By: Kelly Smith; Photos by Brooke Dennis and Justin Hackworth for Alt Summit
Blogs and businesses who have a consistent color palette are not only recognizable, but they hold an authentic confidence that sells their individual personality. Utilizing color in a signature style is also a quick way for readers to gauge if you are a right fit for them and vice versa. You want your audience to have a similar aesthetic and style, and color is one way to establish that relationship or bond.
Nevertheless, deciding on a color palette can be such a difficult and daunting task for many of us. Here are three suggestions of how you can narrow down the options.
1. Look at your existing photographs and try to pick out a consistent color scheme that you are naturally gravitating towards. In addition, look at what your signature message is throughout your work – are you going for happy, energetic, and fun, or moody, relaxing, and natural? The tone of your blog or business should be reflected in the colors you use in order to create a consistent presence.
2. Find color inspiration from sites like Design Seeds where you can look through pictures and color palettes. Spend five minutes a day for a couple weeks collecting color palettes that are appealing to your eye. Once you have collected a good number, go through and locate similar colors. You will be amazed at the patterns that emerge.
3. Bring it all together by creating a mood board with your key words or phrases, your mission statement, pictures that you currently use, pictures from those you admire, and colors that you collected in Step 2. As everything comes together, your true aesthetic should emerge.
Take your time with this process, but have fun while doing it. Your colors should excite and inspire your work – once you find them you can focus on the creative process instead of always guessing what others want to see. In reality, people just want to see your true self!
