Recently, we were re-working the color palette for Ignite Strategies: the business cards, the website, the letterhead, the process documents, the strategy documents. Everything. I was knee-deep in the exploration of different themes and schemes, trying to find the perfect fit, the perfect combination of colors to represent our growing company.

As you know, different colors evoke different moods and reactions in viewers. The research into the psychology of color is exhaustive and deep.

Then an idea struck.

As a child of the ’80s, I found little more iconic, impactful, and meaningful than the entirety of the Star Wars universe. The mythos, the story arcs, the tale of downfall and redemption. All of it.

It travels through the traditional hero’s journey, culminating in a scene in The Return of the Jedi, in which Luke almost turns to the dark side, chops off the hand of Darth Vader, seeing the robotic elements and rising similarities, realizing the error of his ways.

And, as we all know, Darth Vader, aka Anakin Skywalker, is redeemed as he throws the Emperor into a pit.

“So,” I said, “what happens if we take this classic scene, and make it the color palette for Ignite Strategies?”

I explored images, downloaded, then imported this one into the Adobe Color Wheel tool.

The result was perfect:

Primarily adopting the teal and the orange, with the other three colors in reserve, we found our color palette:

This new palette informed the revised logo:

It drove the business cards:

It drove the e-newsletter leader:

And the templates for letterhead and presentation materials:

It became the various section headers for the website:

Header 1

Header 2

Header 3

Header 4

Still based in color psychology, the blue/teal represents strategy, analysis and thought. The orange represents action and carries over to our flowcharts, differentiating between action and analysis:

And, then the forms that are embedded on the site to take action:

The end result? A cohesive, thought-out brand and color palette, with a wink and a nod to an iconic cultural touchpoint.

I’m pleased, but what do YOU think? Let me know.