Colour behaves differently on a screen, in print, and in vinyl, and a shade chosen in one can be unreproducible in another. For a small business whose colours appear on a website, a van, and printed material, the practical test is whether it survives all three rather than whether it looks good on a monitor.

The three systems

Screens emit light and mix red, green, and blue. Printing lays ink and mixes cyan, magenta, yellow, and black. Vinyl for signage and vehicles is a physical material selected from a manufacturer's range.

Those produce different ranges of achievable colour. Bright, saturated shades that look excellent on a screen frequently cannot be reproduced in print, where they arrive duller than expected. A vinyl match may not exist at all, in which case the closest available is used and the difference is visible when the van parks beside a printed sign.

None of this matters for a business that exists only online. It matters a great deal for a trades business whose colours appear on a screen, a vehicle, a shirt, and an invoice.

What to decide

One primary colour

The one people associate with you. It has to work at large scale on a vehicle and at small scale as a button.

One secondary, or none

Used for accents and secondary elements. Many small businesses are better with one colour plus neutrals than with two competing ones.

Neutrals

A near-black for text and one or two greys. These do most of the work on a website and are usually chosen carelessly.

An action colour

For buttons, and it should be distinct from the primary if the primary appears in large areas. A button in the same colour as a large background block disappears into it.

The tests before committing

Contrast, which is the practical constraint

Most colour problems on a small business site are contrast problems rather than taste problems.

Text needs sufficient contrast against its background to be readable, and the shades that fail are predictable: mid-tone brand colours with white text, light grey on white, and coloured text on a coloured background.

A useful working rule is that a mid-tone colour usually needs either a much darker version for text or a much lighter version as a background. Trying to use a single mid-tone for both produces something that looks fine to a designer with good eyesight on a bright monitor and is genuinely hard to read for a substantial share of visitors, which is the effect described in why accessibility is a business issue.

Colours that cause trouble

The trade convention question

Some colours carry associations within a trade, and there is a reasonable argument on both sides.

Matching the convention makes you instantly legible as what you are. Breaking it makes you memorable in a market where every competitor looks similar. Either works; what does not work is choosing without noticing what everyone else in your area already uses.

Worth five minutes looking at the vehicles of your local competitors before deciding, since standing out on a road is a real advantage and being the fourth blue van is a real cost.

Writing it down

Record the exact values for each system: the hex code for screens, the print values, and the specific vinyl reference from your sign supplier.

Without that, every new supplier approximates and the colours drift. A business three years in frequently has a van, a website, and a set of shirts that are three slightly different colours, and nobody can say which one is correct because it was never written down.

One page, held with the logo files, and it stays consistent regardless of who does the next job.

Frequently asked questions

Why does my brand colour look different in print?

Screens emit light and mix red, green, and blue, while printing lays ink. Bright saturated shades that look excellent on a monitor frequently arrive noticeably duller in print.

How many colours does a small business need?

One primary, optionally one secondary, plus neutrals and a distinct action colour for buttons. Many small businesses do better with one colour and neutrals than with two competing ones.

What should I check before committing to a colour?

Print it, confirm your sign supplier can match it in vinyl, look at it outside in daylight, check it at distance, and confirm text remains legible against it.

Which colours cause problems?

Bright saturated blues and greens that print duller, very light shades on white vehicles, red and green as the only distinction, and anything fluorescent or metallic with no screen equivalent.

Should I match the colours other businesses in my trade use?

Either approach works. Matching makes you instantly legible as what you are; breaking it makes you memorable. What fails is choosing without checking what local competitors already use.

What should I record about my colours?

The hex code for screens, the print values, and the specific vinyl reference from your sign supplier. Without that, every new supplier approximates and the colours drift apart over a few years.

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.

Van, website, and shirts all slightly different colours?

We define the values for screen, print, and vinyl and document them, so the next supplier matches rather than guesses.

Start a Conversation