Brand Color Palette: How to Choose and Document It

How do you create a brand color palette

Create a brand color palette by choosing one or two primary colors that fit your brand, adding a few secondary and neutral colors to support them, and setting clear rules for how much of each to use. Then test every text and background combination for contrast, so your website, signs and print pieces stay readable. Finally, record each color’s values for screen and print in your brand style guide, so every designer and printer uses the same colors.

This guide covers the parts of a brand palette, how to choose colors, how to balance them, how to check accessibility and how to document color codes for print and digital. Pros Inc creates brand identities, logos and style guides for small businesses from our office in San Diego, and this is the process we use. Accessibility guidance comes from the W3C’s Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2, read as of October 2026.

The parts of a brand color palette

Most brand palettes have three groups of colors:

• Primary colors: one or two colors most closely tied to your brand, often used in your logo
• Secondary or accent colors: two to four colors that support the primary colors, used for highlights, buttons, charts and illustrations
• Neutrals: whites, grays, off-whites and near-blacks for backgrounds and body text

A small palette is easier to use consistently across print and digital materials.

How to choose brand colors

Start with your brand and audience

Write down a few words that describe your brand’s personality and what you want customers to feel. Colors carry associations, but they vary by culture, industry and context, so do not rely on generic color meaning charts alone. Test colors with real materials and, if you can, with real customers.

Look at your competitors

List the colors your main competitors use. Choosing a distinct primary color can help customers tell you apart, especially in crowded markets where many businesses share the same blue or green.

Consider where colors will appear

Your colors must work on screens, on paper, on signs and sometimes on products or vehicles. A bright screen color may look different in print, and some colors are hard to reproduce on certain materials. Check your colors in each place you will use them before you finalize the palette.

Build from your logo

If you already have a logo, start your palette from its colors. Add neutrals and one or two accents that work with them. If you are creating a new identity, choose colors and logo together. Our page on corporate identity and branding covers how the pieces fit.

Balance your colors: the 60-30-10 rule

A common rule of thumb in interior and graphic design is 60-30-10: use a dominant color for about 60% of a design, a secondary color for about 30% and an accent color for about 10%. In brand materials, the dominant color is often a neutral background, the secondary color is a brand color for headers or large shapes, and the accent is a bright color for buttons, calls to action or highlights.

It is a starting point, not a requirement. The goal is a clear hierarchy, so your most important elements stand out because the accent color is used sparingly.

Check color contrast for accessibility

Brand colors have to work for readers with low vision or color vision deficiencies. The W3C’s Understanding Success Criterion 1.4.3: Contrast (Minimum) for WCAG 2.2 sets these minimum contrast ratios for text:

The same W3C page says the thresholds are not rounded, so a ratio of 4.499:1 does not meet 4.5:1. It also says that text with too little contrast because of corporate identity or brand guidelines is not exempt. Only the logo itself is exempt.

Two related WCAG criteria matter for brand palettes:

• Non-text contrast (1.4.11): buttons, form borders and important graphics need at least 3:1 contrast against nearby colors.
• Use of color (1.4.1): do not use color alone to show meaning, such as red for errors. Add text, icons or patterns too.

In practice, test every text color against every background you plan to use, with a contrast checker. Light accent colors, such as yellow or light green, often fail as text on white, so reserve them for shapes and backgrounds and choose a darker shade for text. Our guide to website accessibility covers other accessibility basics.

Document your color codes

Each brand color needs values for screen and print:

• HEX codes for websites, such as #1F4E9A
• RGB values for screens, apps and digital files
• CMYK values for full-color printing
• Spot color references, such as a Pantone color, if you print with exact ink colors

Screen and print colors are produced differently, so a color may not match exactly across formats. Ask your printer for a proof of key colors, and adjust CMYK values if needed. Our commercial printing guidelines explain print color setup.

Record each color in your style guide with its name, all its values, where to use it and approved text and background pairings that pass contrast. Our guide on how to create a brand style guide shows how to lay this out, and our post on logo file formats explains which logo files to provide in RGB and CMYK.

Common brand color mistakes

• Too many colors, which makes materials look inconsistent
• Choosing colors only on screen, then finding they print very differently
• Light text on light backgrounds that fails contrast checks
• Using color alone to show meaning in charts, forms or signs
• No documented values, so each designer or printer matches colors by eye

Frequently asked questions

Get help with your brand colors

A well-chosen, documented palette makes your brand easier to recognize and easier to read. If you need help building a brand color palette, a logo or a full style guide, contact Pros Inc at 715 J St #200, San Diego, CA 92101, or call (858) 652-8920.