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When you think of color, what’s the first thing that comes to mind? Perhaps the room you just painted in your house or the daring top you bought in a bright lime green color.
Color is a part of every aspect of our lives, down to the wrapper of the products we buy. This is no coincidence. Colors can be used to drill home your branding message, evoke a specific feeling in your audience, and add an aesthetically pleasing look to your design.
Yet, that doesn’t mean combining colors is the easiest task in the world, in fact, it’s a daunting task when you’re starting from scratch. We’ve made that easier for you with this handy Color Palette tool of the Fortune 500 created by Bold Web Design. This resource displays the color palettes for successful companies, making it easier than ever to find trends within industries or overall likeable colors.
Colors That Work Well Together
What better place to look for color guidance, than the color wheel itself. This resource can show a lot about which colors strategically work well together and why. Visually, you’re able to see the cool and warm colors and start to pinpoint where each color palette is showing up on the color wheel.
Orange & Blue
Although this color duo may make you think of the Bears football team, the two work incredibly well together. Why is this? As they say, opposites attract. These two colors are completely opposite from each other on the color. These color combinations make a harsh contrast – a perfect variety of colors for a sports team.
Yellow, Light Green & Dark Green
Is a Sprite bottle in your head? If not, it is now. The sprite colors are a great example of a set of similar colors that work well together. These colors together are considered an analogous, as they are three colors right next to each other on the color wheel. They give a much more subtle effect which makes them much easier to choose, as long as you stray away from competing hues.
Blue, Green, Red & Orange
Since blue is considered the most popular color, it isn’t a surprise that blue and green are commonly seen together. Red and orange also pair nicely together. Ultimately, this combination is two pairs together that form a tetradic scheme. While it looks very balanced on the color wheel, it can be difficult to this when various shades are involved.
This color palette screams “welcoming” when you look at it. The different shades of orange, pink, red, and purple are responsible for this. Orange sparks a feeling of happiness and calmness, red is bold and passionate, and purple can mean creativity.
With all this in mind, it’s relevancy makes sense to the mission of The Apache Software Foundation, as they are a non-profit that’s geared towards supporting software projects. The colors are not competing or contrasting much but rather shyly complementing one another.
The impact of color is shown greatly through the Starbucks green. One might even say they could spot the color from a line up of different green shades. Coffee addiction aside, this green has been the face of Starbucks and continues to be at the forefront of their brand messaging. Green represents health, new beginnings, and wealth.
Possibly the feeling you have when you take a sip of your favourite? Or more probably the impact Starbucks makes on their community, culture, and environment.
Quarate is a great example of a company that stuck with one bold color and supported that with many neutral colors. Purple, being a mix of blue and red, generally represents creativity. Having one spotlight color, this company is taking a simple approach to their color selection. This might be a great option if your company has a patented color.
This color palette could be the wall of the Home Depot paint section with all the different colors combined! Ally is taking a bold stance with color choices, especially for a financial company. While this may not be the conventional approach to financial branding, this sets them apart from the traditional color palettes. This is a great example of an analogous and complementary color schemes.
Conclusion
Choosing colors is a challenge in itself, especially when you’re heading a rebrand or in charge of a design. Start with colors that represent the brand message you’d like to convey and work from there. Utilizing the color wheel to make strategic decisions on colors that work well together can point you in the right direction.
Remember, choosing colors isn’t about just picking the best looking one, but finding a palette of colors that are reflective of your brand and consumers. And don’t get caught up in all the small choices – there isn’t a lack of color combinations out there.
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