My Go-To Color Palette for Any Design Project
Fou start working on a new design project and face your first obstacle, what colors do I work with? Will it be unique, original and client compliant?
Well if you’re working for a fixed client task, follow their rules objectively and don’t read any further, else, keep scrolling.
Here’s my take, when it comes to fixing a palette, no matter your platform of choice, as long as its digital, stick to Pantone Colors religiously. This ensures that your selected color will look the same on the other side of the planet!
Trust me, these colors work the magic for me every time and can never do you wrong.
The Palette
Below is my palette of choice, and I will describe my preference individually.
- The world’s darkest pigment: Black
Not only Black creates the perfect Contrast, this is subjectively the most trusted color for designers around the world. Newspaper companies know this best, but if you incorporate black in your design, you’re on the right path. It exudes focus, attention and a constant flow. - The world’s most trusted pigment: White
The reason to pick white is because it is the source of Balance. Balance is key for your viewers to space out between the signals their visual neurons receive. This spacing out exudes motivation and stability, both essential to digital design.
Ok, Black and White might very well be the most used colors but the next element is what harmonizes my senses to introduce more colors to the selection. - The pigment of comfort: Beige
This holy-grail Pantone of comfort brings elements together. Just as it provides warmth when used in furnitures, its digital use is no different. When you have lines, curves, shadows and patterns in your project, you need this pigment of beige to, atleast for me, symbolize establishment.
It is a grounding element applauded by many renowned designers. - The favorite minimal tone: Gray
Gray is usually associated to being boring, still, dull. Not for me, this principal color is the reason I love working with minimal designs and my association with minimalism.
Gray brings in the continuity I am looking for when sharp highlights and shadows plot to disfigure your content, when editing a video for example.
With today’s increasingly popular trend of incorporating striking solid tones, young Startup founders and Designers prefer to stay on the side of getting higher engagement by experimenting a diverse range of color schemes to best appeal diverse audience, however, it is unlikely that this would benefit your brand in the long term.
Using a fixed design palette as a base is necessary to ensure uniformity and consistency throughout your branding strategy whether digital or not.
A tip for young designers building brands is to ensure you include the color scheme palette in the brand portfolio right from the beginning since this helps perpetuate a healthy brand image in the long term.
So there we go, a quick short piece on the 4 block colors I believe to not only be ‘perfect’ but essential for a designer’s palette. I love them , live by them and I want to know why they work for you too, if they do.
If you believe Neon Pink is another key pigment I might have missed out, let me know why. Connect with me and share your thoughts and opinions!
