For marketers and graphic designers
Color for marketing & graphic design
Brand color work swings between two moments: finding the color, and keeping it consistent everywhere it ships. Extract from any asset, build the supporting cast around the hero hue, preview it as a brand kit, and export a board the whole team can pin.
Starting points
Three starter palettes, generated live
Each set is produced by the palette engine, not picked from a mood board. Open one in the generator to lock what fits and reroll the rest.
Bold campaign
Because high-chroma hues that survive compression and small social crops.
Premium restraint
Because deep tones plus one accent, the classic luxury register.
Friendly consumer
Because warm hues read approachable at shelf and feed distance.
The shelf
Working colors of the field
The named colors marketers and graphic designers reach for, each resolved against the 31,912-name registry. Tap a swatch to copy the hex; open the name for the full page with codes, palettes, and contrast data.
- Scarlet #FF2400 urgency and appetite; the classic sale and CTA red
- Royal Purple #4B006E premium positioning without the coldness of black
- Hot Pink #FF028D pattern-interrupt in a feed; owns attention in beauty and youth
- Electric Blue #7DF9FF tech-energy accent; too bright for body text, born for buttons
- Lime #AAFF32 the freshness cue; reads organic next to deep greens
- Champagne #E9D2AC quiet luxury for backgrounds where gold foil would shout
- Burgundy #900020 heritage and craft; wine, law, and legacy brands live here
- Navy Blue #000080 the trust hue: finance, corporate, and B2B's home base
- Sunflower #FFC512 optimism at shelf distance; needs dark text, never white
- Ruby #CA0147 a red with jewelry-counter depth for premium accents
- Onyx #464544 the soft black that keeps large dark areas from going flat
- Fuchsia #ED0DD9 the loudest legal pink; one dose per layout
Speak the language
Terms this field runs on
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CMYK Print's language. Convert before the vendor does it for you, and proof before the full run. Full definition →
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CMYK
The subtractive model for print: cyan, magenta, yellow, and key (black) inks. Screens add light; ink subtracts it, which is why vivid screen colors often dull in print.Full glossary entry → -
Pantone The spot-color standard for exact brand matches on press; we reference it, licensing means we never print its codes. Full definition →
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Pantone
A proprietary color matching system widely used in print and branding. Its values are licensed, so we discuss Pantone but never print its codes as lookups.Full glossary entry → -
Vibrant color Saturation is a budget: spend it on the one element the layout is about. Full definition →
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Vibrant color
A color at high saturation and chroma, reading as bold and energetic. Vibrant colors work best in small, deliberate doses.Full glossary entry → -
Dominant color The color covering the most area sets the mood; the accent just signs the work. Full definition →
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Dominant color
The color that covers the most area in an image or design. Palette extractors surface it first, and it usually sets the overall mood.Full glossary entry → -
Gamut A neon that glows on a P3 phone screen may not exist in print. Know which colors travel. Full definition →
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Gamut
The full range of colors a device or space can show. sRGB is the common screen gamut; Display P3 is wider. A color outside a gamut cannot be shown accurately there and must be mapped inward.Full glossary entry →
The workflow
How marketers and graphic designers use this site
- 1 Extract from any asset Drop in a product shot, a competitor ad, or a mood-board image; the analyzer extracts the dominant palette with names. Photo analyzer →
- 2 Build around the hero hue Paste the brand hex into the generator, lock it, and generate supporting colors in any mood. Palette generator →
- 3 Preview the brand kit The brand scene mocks a card and poster in your palette; the print lens approximates how the same colors dull on paper. Brand kit preview →
- 4 Ship a shareable board Export a labeled PNG palette card for decks and briefs, or the exact codes for every tool your team uses. PNG and code exports →
Field notes
What goes wrong, and the fix
- Screen-proofing print work Screens add light, ink subtracts it: the saturated teal in the deck dulls on the box. Run the print lens early and get a physical proof before the full run. Print lens →
- A palette with two heroes Two saturated hues at equal strength split every layout's attention. Demote one to accent duty and let the dominant color own the area. Rebalance in the generator →
- Shipping colors as a screenshot A JPEG of the palette guarantees drift by the third vendor. Ship the labeled PNG board plus the exact codes for web, print, and social. Exports →
FAQ
Common questions
- How do I find a competitor's brand colors?
- Drop any public asset into the analyzer and extract the dominant palette; every extracted color links to its full page with codes. Brand pages on this site also document many major brands' published colors.
- Why do my colors look different in print?
- Screens add light, ink subtracts it, so saturated screen colors dull on paper. The visualizer's print lens approximates the shift; for production, always proof with your printer's profile.
- What formats should a brand palette ship in?
- At minimum: hex for design tools, CMYK approximations for print vendors, and a labeled reference image. The generator exports all of these plus tokens for web teams.
- What colors convert best for calls to action?
- The honest answer: the one that contrasts most with everything around it. A red button on a red page loses to a green one. Check the button color's contrast against its actual surroundings, not a chart of 'best CTA colors'.
- How do I pick colors for a rebrand without losing recognition?
- Keep the recognized hue family and modernize its value and chroma: audiences track the family more than the exact code. Compare the old and new codes side by side and measure the ΔE so the shift is a decision, not an accident.
- What color should I choose for my industry?
- The meaning guides cover what each family signals, but differentiation matters as much as fit: if every rival is navy, matching them means vanishing. Extract competitor palettes with the analyzer, then pick a lane they left open.
Other work