A color palette guide is an important document that contains all of the colors that you will use in your brand. It’s useful because it helps you coordinate your design elements, it makes sure everything looks cohesive, and it helps you make fast and better decisions when creating a new layout or design material for your business.
It may seem like an overwhelming task specially when you are doing it yourself (and you are not a professional designer). So in this article, we are going to teach you a simple way to develop a brand color palette for your own business!
Before we start, we have a free workbook that will help you in creating your brand colors. You can download it below for free! *Downloading the workbook will automatically add you to our email list.
In Pinterest, you can create a secret board that contains photos that you love and resonate with your brand words. Think of it as an inspiration for your brand identity.
To get started, go to the first page, input a handful of images from your Pinterest board that align with your desired color palette, and then select colors straight from the images.
To do this, you can add a shape beside the photo. Select your shape, click on color, then use the eyedropper tool to select a color from your photo. You can choose 2 colors from a photo. Remember that we can always refine the colors as we move along.
Pro Tip: When selecting a color, you can scroll down and you can see that Canva automatically selects colors from a photo. You can simply select the color that you love.
Out of the two, select the color that stands out for you the most. Use the color on the boxes under each photo. Test which 5 colors look best for you. Here is a guide of the type of colors that you should have:
This color will give harmony to the whole palette. I recommend selecting this color for last. Think of this color as a softer extension of the established palette that you have at this point. This will most commonly serve as a background color on your website or in marketing materials.
When you are happy with the combination, use the color on the boxes below to test how they will look like with reduced transparency. This will give you some more color that you can use if needed for the brand.
Use the colors from page 4, and fill up the circles with the corresponding color. They have been labeled for you so you can easily fill it up. It is also helpful to add in your brand words to the file, see if your colors evoke the correct feeling that you are going for in your brand.
Now you have your very own brand color palette guide! This will help ensure that all of your materials—from business cards to websites—are using the same colors.
Consistency and being cohesive across all brand touchpoints are key to a succeful brand.
You can also hand this over to a designer when you need marketing collaterals made for your brand.
We hope this article helped you understand the importance of creating a color palette for your brand. And how to actually create a useful color palette guide for your business.
Remember that this exercise is not just about choosing colors that look good together; it’s about connecting with your customers in a way that resonates with them on an emotional level and makes them feel like part of something larger than themselves.
Start creating your brand colors, and kickstart your branding process with our color palette workbook!
