Color Palette

In the world of ecommerce graphic and web design, a color palette is the selection of colors that a brand or company chooses to be their defining colors. Since it’s been shown that certain colors evoke certain emotions in the human brain, brands use this knowledge to influence the emotions that they want their target audience to feel about them. They do this by carefully selecting their brand’s color palette.

How Are Color Palettes Used?

Brands use their selected colors in all of their business operations where visual assets are required. The colors from their palette will be used in their logo, on their website, on their products, on their product packaging, on their brochures, on official brand stationery, etc. They use their chosen color palette on every medium, whether it’s digital or physical, so their branding stays consistent.

Most brands’ color palettes are chosen carefully so that the colors complement one another. To make sure your color choices pair well together, you can use a color wheel or a digital color palette maker. In our Ecommerce Branding Guide, we share color palette resources that help you create your own color palette.

In general, most brands include three or four colors in their color palette. Shades like white, black, or grey can also be included. This is what most color palettes consist of:

• One Dominant Color: This is your brand’s main color and the one that will be used most frequently or in places where lots of color is required (like on homepages, brochures, backgrounds, etc.)
• One Supporting Color: This color will pair well with your dominant color and will be used frequently as well, just not quite as frequently as your dominant color. It is typically used in headings, fonts, pop-ups, call-out boxes, etc.)
• One Accent Color: This color will be used less frequently than the other two colors, and usually will be stand out from the other two. It’s generally used to highlight call-to-action buttons or links so that your audience can see them quickly and easily.

Your color palette can truly be anything you want it to be—it’s entirely up to you. Find the colors that represent your brand the best and will let people know what your company is about without them having to read a word!