

Nike’s website used a minimal monochromatic color palette: black, white, and gray. If you don’t have a brand color guidelines, look at colors used in existing designs and products and try incorporating them in your palette. Not only will your job be easier because you’ll consider fewer color alternatives, but it will also create a strong, consistent brand experience. When creating a color palette, always follow established color guidelines. For example, have you ever had a hard time finding a specific cereal in the cereal aisle? That’s because there are so many colors! All the colors are competing for your attention. A small number of colors reinforces visual hierarchy and contrast because there is less for users to consider and get distracted by.

Is it the color saturation? Are the colors soft? Harsh? Warm or cool? Understanding why you like a particular color palette can help you move forward in creating your own. Try to understand why you like a particular color set. If you feel stuck or just don’t know where to start, draw inspiration from existing palettes (e.g., use Adobe Color or look at websites that you like). Don’t feel like you have to get it right the first time. Once you settle on a harmony, switch different colors in and out to see how they work and look together until you get a winning combination that you like and that works well for your design. A monochromatic scheme is typically the easiest to create and apply, so if you have zero color experience, start with this harmony.

Split-complementary: a color combined with others from either side of its complementary color.Complementary: colors that are opposite on the color wheel, which produce high color contrast.Analogous: colors that are next to each other on the color wheel (This color harmony creates low color contrast.).You could think of color harmonies as the building blocks or the underlying template of a color palette. While the details of color theory are beyond the scope of this article, a basic concept is that of color harmony: a set of colors that work well together. In visual arts, there are various attempts to explain what colors go together - these are known as color theory. Secondary colors are in the middle ring, and the largest outer circle is made of tertiary (and all primary and secondary) colors. Primary colors are shown in the smallest center circle.
