Choosing brand colors for a startup when you have no brand guidelines yet

1. Start with three words, not a mood board

Before you open Figma or a color tool, write down three words that describe how you want people to feel when they land on your site.

• Trusted + calm + professional → cool blues, teals, clean neutrals.
• Energetic + bold + modern → warm oranges, electric blues, high contrast.
• Premium + quiet + confident → deep navies, muted golds, generous white space.
• These words narrow the hue family before personal taste takes over.

2. The minimum viable palette

For a landing page or MVP, you genuinely only need four colors to start.

• White or very light gray for the page background.
• One dark color (#111827 or #0F172A) for text and nav.
• One brand accent for buttons, links, and highlights.
• One slightly tinted surface (#F8FAFC) for cards and sections.

3. How to know if it's working

Before you ship, do a quick gut-check with three questions.

• Does the CTA button stand out without me having to look for it?
• Can I read the body text comfortably for 30 seconds?
• Does the page feel like it belongs in the same industry as your competitors — but slightly more distinctive?

Common mistakes

• Choosing a color because it's your personal favorite, not because it fits the brand.
• Using 6 different accent colors because you couldn't decide.
• Skipping the contrast check because 'it looks fine on my screen'.

Before you ship

• Write three brand feeling words before picking any color.
• Limit yourself to 4 colors for the first version.
• Check CTA button contrast against the page background.
• Get one person outside the team to describe the vibe before launch.