Before you start any creative process, you have to pick a palette!

Okay well that might be a SLIGHT exaggeration, because some creative projects won’t involve a colour palette. But you know what I mean! And picking your colour palette can sometimes be where the roadblock starts, and your creative juices get… stuck. And I get it – palettes aren’t always easy! It doesn’t always feel intuitive to choose a suite of colours that’ll align with the goals of your project, and there are so, SO many impacts colour can have on emotion.

And that’s why we ALWAYS want to talk about colour psychology when we’re choosing palettes. Today, we’re going to talk all about orange, and I’ll also provide a ton of orange palettes that you can swipe as a starting point for your next creative endeavour!!

Did you know… orange doesn’t technically exist???

Okay so this one might be a little clickbaity, but follow me here, because I promise it’s a real thing. Or rather… not a real thing? Either way – one of my favourite facts about orange, is that it’s actually brightened, saturated brown. Or that brown is darkened, desaturated orange. They feel like they should absolutely be distinct, and when it comes to colour psychology, they both overlap and diverge from one another, similarly to the interactions between pink and red, or black and grey. But brown and orange? They’re made of the same stuff, and I think that’s fascinating!

Just like many colours, orange has a ton of natural inspirational sources

That connection between orange and brown doesn’t end with their placement on the spectrum though, they’re also commonly paired in the natural world, thanks to the processes deciduous leaves go through in the autumn. As phytosynthesizing cells transition out of activity, and their usually green pigments give way for the carotenoids to shine, through those gorgeous yellow, orange, and red tones we see on the trees. But before and while those leaves are falling? It’s not just orange you see in the trees, it’s brown too! And there lives the natural connection between oranges and browns – right at the heart of autumn.

Autumn isn’t the only source of natural inspiration for orange hues though, there are SO many, from sand and stone, to petals and prairies.

Orange hues are warm, friendly, enthusiastic, and grounded!

That being said, orange IS associated with warmth in part because of its presence in autumn. It’s the season of celebrating the final harvest, the time of warming spices and herbs – pumpkins, squash… all orange. The sunset at the end of a gorgeous day? Orange.

If we consider the chakras, orange is associated with the sacral chakra, which is just below your belly button – it’s the second chakra from the root, and this further aligns the colour with groundedness, and emotional balance.

Because from a pigment standpoint it’s a secondary colour (like Purple or green), bringing together the pigments of yellow and red, it also brings together some of the characteristics of each. The friendliness and happiness of yellow, and the groundedness and connection of red – landing orange in the position of “grounded joy”.

No matter the palette, using colour is all about balance

I talk about balance a lot when it comes to colour palettes, but there’s a good reason for that! Simply deciding that you want oranges for your palette, and expecting it to automatically be grounded because it’s orange… it’s just not going to work that way.

When you’re deciding on the TONE you want to communicate through your palette, you can bring energy into nearly any set of hues, through saturation, shade, tone, and cohesion.

An orange palette can be brought into an uplifting place, using light, pastel hues. Or, it can be grounded through darkened, desaturated browns, that feel downright neutral in context. You’ve got OPTIONS when you’re working with orange, which makes it an incredibly versatile hue to base your branding in!

Have an image you want to start your palette with?

These palettes make great starting points, but if you have a specific image or mood board you want to start with, you can totally do that instead! Grab your image or images, and then, get that colour picker going!! If you’re not a Canva user, or an Adobe guru, then sites like Coolers.co can make your process super simple. Just pop your image in, and it’ll generate palettes based on it for you to tweak and choose from! Adobe has a similar free tool here, if you’re more of an Adobe human.

I have my orange palette… now what’s next?

Start using it consistently! Success after rebranding (or branding for the first time) comes down largely to consistency. You want to make sure that once you’ve chosen your colour palette, you use it across all of your social media, as well as your entire online presence. Inject it into any branding images that you take for your company, including the wardrobe in your headshots. Make sure that the vibe created in your content aligns with the mood created by the palette!

If your orange palette is light, and airy, and uplifting, keep things light, and airy, and uplifting. If the orange colour palette you’re using is deep, and moody, and ethereal… same deal. Stick within the mood that is curated by the colours you’ve selected.

Trying to decide whether an orange palette would work for your business’ brand?

If you’re stuck on whether an orange palette might work for your branding, or your upcoming project, I’d love to have a chat! We can talk about whether oranges (or even neutrals!) are actually the way to go, or whether the emotions you’re looking to instill in your audience would be better communicated with a different palette base entirely!

Happy designing!

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