How to create the perfect color palette?

Learn colour theory:

Initially choosing your colour pallette can prove intimidating, it is a something you will be committing to throughout your design brief, so it's important to get it right! So today i'll be giving a 'how to' on creating a colour pallette, and reduce the stress out of it for you!

At the centre of your understanding of palettes, is the colour wheel. It's a thing you most likely learned of in pre-pubescence as a child, and haven't thought a whole lot about since.

The wheel explains how colours play off one another. There are colours that compliment each-other and usually exist in opposition 'across the way' on the wheel. Analogous colours are usually so close they could almost be a gradient for one another.

This is perhaps over simplifying the wheel however you dont need an experts eye to navigate the wheel and find successful results.

The Three Amigo's

Most Great colour pallets begin life with 3 colours these are Dominant: this takes up around 60% of your design  Secondary: Your second colour and takes up 30% approx Accent: And finally your accent which provides roughly 10% of your overall design

Consider your colours meaning

Colours can display many meanings within your wheel, for the purpose of this explanation, we will Describe how they can be used to describe your design, the Positive colours and the Negative colours and how the colours themselves have multiple meanings and ways to interact to draw upon the feelings of the viewer

Positive colour Associations

  • Red: Love, Urgency, Youth
  • Orange: Energy, Enthusiasm, Ambition
  • Purple: Wealth, Wisdom, Respect
  • Blue: Security, Peace, Trust
  • Green: Nature, Luck, Growth
  • Yellow: Cheer, Joy, Energy

Negative Colour Associations

  • Red: Warning, War, Annoyance
  • Orange: Aggressiveness, Anxiety, Nervousness
  • Purple: Boredom, Disgust, Loathing
  • Blue: Grief, Dispassion, Remorse
  • Green: Envy, Uncertainty, Apprehension
  • Yellow: Panic, Insecurity, Distraction

Brighten up your life

Brighter, more saturated colors are often the safest and most pleasurable options for the largest number of users. These are colors without a lot of black or white added. (Think about the bold hues associated with Material Design palettes.) Bright colors can make a design feel lighter, while colors with more black added to them are innately heavier and add weight to the design. A bright design feels clean and fresh. Bright color palettes feel friendly and inviting and can encourage users to engage and spend some time with the design because of that favorable first impression.

Conclusion

Start off slow and just pick a colour you love, have a design in mind, and begin to build the tapestry by drawing on the colours to tell the emotional story of the design. And Practice, Practice, Practice!

Nobody gets this perfect first time, however you will see the way it works on your very first try

Give yourself a brief with two opposing outcomes and use your colour-wheel to design both opposing ideals. And see for your self how the colours you have chosen have impressed themselves greatly upon the finished piece.

ready to make something
magical together?

let’s make a project together