The short version
- A summer color palette works best when its bright colours sit on an anchor, either a deep sea blue or plum, or a warm sand or limewash.
- Summer colours look cheap when every swatch is at full saturation, so keep one or two bright accents and let the rest be softer.
- Golden hour palettes run from honey through apricot and rosé to a dusky plum, which makes them ideal for gradients with a dark, readable base.
- Coastal and Mediterranean palettes pair a deep blue with sand, limewash or terracotta, and suit travel, hospitality and food brands.
- Tropical night palettes use deep violet with hibiscus pink and mango, which suits evening events, bars and festivals.
On this page
A summer color palette feels sunlit when bright colours have something to sit on. Pair coral, lemon or turquoise with either a deep anchor, such as sea blue or dusky plum, or a warm pale one, such as sand or limewash. Keep one or two colours bright and let the rest soften. The five palettes below come from places and times of day people associate with summer, each with hex codes and a gradient you can copy.
Five summer palettes with hex codes
Coastal
Golden hour
Citrus grove
Two more for different briefs, laid out the same way.
Anchor
#0d3b66 AegeanMain colours
#faf0ca limewash, #7a9e7e oliveAccent
#c8553d terracottaSuits
Anchor
#10002b nightMain colours
#3c096c violet, #ffd166 mangoAccent
#ff4d6d hibiscusSuits
Summer gradients you can copy
Summer gradients are best when they behave like daylight: bright where the sun would be, deeper where shade falls. That shade is also where you put the words.
Sunset blends are a whole family of their own; sunset gradients has more, and ocean gradients goes deeper into the blues.
Bright colours without the glare
Summer briefs tempt everyone to turn saturation all the way up. The result vibrates on a phone screen, and colours placed side by side at full strength fight each other. Sunlit is different from neon. Bright colour palettes covers the theory; the practical rules are short.
Highlighter
- Five colours all at full saturation
- Pure cyan beside pure orange
- Yellow type on white
- No dark or pale colour to rest on
Sunlit
- One or two bright accents, the rest softened
- Turquoise and coral separated by sand
- Dark type on yellow, or yellow on deep blue
- A clear anchor: sea, dusk, leaf or sand
Which summer palette suits your business
The right palette depends less on the season than on what you sell and when people buy it. A wine bar does most of its summer trade after dark; a swim shop sells in the brightest part of the day. Match the light in the palette to the moment your customer is thinking about you.
Palette
Why it fits
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Why it fits
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Why it fits
Summer is also long enough to drift. Start June in the paler, fresher end of a palette, peak in July with its brightest accent, and let August grow warmer and a little deeper, so the step into autumn colours in September feels natural rather than abrupt. The darker autumn families are in autumn colour palettes.
What to post with a summer palette
- Summer hours or a seasonal menu. Coastal or Mediterranean, calm enough to carry several lines of detail.
- A summer sale. Citrus or Golden hour, with the discount in the accent colour. Formats are in summer sale graphics.
- Outdoor events and festivals. Tropical night for evenings, Golden hour for daytime. See festival season graphics.
- Holiday closures. A simple Lagoon background with the dates large and nothing else.
- Late August. Begin cooling the palette towards autumn, and prepare for back to school posts if that is your season.
A portrait sale post with the bright sun kept in a corner and the deep base behind the headline.
A story for an evening series, using the Tropical night mood.
If you would rather describe the post than build it, the Designer in Gradiently can do the first draft: tell it you need a summer hours post for a seaside café, and it writes the words, lays them out on your Mark and makes the story and square versions too. Every size comes from the one design, so the colour stays consistent across the campaign.
Sizes for a summer campaign
Instagram post 1080×1350
1080 × 1350
Story 1080×1920
1080 × 1920
Facebook event cover 1920×1005
1920 × 1005
Pinterest pin 1000×1500
1000 × 1500
Questions people ask
What colours are in a summer color palette?
Typically one deep anchor such as sea blue or plum, one or two bright accents such as coral, lemon or turquoise, and a warm pale colour like sand or limewash.
What are good summer hex codes?
The Coastal palette uses #0b3954, #087e8b, #7fc8c4, #f2e3c6 and #ff6f59. Golden hour uses #3d1f3d, #c9485b, #f28f3b, #ffc857 and #fff1d6.
How do I keep bright summer colours from looking cheap?
Keep only one or two colours at full saturation, soften the rest, and give the palette a clear dark or sandy anchor to sit on.
What text colour works on yellow?
Dark text, such as deep blue, plum or leaf green. White type on yellow has very little contrast.
Which summer palette works for a restaurant?
A Mediterranean palette of Aegean blue, limewash, olive and terracotta suits most restaurants. The deep blue holds menu text and the terracotta gives one warm accent.
Written by Gradiently
The team behind Gradiently, a design tool built around Marks: living gradients that make everything you design look like yours.
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