Colour palette
A colour palette is the defined set of colours a brand uses, usually one or two primary colours, a few supporting ones and neutrals. Each is recorded with exact values for screen and print, along with rules for where and how much to use them.
In practice
What it means when you are the one making the decision.
Palette decisions affect recognition, mood and legibility. A palette needs enough contrast to be readable: for body text on a background, a contrast ratio of at least 4.5 to 1 is the accessibility guideline most teams use. A palette that looks good on a poster can fail on a phone screen in daylight.
A palette should list values for each medium, such as HEX or RGB for screens and CMYK or a Pantone reference for print, because the same colour can look different between them. A clear proportion rule, for example mostly neutral with one accent, stops colour use drifting.
Example
A clinic chooses a calm green as its primary, a deep neutral for text and a warm accent used only on buttons and highlights, so the accent always signals action.
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