Colour Palette

Colour Palette

This is where you can put the principles of colour theory into practice.

We recommend having up to six or more colours in your brand palette. This gives you enough flexibility for both digital and print applications while keeping a cohesive look.

Creating a Harmonious Palette

Your goal is to create a family of colours that feels harmonious, with enough contrast to highlight important elements. The level of contrast depends on your brand’s tone of voice:

  • Trustworthy/Conservative brands: Subtle contrast, calm and cohesive.
  • Innovative/Playful brands: Higher contrast, bolder colours to create energy and draw attention.

Suggested Palette Structure

When building your palette, consider:

  1. Light colour – e.g., for website backgrounds or subtle areas
  2. Dark colour – e.g., for headers or dark backgrounds
  3. Up to four accent colours – including a high-contrast highlight colour for call-to-actions, buttons, or other key elements

If your company already has a colour palette, you can:

  • Review the existing palette
  • Audit the colours and come up with a rationale
  • Add complementary or accent colours to increase design flexibility

Example: Takapoto Estate uses green as a core brand colour.

Research and Documentation

  • Refer back to the colour lesson and do research on combinations that work.
  • Fill out the colour template to see how the colours work together.
  • List each colour’s values: CMYK, RGB, HEX.

Pantone Considerations

Once your colours are finalised:

  • If Pantone references are required, these are usually supplied by an agency or printer with a Pantone book.
  • Online Pantone matching exists, but colours look different on-screen.
  • Final colour accuracy is only confirmed when printing in CMYK and matching by eye to a Pantone swatch.

Note: In our experience, Pantone is rarely needed for smaller brands. Large brands like Coca-Cola require Pantone for consistency across all printed materials.

Next Steps

You can always refine colours later once you see how they appear in practice, such as on social media posts, emails, or other branded content.

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