Every rebrand promises a fresh palette. Two years later, product teams are still finding the old colours hard-coded in forgotten corners of the app.
Name the job, not the colour
Palettes named after colours, like “brand blue” or “sunset orange”, break the day the colours change. Palettes named after jobs, like “background”, “text” and “accent”, survive. The values change; the names and the places they are used stay the same.
Keep the list short
Large palettes look generous in a brand book and turn into chaos in a product. A small set of neutrals, one or two accents and a few status colours covers almost every screen.
Document what not to do
Good colour guides show the combinations to avoid: accent text on accent backgrounds, light grey on white, two accents side by side. These rules outlast any specific colour.
Before the next refresh
- Rename colours by job, not by hue.
- Remove any colour used in fewer than three places.
- Write down the combinations that fail.
A palette is not the colours themselves. It is the agreement about where each one goes.
