Your palette is one of the most important aspects of you brand identity, often more memorable than a logo.

Colors contain so much energy, historical context and subtle meaning. Selecting your color palette is a mix of color theory — the science and rules — and color psychology — the meaning and emotive qualities contained in each color.

My advice is to learn the rules first so you know how to break them.

Be playful with your color names!

“It is the best possible sign of a color when nobody who sees it knows what to call it.”

– John Ruskin, 1859

Color Theory Basics

Complementary Colors

These are two colors that are across the color wheel. They will provide contrast and harmony to your color palette.

They’ll also balance the color temperature of cool and warm colors.

They don’t have to be evenly used, however, you could have dark purple as your primary brand color with subtle splashes of yellow or gold as an accent color.

Analogous Colors

This refers to the three colors that are side-by-side on the color wheel.

This is great if you want your palette to lean into a dominate side of the color wheel while still giving you a variety of hues to work with.

For example: If I had a strong water symbolism for my business, it could be beneficial to incorporate several hues of blue. I would still recommend having at least one complementary color to create harmony in the palette, such as a touch of orange to bring warmth into the brand.

Triadic Colors

This refers to three colors which are across the wheel in a triangle pattern. They will provide high contrast, boldness and harmony to your color palette.

They’ll also balance the color temperature of cool and warm colors.

If you want a well balance color palette that isn’t as vibrant, you can play with the shade, tone and tint.

For example: If you wanted to use blue, yellow and pink to represent your brand but the palette was feeling too vibrant — you could explore tinting or toning down the pink to a light, white-pinkish color. Then deepening the shade of the yellow to a mustard or golden color.

Monochromatic Colors

Mini Latin lesson:
Mono = Uni / One
Chromatic = Colored

This is a system of colors that use the same hue but adjust the shade, tone or tint to create a subtle color shift.

This is a great way to expand your color palette without introducing completely new hues.

You’ll want to be cautious with how you implement these monochromatic colors. These are beautiful to use as background colors and in illustrations to create depth. However, using these subtle colors in both background and text will create a low contrast look which may be unaccessible to read.

Hue, Tint, Shade & Tone

Hue: A specific color

Tint: Adding white to the hue for a brighter color

Shade: Adding black to the hue for a darker color

Tone: Adding grey to the hue to for a less saturated or vibrant color

Grey avoids the binaries of black and white — it blends them together and tones down in a more subtle, “centered” way. This is often referred to as “toning down a color”.

Personally, this is how I explore color. You could say that all the color wheels above are “toned down”, literally meaning, I added grey to each color to they wouldn’t be so “hot”.

Color Psychology

BLUE

Tranquility, Peace, Security, Trust, Intelligence, Stability, Loyalty

TEAL

Revitalizing, Infinity, Truth, Faith, Dignity, Elegance, Serenity, Strength

GREEN

Environment, Healing, Earth, Fertile, Fresh, Wealth, Growth, Harmony

YELLOW

Joy, Optimistic, Creativity, Cheer, Hope, Energy, Happiness, Enlightenment

GOLD

Wisdom, Richness, Value, Tradition, Prosperity, Spirituality, Generosity

ORANGE

Courage, Confidence, Friendly, Free, Bold, Warmth, Enthusiasm, Stimulating

RUST

Romance, Longing, Physical, Blood, Fireside, Redwoods, Sensation

RED

Passion, Sensuality, Power, Heat, Strength, Desire, Fire, Love, Excitement

CORAL

Spirituality, Acceptance, Positivity, Welcome, Kind, Social, Warmth

PINK

Youthfulness, Love, Tenderness, Calm, Playful, Inner Peace, Affection

LILAC

Innocence, Spirit, Tranquil, Soft, Delicate, Caring, Happiness, Simplicity

PURPLE

Tranquil, Harmony, Royal, Wealthy, Passionate, Creative, Innovative

DEEP BLUE

Openness, Depth, Devotion, Meditative, Tranquility, Wisdom, Introspection

CHARCOAL

Practical, Versatile, Security, Solid, Secure, Reliable, Graceful

BLACK

Authority, Mystery, Darkness, Depth, Shadow, Drama, Elegance, Classy

BROWN

Grounded, Growth, Thrifty, Balance, Nature, Comfort, Nurturing, Longevity

TAN

Dependable, Flexible, Crisp, Neutral, Natural, Organic, Health

WHITE

Clarity, Purity, Minimal, Clean, Easy Freshness, Neutrality, Space

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