Brand colors are among the first things people remember about a company. A good brand palette is distinctive, appropriate for the audience and practical to apply everywhere.
Start with positioning, not preference
List your main competitors and their colors. If every competitor uses blue, a confident Emerald or Tangerine may make you instantly recognizable. Color associations vary by culture, so consider your audience's context as well as general meanings.
Define the roles
- Primary: the signature color used in the logo and key moments.
- Secondary: one or two supporting colors for variety.
- Neutrals: backgrounds, text and dividers — most of what people actually see.
- Functional colors: success, warning, error and information states.
Check practical constraints
- Contrast: can the primary color hold white text at 4.5:1? If not, define a darker text-safe variant with the contrast checker.
- Print: very bright RGB colors may fall outside CMYK. Agree on print values with your printer.
- Small sizes: test the logo color as a favicon and on dark backgrounds.
Document the system
Record HEX, RGB, CMYK and usage rules for every color, and generate CSS custom properties with the CSS variables generator so developers use exactly the same values.
Revisit after real use
Apply the palette to a website mockup, a social post and a printed sample before finalizing. Real applications reveal problems that swatches hide.
