4 curated palettes

Retro color palettes

Retro palettes borrow from the seventies and eighties: burnt orange, avocado, mustard, teal, and chocolate — colors with the saturation turned down and the warmth turned up. They suit brands that want nostalgia without kitsch: coffee, vinyl, indie games, craft goods.

The discipline with retro is restraint: pick one loud period color (the orange, the mustard) and let the browns and creams do the quiet work. Two loud retro hues at full weight tips straight into costume.