Colour is a system, not a swatch

Why one accent can carry an entire brand — and the rules that stop it turning into noise.

Portrait of Nadia Rahimi, Design Director

Nadia Rahimi

Design Director

5

min read

Hands arranging overlapping orange, pink, blue and yellow colour sheets on a light box

Brand palettes tend to grow. A primary, then a secondary, then a tint for charts, then a seasonal colour. Two years later nobody knows which blue to use.

One accent, many roles

We start from a single accent and define what it is allowed to do: actions, highlights, the one thing on a screen that matters most. Everything else stays neutral so the accent keeps its power.

“A colour used everywhere means nothing anywhere.”

When a brand needs range — like Signal’s six colourways — we give each colour a job, not a mood. That keeps the system legible even when it gets loud.

Portrait of Nadia Rahimi, Design Director

Written by

Nadia Rahimi

Design Director

at Kairo

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