Just realized 3 colors is all I need for a professional brand palette

I was browsing through some old design files from the early 2000s and saw I had palettes with 8 or 9 colors for a single project. Then I looked at a recent branding job for a local coffee shop near Lincoln, Nebraska and noticed I used exactly 3 colors: a warm brown, a soft cream, and a dark slate. I counted 6 of my best client projects and 5 of them used a 3 color palette too. Has anyone else found that fewer colors actually makes the final design look more polished?

2 comments

2 Comments

danieljenkins2d ago

Wait, is 3 actually the gold standard or just a coincidence from your recent work?

robert_bennett292d agoTop Commenter

I ran 3 versions of my test and got the same result each time. Worked well enough for me to keep using it. Your mileage might vary but it's a solid starting point.