How to create a colour palette for your website
I want to walk you through two ways on how you can create a colour palette for your website. Maybe you are working with a designer, DIYing your website, or using a template as a starting point - either way, you need a set of colours for the design.
Before diving into the two different options I have for you on how to create your colour palette, start by answering these three questions:
How do you hope people will feel once they experience the brand?
Write down three keywords that describe your brand.
Ex: Warm, welcoming, airy
Write down three colours that you associate with the keywords you wrote above.
Ex: Light orange, light sky blue, beige
Option one: use Pinterest
How to steps:
1. Search on Pinterest for colour palettes that have the feel of the keywords you wrote above, and that include the colours you picked.
In the Pinterest search bar, write "Colour palette + (keyword) + (colour)".
Ex: “Colour palette warm light orange”
2. Repeat the step above for each of your keywords and colours, so you have a variety to choose from. Don't forget to save them all in the same Pinterest folder.
Ex: “Colour palette welcoming light sky blue”, “Colour palette airy beige”
3. Now that you have a couple of colour palettes saved, go through the photos you have set aside to use on your website. You want to pick the colour palette that will match your photos the best. You want the colour palette to complement your images, instead of clashing.
4. Once you have the colour palette chosen, go to Squarespace (or whichever website platform you are using), and enter the colours in the design settings portion.
Option two: use a colour palette generator
How to steps:
1. Instead of using Pinterest to find a colour palette, you can create your own from an image by using a colour palette generator website. You just add an image to the generator, and it will create an adjustable colour palette for you. Here are two free colour palette generator website options:
2. What image should you use? Here are a few suggestions:
Use photos that you will be using on the website. This guarantees that the images you use on the site will match your website colours.
Use an image you either took yourself or you found online that you really love that communicates through its colours the look and feel you want for your website.
If you love your Instagram feed, you can take a screenshot of it and upload that to the generator and create a colour palette that matches your feed.
Lastly, you can build a Pinterest mood board for your brand with images that represent the look and feel you want your website to have. Then, take a screenshot of your mood board and add it to the colour palette generator to create your unique colour selection.
3. How many colours do I need?
Less is more here!! When I design a website, I like to use 2-4 colous max, and use different shades of each colour if needed.