Hey there! I’m Sam, a graphic designer who loves dreaming up fresh color palettes. Today, I’m going to walk you through exactly how I turned an Italian lemon-inspired mood board into a fully functional brand color palette—using my favorite tool, Color Palette PRO. If you’re into breezy, coastal vibes and pops of citrusy color (think lemons, limoncello, and the Amalfi coast), keep reading.
I promise this is easy, fun, and will only take a few minutes!
1. Gather Your Inspiration
I was really feeling the Italian lemon aesthetic—you know, those bright yellows, warm blues, and hints of lush greenery. I pictured lemons, Caprese tiles, Amalfi sunsets…all those dreamy Italian details. Before diving into colors, I collected a bunch of images that captured the vibe:
- Lemons (of course!)
- Ocean blues and coastal landscapes
- Poolside snapshots with those classic striped umbrellas
- A few gelato-like textures that just felt so “Italian summer”
- Pops of greenery and even soft oranges for an extra Mediterranean touch
Pro Tip: Pull in all sorts of images! Don’t worry if they’re not perfectly on-theme. Sometimes an unexpected photo (like a tree archway or a fun architectural tile) can bring in just the right accent color.
Want access to my Pinterest board? Check out all the inspo pics I saved here.
2. Build a Mood Board
Next, I popped these images into a mood board maker. This step is totally optional, but I looooove mood boards because they help you visualize the overall aesthetic.
3. Upload Your Mood Board into Color Palette PRO
Here’s where the magic happens. I hopped into Color Palette PRO—our new tool that makes building and refining color palettes a breeze.
- Choose the DIY style in Color Palette PRO.
- Upload your mood board.
- Select how many colors you want in your palette. (I went for 9 because I had a lot of different shades in mind, but 6 or fewer can also work great.)
Right away, Color Palette PRO will generate some color options plucked from your mood board. It’s super quick, and it gives you a bunch of interesting combos to explore.
4. Lock in Your Favorites & Tweak
This is the fun part: you get to play around and refine until it feels just right.
- Generate & Shuffle: Hit “Generate” to see various color suggestions.
- Lock Colors You Love: Got that perfect lemon yellow? Lock it in! Maybe there’s a punchy cobalt blue or ocean teal you can’t live without—lock those too.
- Keep Generating: Once you lock a few colors, keep hitting that generate button to see new combos for the unlocked spots.
I knew I wanted:
- Two or three types of lemony yellows (some bright, some softer)
- A couple of blues (like the sea and tiles)
- A subtle orange (not too bold, more dusty and pastel)
- A touch of green (to bring in that olive tree vibe)
Color Palette PRO also allows you to manually adjust any shade—just drag sliders or type in hex codes. I softened one of the oranges, created a buttery pastel yellow, and brightened my main lemon hue so it really popped.
5. Naming Your Colors
Once your colors feel on-brand, you can name them right in Color Palette PRO. It has a fun auto-name feature that sometimes pulls in cool or silly names. In my case, it generated a bunch of Italian-inspired color names (like “Oliva” for the green). It gave the palette such a personal, thematic touch!
6. Check Your Contrast
Even if your palette looks gorgeous, you’ll want to check accessibility. Color Palette PRO makes that super easy:
- Go to the Contrast Tester tool.
- It shows you text/background pairings and rates them based on contrast scores.
- If you see your palette is mostly low contrast (which can happen with softer, pastel hues), try adding a dark neutral (like charcoal) and light neutral (like a cream or off-white).
- Name those new neutrals (just to keep things cohesive).
This step ensures your brand palette is actually usable for text, headlines, backgrounds, buttons—basically anywhere you need clear readability.
7. Export Your Final Palette
Once you’re satisfied with the colors (and you’ve locked in some high-contrast pairings), save your palette in Color Palette PRO. Then:
- Click Export.
- Select the color code formats you want (I usually go with hex codes and RGB).
- If you like, export the approved color pairings for easy reference in your brand guidelines.
And voilà—you now have a fully fleshed out, accessible brand color palette rooted in that dreamy Italian lemon vibe!
8. Let Me Know What You Think!
I’m so in love with this fresh, vibrant palette. It perfectly captures that sunny, beachy, and slightly citrus-inspired look. I’m really curious:
- Which images or colors would you add if you were building an Italian-inspired palette of your own?
- What kind of brand do you picture rocking these colors? (I personally see a chic boutique hotel on the Amalfi Coast, or maybe a summery café brand.)
I hope this breakdown sparks some new ideas and gets your creative juices flowing. If you give Color Palette PRO a try, I’d love to see what you create.
