There isn’t a magic number of colours that every brand should have.
For most small businesses, a handful is plenty. You need enough colours to give you some flexibility, but not so many that every time you make something you have to decide which of eight different colours you’re supposed to use.
A good palette is less about reaching a particular number and more about making sure every colour you add has a reason to be there.
Start With the Colours You Actually Need
If you’ve already chosen a main brand colour, you have somewhere to start.
From there, think about what that colour can’t do on its own.
You may need another colour to work alongside it. You will almost certainly need something dark enough for text and something light enough for backgrounds. You might also want an accent colour for the occasional thing that needs to stand out.
That could give you something as simple as this:
Main Colour
The colour most strongly associated with your brand.
Supporting Colour
Works alongside the main colour and gives you more flexibility.
Supporting Colour
An optional extra for highlights and small areas that need attention.
Neutrals
The whites, creams, greys, charcoals or other quiet colours that make everything else easier to use.
Not every business needs all four of these. If your brand works perfectly well with one main colour, a dark colour and white, there is nothing missing.
So, Is Three Brand Colours the Right Number?
Three is often suggested because it gives you a main colour, a supporting colour and an accent.
That’s a useful starting point, not a rule.
A business could comfortably use:
VERY SIMPLE
1–2 brand colours + neutrals
FLEXIBLE
2–3 brand colours + neutrals
BROADER
4+ brand colours + neutrals
The number isn’t what makes the palette work. Knowing why each colour is there does.
Do Black and White Count as Brand Colours?
They can, but you don’t need to get too caught up in counting them.
White might be an important part of how your brand looks without being one of the colours people primarily associate with it. The same goes for black, charcoal, cream or grey.
Think of neutrals as the colours that help your main palette function.
If your brand is purple and teal, using white backgrounds and charcoal text doesn’t suddenly mean you have a four-colour brand that has become too complicated.
Those quieter colours are often what make the stronger ones usable.
More Colours Don't Automatically Give You More Options
It can be tempting to keep adding colours because something feels missing.
A second blue.
Another shade of pink.
A yellow because the palette needs something bright.
A green because you might need that later.
Eventually, you’ve created plenty of options but made it harder to decide which ones to use.
| BEFORE ADDING ANOTHER COLOUR, ASK:
If you have a good answer, add it. If the answer is mostly “I also like this one”, it probably doesn’t need to become part of the official palette. |
What About Different Shades of the Same Colour?
This is where the numbers become even less useful.
You might have one primary blue but occasionally use a darker or lighter version of it. That doesn’t necessarily mean you need to start describing the business as having five different blue brand colours.
Variations can be useful, particularly for websites and larger designs where you need some depth without introducing an entirely new colour.
The important part is deciding which variations are actually approved for use.
If every design starts with you randomly making the pink a little lighter or the blue a little darker, you gradually stop using a defined palette at all.
Keep It Manageable
If you’re building a small-business brand and aren’t sure where to stop, start small.
| A SIMPLE PALETTE COULD BE: ✓ one main colour |
You might use fewer. You might eventually need more.
What matters is that you can look at every colour in the palette and explain what it contributes.
If you can’t, removing a colour will often make the brand easier to work with rather than leaving it incomplete.
Choose the Colours Before You Count Them
If you’re still at the beginning and haven’t settled on your actual colours yet, start with Choosing Brand Colours That Actually Work.
Once you have a main colour and know roughly how many supporting colours you need, the next question is usually what those colours communicate.
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