Colour is often the first thing a client talks about: "use our blue", "make it bright", "it should feel calm". Choosing colour well makes a design feel professional and on brand. Choosing badly makes text unreadable or makes a printed job look nothing like what the client approved on screen.
A few words to know
- Hue is the colour itself: red, yellow, green.
- Value is how light or dark it is.
- Saturation is how strong or dull it is.
Digital tools describe colours with codes. A hex code such as #1A7F3C names one exact green, so you can repeat it perfectly across every design for a brand.
Build a small palette
Most good designs use a small palette:
- One main colour that carries the brand or the mood.
- One accent colour for buttons, prices or anything you want to stand out.
- Neutrals such as white, black, cream or grey for backgrounds and body text.
A common guide is to let the main or neutral colour cover most of the space, a second colour some of it and the accent only a little. A colour wheel tool helps you find colours that sit well together, either neighbours on the wheel for a calm feel or opposites for a strong contrast.