diff --git a/include/nestlog/concat.hpp b/include/nestlog/concat.hpp
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..31bd6b43
--- /dev/null
+++ b/include/nestlog/concat.hpp
@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+/* @file concat.hpp */
+
+#pragma once
+
+#include <ostream>
+#include <utility>  // for std::move()
+
+namespace xo {
+    template <typename T1, typename T2>
+    struct concat_impl {
+    public:
+        concat_impl(T1 && x1, T2 && x2)
+            : x1_{std::forward<T1>(x1)}, x2_{std::forward<T2>(x2)} {}
+
+        T1 const & x1() const { return x1_; }
+        T2 const & x2() const { return x2_; }
+
+    private:
+        T1 x1_;
+        T2 x2_;
+    }; /*concat_impl*/
+
+    template <typename T1, typename T2>
+    concat_impl<T1,T2> concat(T1 && x1, T2 && x2) {
+        return concat_impl<T1,T2>(std::move(x1), std::move(x2));
+    } /*concat*/
+
+    template <typename T1, typename T2>
+    inline std::ostream &
+    operator<<(std::ostream & os, concat_impl<T1, T2> const & x) {
+        os << x.x1() << x.x2();
+        return os;
+    } /*operator<<*/
+
+} /*namespace xo*/
+
+/* end concat.hpp */
diff --git a/include/nestlog/log_config.hpp b/include/nestlog/log_config.hpp
index b0a3780e..00e49249 100644
--- a/include/nestlog/log_config.hpp
+++ b/include/nestlog/log_config.hpp
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 
 #include "log_level.hpp"
 #include "function.hpp"
-#include "nestlog/color.hpp"
+#include "color.hpp"
 #include <cstdint>
 
 namespace xo {
diff --git a/include/nestlog/tag.hpp b/include/nestlog/tag.hpp
index 7ac62023..258b432f 100644
--- a/include/nestlog/tag.hpp
+++ b/include/nestlog/tag.hpp
@@ -2,7 +2,10 @@
 
 #pragma once
 
-#include "nestlog/quoted.hpp"
+#include "tag_config.hpp"
+#include "concat.hpp"
+#include "quoted.hpp"
+#include "color.hpp"
 #include <iostream>
 
 // STRINGIFY(xyz) -> "xyz"
@@ -93,7 +96,7 @@ namespace xo {
         if(PrefixSpace)
             s << " ";
 
-        s << ":" << tag.name()
+        s << with_color(tag_config::encoding, tag_config::tag_color, concat((char const *)":", tag.name()))
           << " " << unq(tag.value());
 
         return s;
diff --git a/include/nestlog/tag_config.hpp b/include/nestlog/tag_config.hpp
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..d4a67cb7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/include/nestlog/tag_config.hpp
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+/* @file tag_config.hpp */
+
+#pragma once
+
+#include "color.hpp"
+#include <cstdint>
+
+namespace xo {
+    /* Tag here b/c we want header-only library */
+    template <typename Tag>
+    struct tag_config_impl {
+        /* color encoding */
+        static color_encoding encoding;
+        /* color to use for tags
+         *    os << tag("foo", foovalue)
+         * to produces output like
+         *    :foo foovalue
+         * with :foo using .tag_color
+         */
+        static std::uint32_t tag_color;
+    }; /*tag_config_impl*/
+
+    template <typename Tag>
+    color_encoding
+    tag_config_impl<Tag>::encoding = CE_Xterm;
+
+    template <typename Tag>
+    std::uint32_t
+    tag_config_impl<Tag>::tag_color = 245;
+
+    using tag_config = tag_config_impl<class tag_config_tag>;
+} /*namespace xo*/
+
+/* end tag_config.hpp */