If you are a small business owner, you know that to own your own business is to wear 15 different hats at any given moment. You have to be an expert not only in your trade, but also as an accountant, project manager, copywriter, social media manager, and so much more. I'm here to hopefully take one hat off your plate today by providing you free color palettes you can use for your branding, so you don't have to design one yourself! Welcome to our newest series where every Friday we provide a FREE and VALUABLE design item or tip for your business!
If you are the type to use different colors every time you make a social media post, on your website, or within print items for your business - you are not alone. Many business owners are focused on just getting the design items they need done because they have minimal time. But unfortunately if you are using different colors, fonts, logos, etc. on every different item of your branding across your business you probably are looking a whole mess to your customers. And looking a whole mess in your branding directly translates to customers wondering "What other areas is this business a mess in? Can I actually trust this product or service?". Needless to say, the more unprofessional and confused you show up in your branding, the less confidence customers have in you, which is not great for sales. So let's fix it!
Today you are going to pick a color palette to start using consistently in your branding. Whether you like one we provided or want to use our advice to create your own, the goal from here on out is to stay consistent in the colors you use online, in print, social media, and more.
If you're thinking "what if I don't resonate with one of these color palettes?", that's okay! Today we'll learn about accessibility to make sure your palette is meeting legal standards and can be enjoyed by everyone regardless of if you choose on of ours or create your own. And good news for you, there is LOADS more inspiration on our Pinterest account for colors. We post new color palettes there several times a week and have quite the archive going, so go check it out for inspo!
Making Your Color Palette Accessible
Each of the color palettes we provided today have already been tested for accessibility and the usable combinations are laid out for you. So if you like one the legwork is already done! But in case ours don't resonate with you, let's quickly walk through how you can test and fix palettes on your own.
For us (since we are fancy designers and do this for a living), we use a paid tool to make life super quick and easy. We use the thecolorpalettestudio.com site specifically with the "Color Palette Tester" tool to test an entire palette at once for accessibility and usable combos. Since you, dear reader, are likely a new or small business owner, you probably don't want or need to pay for a tool to make your palette once. That's where a great free tool we love comes in - colourcontrast.cc. It's a bit slower than testing your entire palette at once but still does an awesome job and is very user friendly.
Using The Colour Contrast Checker Site
Once you've picked a starting palette you like, all you need to do to ensure it's accessible is test each color in your palette with every other color in the palette to find accessible combinations. Accessible combinations are any that have a 4.5 or above contrast score. This means they are considered by legal standards readable to the majority of people, including those who may have trouble with their eyesight or color blindness. This is important so they are not excluded from reading or understanding the designs that you put into the world.
As you can see in the example above, this combination of the dark gray (hexadecimal #222222) and the light yellow (hexadecimal #ffe66d) have a contrasted score of 12.72 (top left), meaning they more than pass the minimum score. In the top right you will notice additional Pass or Fail scores letting you know at what size they are readable as well. Some combinations may be readable at very large sizes but not with small text, so keep that in mind in how you use them if those partially usable combinations are applicable in your final palette.
The goal is to ensure that each of the colors in your palette have one or more accessible combinations with the other colors in the palette. This means you will have plenty of options for backgrounds and content that you know are easily readable. If you notice a shade in your palette doesn't have any combinations, tweak it to be slightly darker or lighter until it can pair at least with the other lightest or darkest shade. Once all colors have at least one combination, write down which combinations are accessible and be sure to only use those in your branding.
Now that we've learned branding color palette testing, let's get into the ready to go palettes you can steal!
3 Free Color Palettes You Can Steal For Your Brand
Your brand deserves to have a gorgeous set of colors that is professionally designed and legally accessible. That's why we wanted to provide a few favorites we designed recently for you to pick from if they resonate. These are yours to use as is or tweak if you want them to be similar but unique. We would love and appreciate a shoutout if you do use these, but it is not required. Happy choosing!
All combinations shown are at or above a 4.5+ accessibility score meaning they can be used at any size. And if you need to know CMYK (mainly used in print), RGB, or other color codes for these shades beyond the provided hexadcemial codes, you can use this free online code converter. Also a not for print projects - we always highly recommend getting a proof to ensure the printer's shade matches your expectations even if you provided the CMYK (good practice to keep in mind).
Palette 1: Coastal Vibes
If you want a palette that feels very east coast and trendy, this one is perfect for you. The warm butter light shade is super in at the moment, and the combinations between the blue and reds are absolutely stunning. This palette is a mix of a laid back, "cool" feeling while also being professional and unique. It would work great for many brands with a lot of personality and confidence, such as influencers, coaches, photographers, social media managers, and more! But truthfully there are so many industries that could make this work really well. We absolutely love this one!
The hexadecimals for this palette are listed under each shade name, and here is a list to copy if you need as well:
- Midnight: #011522
- Seaside: #88bddd
- Malbec: #6b0b02
- Poppy: #c1131f
- Butter: #fef0d7
And above are all of the accessible combinations! You can use any of the ones listed here at any size. If you end up using this palette for your brand we would love to see how it turns out!
Palette 2: Warm Coffee
Next up is our Warm Coffee palette, which is perfect for brands who like an earthy or warm vibe. With the various brown shades and creamy tones this is perfect for a wellness brand, cafe or coffee shop, and can even be used for any brand that likes an elevated minimal aesthetic. We personally even loved the idea of this palette being used for a perfume or other beauty related brand - mixing luxurious vibes with a friendly warmth. It's gorgeous!
The hexadecimals for this palette are listed under each shade name, and here is a list to copy if you need as well:
- Oak: #330011
- Deep Berry: #4a0019
- Coffee: #6f3e34
- Almond: #b6957f
- Vanilla: #ffe6d0
And here are our accessible combinations, usable at every size!
Palette 3: Tea & Florals
And our final palette is for those who love an elegant feel, inspired by garden florals and high tea. It's got just the right touch of playfulness without being overwhelming, perfect for brands that want to feel elevated but fun to work with or shop from! We think this palette would work great for boutique shops, feminine brands, personal brands, beauty brands, florist shops, and spas. Again however, as with all of our palettes, they can be used for any industry if the owner has a good vision and execution.
The hexadecimals for this palette are listed under each shade name, and here is a list to copy if you need as well:
- Moss: #1e271b
- Green Tea: #c4d6b0
- Rosewood: #6b101a
- Melon: #fe6c6b
- Apricot: #ffc9b5
And for the final time, here are your accessible combinations usable at any size!
Conclusion
If you liked and want to use any of these palettes for your branding (or another project), we would LOVE to see how you did it!! A shoutout is appreciated but not required, although we would love to boost you up in the comments if you do use these colors anywhere on social media so be sure to tag us! You can find all our socials linked in our header, shown at the top left of any page of our site.
If you liked these and want to see more from us in the future, let us know in the comments here and on social media so we know to make more! And if you want more inspiration, be sure to check out our full gallery of color palettes on our Pinterest. Happy designing and let us know if you have any questions or if you want personalized help with your branding!
