20 Beautiful Color Palette Inspiration for Your Next Designs

Colors play a huge role in graphic design. It is an excellent way to influence the viewer’s feelings about the design.

Most companies and brands use color to effectively reflect their brand mission, vision, and values in their websites, advertisements, and products. Just the same way color can add life and vigor to a room, colors can add life and vitality to your brand appeal, which can eventually trigger your desired action from your customers/clients.

Adding colors to your marketing and advertising campaign can have a tremendous impact on the overall message and effectiveness of your brand or new product. For this reason, designers need to have an in-depth understanding of colors to effectively combine colors to catch the viewer’s attention, evoke emotions, and ultimately make a lasting impression on the viewers.

To help you achieve your business goals, we have identified some colors that can help your brand to make the right impact on your customers.

A Quick Overview of Color Combinations

Colors are important to brand building and can significantly influence the overall look of your design, making it look eye-catching, polished, and aligned with your brand identity. Colors bring the design to life, they can attract attention, set the right mood, and effectively influence viewers’ emotions and perceptions.

The key to building successful brands and products is understanding how to effectively combine different colors to bring harmony to your design. Mastering the color wheel and color harmonies will help you understand what works and what doesn’t and how to use colors to communicate meanings and emotions to your audience.

Colors can help you build better brands and evoke the right feelings in your audience. However, colors are not to be used in isolation in designs. Your colors must complement one another. Failure to combine the right types and shades of colors can leave a negative impression on your audience.

To help you create better designs, we have put in the hard work with a complete list of different colors to use in your designs as well as 20 beautiful color palettes to inspire your next designs.

Types of Colors

The RGB color contains three key colors, and this includes:

1. Primary Colors

Primary colors are regarded as the building blocks of the color wheel and consist of colored lights that can be mixed or combined in varying amounts to create other colors. They are foundational methods used to create the perception of a broad of colors in color printing, electronic displays, and paintings. The primary colors are Red, Blue, and Yellow.

2. Secondary Colors

Secondary colors are color combinations that are created by mixing or combining two primary colors in a given color space. These colors are located between the primary colors in the color wheel. Secondary colors include Orange, Green, and Purple. According to the traditional color wheel, combining red and yellow gives you orange, red, and blue to make purple, and blue and yellow to make green.

3. Tertiary Colors

Tertiary or intermediary colors are a combination of primary and secondary colors due to their compound nature. These colors include Red-Orange, Yellow-Orange, Yellow-Green, Blue-Green, Blue-Violet, and Red-Violet and can be made by mixing unbalanced quantities of the primary colors. On the color wheel, tertiary colors are between primary and secondary colors.

Variations of Colors

Just like we have color types, there are also infinite variations of colors with varying intensity and quality of each variation. They include:

1. Hue

Hue refers to the dominant color family. It is the primary property of color from the RGB spectrum. In simple terms, they refer to the origin of the color that is visible and are a combination of primary and secondary colors – Yellow, Orange, Red, Violet, Blue, and Green

2. Tint

A tint is created when a base color (Red, Green, and Blue) is combined with white in varying quantities.

3. Shade

Contrary to tint, shade is created when a base color is combined with black in varying quantities.

4. Tone

The tone is created when a base color is combined with gray in varying quantities.

5. Saturation

Saturation also called Intensity is the amount of hue or color as displayed in an image. A saturated image tends to be very bright, vivid, and intense with full-hue colors while a desaturated image appears in gray tones from black to white only. Check out the guide about color psychology.

6. Warm vs. Cool Colors

Warm colors include yellow, orange, and red combinations and represent energy, positivity, and heat and add a sense of sunshine to any room. Cold colors include green, blue, and purple and bring calming energy like cool water. They evoke relaxation and calm demeanour among your audience.

Types of Color Combinations

Colors bring a whole new level of excitement and vibe to your design when combined effectively with each other. Combining two, three, four, or more colors should complement and be in harmony or contrast to add the desired visual interest to a design.

To help you create better designs, we have identified the four key types of color combinations that you can use.

1. Monochromatic color combinations

Monochromatic color refers to a color scheme that comprises variations of one color. It uses varying tints, shades, or tones of the same base hue. Monochrome colors are usually subtle and conservative and are a great color combo for creating a gradient. They can create a rich primary palette for different kinds of design.

2. Complementary color combinations

Complementary colors sit opposite each other on the color wheel. These colors usually have a sharp contrast between them and can create a feeling of energy and vitality. Complementary colors provide high contrast and appear brighter and more prominent.

3. Triadic color combinations

A triadic color combination is a combination or mixture of three colors in an equidistant triangle on the color wheel. These colors are evenly spaced around the color circle and tend to be dynamic and bright. Using these colors can create harmony and visual contrast that can help your design stand out.

4. Analogous color combinations

An analogous color combination is a combination of two or five colors that stay adjacent to each other on the color wheel. Usually, one will dominate, the other will support and the last one will accent. Analogous colors create a smooth and pacifying feeling in a design.

The Meanings of Colors

Colors are important elements of a design and carry meaning and symbolism. Different colors can be used strategically to evoke different emotions and messages in a design.

1. Red stands for passion, love, anger, excitement energy, and danger.

2. Orange stands for energy, freshness, youth, happiness, vitality, and creative.

3. Yellow means happiness, hope, cheerful, playful, optimistic, and deceit.

4. Green means vitality, abundance, new beginnings, natural, prestige, and wealth.

5. Blue means calm, trustworthy, sad, responsible, depressed, and communicative.

6. Brown means organic, natural, wholesome, simple, honest, and dependability.

7. Pink means romantic, feminine, exciting, and sentimental.

8. Purple means royalty, wealth, majestic, mysterious, creativity, and spiritual.

9. White means purity, virtue, innocence, cleanliness, simplicity, and minimalism.

10. Black means sophisticated, mysterious, elegance, formal, luxurious, evil, and sorrowful.

20 Beautiful Color Palette Inspiration For 2023

1. Mustard and Black

Hex codes: Mustard #F3CA20, Black #000000.

The use of a yellow and black color combination in a design goes way back. Black and yellow look amazing together although they have an age-long cultural connotation meaning danger, warning, or poisonous.

Since black is dark and bold while yellow is light and vibrant, using these two colors together creates a feeling of modern, creative, and masculine and can be minimalist. They are mostly used in advertisements and logos.

2. Tan, Deep Turquoise, and Black

Hex codes: Tan #ECC19C, Turquoise #1E847F, Black #000000

The combination of these three colors creates a cool and minimalist look in a design. In situations where the design has a natural, masculine tan base, adding turquoise and black to the forefront of the design showcases its versatility as a color that evokes nature and rebirth.

3. Blue, Green, and Orange

Hex codes: Blue #4AAFD5, Green #91B187, Orange #E7A339

Ever walked by an orange tree on a bright, sunny afternoon? The combination of these three colors brings a ray of sunshine, a natural and enthusiastic feel, and a look to your projects. As a triadic color, the sky blue in this combo is offset by the orange and accented by the soft green color.

4. Raspberry, Pink, and Dark Chocolate

Hex codes: Raspberry #B2456E, Pink #FBEAE7, Dark Chocolate #552619

The combination of these three colors – raspberry, pink and dark chocolate brings mouthwatering and rich flavors. Mostly used in luxe desserts business or more sensual businesses, the link pink in this combo offsets raspberry and dark chocolate color and further accentuate its appeal.

5. Magenta, Goldenrod, Turquoise and Brick

Hex codes: Magenta #CF1578, Goldenrod #E8D21D, Turquoise #039FBE and Brick #B20238

This analogous color combination adds a lot of personality to one palette. The color in this combination suggests friendliness and accessibility while the accent colors – Goldenrod, Turquoise, and Brick – add a tone of maturity and playfulness to the design.

6. Navy, Almond, Red-Orange, and Mango

Hex codes: Navy #1E3D59, Almond #F5F0E1, Red-Orange #FF6E40, Mango #FFC13B

This analogous color combination with Navy paired with fiery accents against the neutral salmon converts trustworthiness and energy.

7. Sunshine Yellow, Fluorescent Green, Sapphire Blue

Hex codes: Sunshine Yellow #F2EC9B, Fluorescent Green #96FFBD, Sapphire Blue #1803A5

Combining the strong and electric sapphire blue with the fluorescent green creates a stand-out color pair. Adding the pale yellow to this combo accentuates the general look of the color giving it a more bold, more vibrant, and striking impact.

8. Yellow-green, Olive, and Forest green

Hex codes: Yellow-green #E1DD72, Olive #A8C66C, Forest green #1B6535

Combining these three shades of green in a design creates the feeling of nature, excitement, and youthfulness. These colors create color palettes that most mint and lime beverages.

9. Fuchsia, Yellow, and Magenta

Hex code: Fuchia #D13CA4, Yellow #FFEA04, Magenta #FE3A9E

If you are looking for a color inspiration that gives a modern, young, vibrant, and bold look, your best shot is combining fuchsia, yellow, and magenta. Using these three colors in your design makes it stand out and will certainly not fail to create the first impressions on your audience.

10. Mustard, Sage, and Forest Green

Hex code: Mustard #E3B448, Sage #CBD18F, Forest Green #3A6B35

Using these three colors signifies wood, trees, and leaves and shows the same natural colors in the product itself.

11. Blue, Mustard, Mauve, and Green

Hex code: Blue #1D71BA, Mustard #EDC400, Mauve #B25690 and Green #71B379

This unique and playful color combination gives an instant electrifying feel to the design. The smooth blend of warm yellow and purple is accented by cool blue and green to create a bright color combo that is hard to ignore. This color combination is best suited for food blogs and personal portfolios.

12. Baby Blue, Salmon-orange, Peach, and Ruby Red

Hex code: Baby Blue #CEE6F2, Salmon-orange #E9B796, Peach #E3867D and Ruby Red #962E2A

This crisp look of sky blue paired with cheerful peach hues accented by deep ruby fire engine red and salmon-orange create color palettes that give your designs a refreshing and versatile look and feel. This color creates palettes that are best suited for branding a new product, designing a website, or creating youthful social media assets. They are mostly used for interior decor and in the beauty industry.

13. Neon Blue, Mustard, Powder Pink, Brandy

Hex code: Neon Blue #57BBBC, Mustard #B8912E, Powder Pink #B6818B and Brandy #802621

This vintage-inspired color palette uses darker shades of rustic hues to create a cozy and traditional look that helps you garner attention. The brandy red and mustard yellow offset by neon blue and powder pink are perfect for product packaging, vintage posters, and home decor.

14. Rustic Orange, Marigold, Dirt Brown, and Beryl Blue

Hex code: Rustic Orange #CD7E2A , Marigold #CF9032, Dirt Brown #6C3622 and Beryl Blue#6FA1BB

This autumn-inspired color gives off a bright, earthy, and fresh look with its deep yellow of autumn complemented with orange and blue giving a charming and cozy feel to the design. It’s best suitable for wall colors, interior colors, and product packaging.

15. Turquoise and Violet

Hex code: Turquoise #79CBB8, Violet #500472

Combining these cool tones – turquoise and violet – offers a high-contrast pop of excitement.

16. Light Pink, Green, and Sea-foam

Hex code: Light Pink #F5BEB4, Green #9BC472, Sea-foam #CBF6DB

This triadic color combination mixes soft shades of natural greens and blue with pink accents creating a feeling of warmth, luxury, and serenity.

17. Red, Yellow, Cyan, and Bright Purple

Hex code: Red #D71B3B, Yellow #E8D71E, Cyan #16ACEA, Bright Purple #4203C9

This vibrant color palette combines children-friendly primary colors that create a feeling of optimism, joy, and youth.

18. Peach, Salmon, and Teal

Hex code: Peach #EFB5A3, Salmon #F57E7E, Teal #315F72

Salmon and peach are the two best color shades that complement each other perfectly whereby the teal accent provides a second layer of depth to the color palette.

19. Scarlet, Light Olive, and Light Teal

Hex code: Scarlet #B85042, Light Olive #E7E8D1, Light Teal #A7BEAE

This triadic color combi gives an extremely subdued rake on primary colors adding a gray to evoke the feeling of seriousness and mystery.

20. Pink and Raisin

Hex code: Pink #E52165 and Raisin #0D1137

The combination of these two colors creates a contrast that gives off a bold, and dynamic energy. The bright pink in this color combo evokes fun and youthfulness with a subtle touch of feminity.

10 Helpful Resources To Find Color Palette Inspiration If

If you are looking to create palettes for your next design, here are 10 helpful resources to check out in 2023.

1. Coolors color palette generator

Coolors is a fast color palette generator that allows you to create, save and share the perfect palettes in a few minutes. It allows users to create color palettes from an image and play around with different shades to create colors that suit their design needs. You insert your design background and text color to show you how accessible the color is.

2. Adobe Color

Adobe color allows users to create color schemes using color theory rules. With its updated version, you can now generate and explore thousands of color palettes for design inspiration.

3. Design Seeds

Design seeds is a website where you can daily color palette inspiration for specific themes. The majority of these colors celebrate nature-related colors and aesthetics of purposeful living.

4. Dribble for Color Inspiration

Dribble allows you to sort and access different colors of your choice. If you are looking for color palette inspiration, you should definitely check out their choice.

5. Pigment by Shapefactory

Pigment by Shapefactory is often regarded as the best color palette generator on the internet that allows you to easily choose your desired color palette and modify it for your use. It is also a top choice for its amazing user interface and user experience.

6. Color Hunt

Color Hunt is a curated collection of beautiful color schemes that is updated regularly (usually daily).

7. Muzli

Muzli is a color palette generator that enables you to create color schemes based on the color you are looking for. It also gives color recommendations as you scroll down

8. LOL Colors

LOL Colors has a curated list of beautiful color palettes shared by designer Mackenzie Child. You can browse and select your desired color palettes from the available colors

9. ColourCode

ColourCode is a tool that you can use to easily and intuitively combine colors based on monochrome, analogic, complementary, triad, and quad combinations.

10. Colordot

Colordot regarded as the color picker for humans is a tool that allows you to easily create as many color palettes as you want in seconds.

Conclusion

Colors bring life to design but getting the right color can be tricky. If you are looking to create bold, unique, and dynamic brand colors, we have provided you with 20 beautiful color combination ideas and 10 helpful resources to create your desired color palettes. Check out any of the resources listed above and use the color picker to create color combinations of your choice.

Good luck!