for healthcare for a few reasons:
- Purple evokes compassion, wisdom, and mindfulness.
- Green brings in that natural, uplifting vibe.
- Together, they create an aura of spirituality and emotional healing.
In color psychology, purple represents imagination and spirituality. For some, it conjures thoughts of meditation and alternative medicine.
Green grounds the palette with its associations with renewal and life. It balances the "heady" purple with some earthiness.
Some examples of pretty purple and green healthcare palettes:
When using purple and green together, we recommend making the purple a bit lighter and brighter to keep things feeling calm. Pair a jewel tone or pastel purple with a sage green.
This combo works especially well for mental health services, holistic practices, acupuncture clinics, and the like. But purple and green can convey the right mood for any type of healthcare organization.
Pro tip: Stay away from pairing a deep eggplant purple with a dark forest green. This can come across as too ominous and heavy. Keep at least one color light to maintain an uplifting, spiritual vibe.
Why are these color combos so great for healthcare?
Blue, green, purple and green...why do these 2 color schemes work so wonderfully for medical brands? Here are some of the science-backed reasons:
1. They convey trustworthiness.
Research shows that blue and green are colors that people associate with stability and honesty. We naturally trust these cool, calming tones.
Purple also rates highly on trustworthiness, as it has a certain nobility and wisdom to it.
This is so key for a healthcare provider, who must establish immense trust with patients and customers. You want your color palette itself to inspire confidence and reliability.
2. They aid mental focus.
Studies reveal that looking at cool blue and green hues actually improves concentration and mental clarity. People make fewer errors on cognitive tests after viewing these colors.
So not only are blue, green and purple mentally soothing, but they actually sharpen focus too. That's a big advantage for health services, which often require intense concentration.
3. They lower stress and anxiety.
Researchers have found that blue light specifically reduces feelings of anxiety and nervousness. People who see the color blue before a stressful task exhibit lower cortisol levels in their saliva (the stress hormone).
Green has also been proven to reduce anxiety and depression through its association with nature. Purple likewise decreases anxiety through its spiritual connotations.
A color palette that literally helps lower stress is perfect for the healthcare environment, where people often feel anxious about their health, diagnoses, treatments, etc.
4. They aid healing.
Some fascinating studies have shown that hospital rooms painted blue or green can speed up patient healing times compared to white rooms. Patients are discharged sooner and need less pain medication in blue rooms.
This shows how strongly color can influence wellness and recovery on a subconscious level. Choosing healthcare branding colors that actually promote healing is genius.
Let your brand values guide the color choice
Your healthcare brand likely has an inspiring mission and set of values...so let those unique qualities steer your palette selection too.
For example, if natural wellness is a big part of your ethos, earth tones make sense over artificial neon colors. If you aim for people to feel cared for, nurturing purples and greens are more fitting than sharp reds.
Think about the specific emotions that capture your brand essence. Then choose colors that visually evoke those same feelings.
A color scheme aligned with your values will result in much more meaningful and effective branding.
If you need help deciding on healthcare branding colors, the Ladybug Studio team is here to help!