diff --git a/Gemfile b/Gemfile
index 428351c97..06491e6fa 100644
--- a/Gemfile
+++ b/Gemfile
@@ -138,6 +138,7 @@ end
 
 group :development do
   gem 'capistrano', '2.5.19', :require => false
+  gem 'capistrano_colors', :require => false
   gem 'capistrano-ext', '1.2.1', :require => false
   gem 'linecache', '0.43', :platforms => :mri_18
   gem 'parallel_tests'
diff --git a/Gemfile.lock b/Gemfile.lock
index 5bba5855e..9fb553ec3 100644
--- a/Gemfile.lock
+++ b/Gemfile.lock
@@ -104,6 +104,7 @@ GEM
       net-ssh-gateway (>= 1.0.0)
     capistrano-ext (1.2.1)
       capistrano (>= 1.0.0)
+    capistrano_colors (0.5.5)
     capybara (0.3.9)
       culerity (>= 0.2.4)
       mime-types (>= 1.16)
@@ -478,6 +479,7 @@ DEPENDENCIES
   bundler (>= 1.0.0)
   capistrano (= 2.5.19)
   capistrano-ext (= 1.2.1)
+  capistrano_colors
   capybara (~> 0.3.9)
   carrierwave (= 0.5.3)
   chef (= 0.9.12)
diff --git a/config/cap_colors.rb b/config/cap_colors.rb
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e5ca5516f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/config/cap_colors.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+require 'capistrano_colors'    
+
+capistrano_color_matchers = [
+  # Full docs at https://github.com/stjernstrom/capistrano_colors/
+  # Any priority above 0 will override capistrano_colors' defaults if needed
+  { :match => /^Deploying branch/, :color => :yellow, :prio => 20 },
+]
+
+capistrano_color_matchers.each do |matcher|
+  Capistrano::Logger::add_color_matcher( matcher )
+end
diff --git a/config/deploy.rb b/config/deploy.rb
index 7930c0b2f..44ab9053c 100644
--- a/config/deploy.rb
+++ b/config/deploy.rb
@@ -4,7 +4,10 @@
 
 set :config_yaml, YAML.load_file(File.dirname(__FILE__) + '/deploy_config.yml')
 
+require './config/cap_colors'
 require 'bundler/capistrano'
+require './config/boot'
+require 'hoptoad_notifier/capistrano'
 set :bundle_dir, ''
 
 set :stages, ['production', 'staging']
@@ -18,21 +21,13 @@ set :scm_verbose, true
 set :repository_cache, "remote_cache"
 set :deploy_via, :checkout
 
-# Bonus! Colors are pretty!
-def red(str)
-  "\e[31m#{str}\e[0m"
-end
-
 # Figure out the name of the current local branch
 def current_git_branch
   branch = `git symbolic-ref HEAD 2> /dev/null`.strip.gsub(/^refs\/heads\//, '')
-  puts "Deploying branch #{red branch}"
+  logger.info "Deploying branch #{branch}"
   branch
 end
 
-# Set the deploy branch to the current branch
-set :branch, current_git_branch
-
 namespace :deploy do
   task :symlink_config_files do
     run "ln -s -f #{shared_path}/config/database.yml #{current_path}/config/database.yml"
@@ -86,7 +81,14 @@ namespace :deploy do
   end
 end
 
-after "deploy:symlink", "deploy:symlink_config_files", "deploy:symlink_cookie_secret", "deploy:bundle_static_assets", 'deploy:copy_resque_assets'
+before 'deploy:update' do
+  set :branch, current_git_branch
+end
+
+after 'deploy:symlink' do
+  deploy.symlink_config_files
+  deploy.symlink_cookie_secret
+  deploy.bundle_static_assets
+  deploy.copy_resque_assets
+end
 
-        require './config/boot'
-        require 'hoptoad_notifier/capistrano'