By M Muneer, Fortune-500 advisor, start-up investor, and co-founder, Medici Institute for Innovation | X: @MuneerMuh
Colour in branding is no longer mere aesthetics but the visible symbol of strategy and emotion coded in hue. In the artificial intelligence (AI) era, it’s also a function of algorithmic intelligence.
Long before a customer reads a tagline or hears a jingle, she sees colour. Research has it that nearly 90% of snap judgments are based on colour alone. It shapes perception, emotion, and subtly drives consumer behaviour. The decision around it is becoming more scientific now than ever.
Traditional conventions are disappearing: blue for trust, green for health and freshness, red for energy or appetite. A brand like Amul successfully married red and green to project freshness and vigour along with prosperity and dependability. The formula worked to create an iconic brand. But as digital experiences become highly customised, such broad conventions no longer apply.
Enter AI, which is reshaping how brands explore, test, and refine their colours. The future belongs to those who can quantify emotion and culture in real time. AI design tools, like Adobe Sensei or Canva’s Magic Design, analyse vast data sets of consumer behaviour to forecast which colour palettes work for different demographics, contexts, and even moods. A case in point is L’Oréal’s Colour Genius app: It enables users to match make-up with their outfits, while the AI engine analyses data on preferences and current trends to develop new products.
Unilever is another example. By combining machine learning with eye-tracking technology, they test how consumers react to specific tones. One discovery was that muted greens and matte textures appeal more to environmentally conscious millennials. No more guessing games. It’s about continuously learning how colour is interpreted emotionally, functionally, and culturally at scale.
Netflix offers a glimpse into this future. Its AI-powered A/B testing for thumbnail images analyses colour saturation and contrast. One finding was that warmer tones led to higher engagement in certain countries. Herein lies a simple truth: colour choices, even in micro-interactions, have macro consequences.
But full automation is not easy as cultural context is still a sore issue. The connotations associated with colours are always embedded in heritage, language, and life experience. What works in Manhattan might jar in Mumbai. The saffron colour in India carries spiritual and political weight. Brands like Fabindia have embraced it as a design element and as a cultural statement, projecting tradition, purity, and a sense of home-grown authenticity.
Similarly, purple in Indian markets has long been associated with luxury — an insight Cadbury’s has milked skillfully. Its packaging does not simply say chocolate; it whispers indulgence. These associations are not invented; they are harvested over decades. And while AI can now detect that customers associate purple with richness, it is human intuition and cultural intelligence that convert that association into brand love.
The use of AI makes experimentation and disruption easier. When Rani, the Saudi Arabian juice brand acquired by Coca-Cola, opted for a bold blue label that defied the usual orange-and-yellow tropes, it stood out immediately. In a category that had become visually predictable, the unconventional choice created instant differentiation. Brands can now simulate audience responses before launching and can test whether a lime-green ketchup bottle will cause intrigue or confusion, or whether minimalist white packaging signals health consciousness or blandness.
Take Paper Boat, for instance. In the Indian market where juices screamed in tropical neons, Paper Boat’s pastel tones whispered nostalgia and simplicity. It kind of bottled a memory of sorts. In a very similar fashion, Kimberly-Clark’s U by Kotex shattered conventions by taking black packaging in the feminine hygiene category. Result? Sales surged among Gen Z users. Such decisions, once reliant on gut feel, can now be modelled, tested, and validated through data before they hit the shelves.
Colour choices have become more and more strategic and adaptive even in digital branding. Zomato fine-tuned its signature red through months of experimentation, ultimately settling on a tone that stimulated appetite while staying clean and standing out. Such custom-tuning will happen in real time and much faster today. A customer shopping for skincare in Chennai on a humid afternoon may see a calming mint background, while a late-night techie buyer in Chicago might encounter deeper, more energising shades. Both are tailored algorithmically to context, preference, and even emotion.
Is emotion AI the next frontier? Imagine technologies that detect facial cues, voice stress, or biometric feedback to personalise colours, offerings, or experiences. A retail display can be changed to a different hue depending on the perceived mood of a shopper. A music app might pick visuals not just based on playlist type but on real-time heart rate or facial expression. Spotify’s experimental mood-driven canvases and interfaces already offer glimpses of such emotionally intelligent branding.
Of course, all this precision shouldn’t blind marketers to the soul of branding. A colour may test well in a thousand data trials and still fall flat if it lacks story. Algorithms are tools, not visionaries. The shade of Coca-Cola red, the warmth of Jaipur’s pink skyline, and the regal depth of Cadbury’s purple are not the outcomes of data alone, but the blend of intuition, culture, and the slow sedimentation of identity over time.
Indeed, AI gives brands more choices, faster validation, and fewer blind spots. But it doesn’t replace the need for human imagination. Brands that thrive will be those that marry the art of storytelling with the science of insightful data. Colour, in their hands, becomes more than a choice, but a conversation between brand and consumer, past and future, instinct and intelligence.
Shakespeare wondered whether a rose by any other name would smell as sweet. Perhaps. But in a hyper-visual world, one might also ask, would a rose feel as beloved if it were blue instead of red? Context matters. So does history. So does the gut instinct of a designer who sees what machines cannot. And yet, aided by AI, that designer now has sharper tools, deeper insight, and a much brighter canvas.