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Color Palettes for Graphic Recording


If you've ever found yourself in the dilemma, "What colors do I use for my visual notes?!", this one's for you. I remember when I first discovered Neuland (your markers, stickies, and meeting supplies dream store) and I just bought markers without really thinking about how all the colors would go together...


So I thought I'd put together 3 of my favorite color palettes of Neuland markers and go over my formula for choosing what colors to use. Let's do this!


Whenever I'm taking visual notes, I think about the different components of information on my chart as follows,


  • TITLE: This should be the biggest text on the page. It should immediately get attention and act as a starting point on the page. I recommend getting the Big One marker from Neuland for your titles.



  • SUB-HEADER: Sub-headers act as the umbrellas around the rest of the text on the page. They're not as big as the title, but bigger than the main body of text. The Big One is my go to for subheaders.


  • KEY TEXT: Say there's a quote, a significant metric, something of importance but it's not an umbrella category, that's key text. It's nice to have a separate color for these golden nuggets of information. I use the Neuland No.One marker for my key text.



  • TEXT: This is all the the other text on your chart. I always use black for this category. Just my personal preference :) This permanent black is called the Outliner


  • ICONS: It's good to think about what color you'll be using to draw graphics. I always use the Outliner marker for this category too.

  • ACCENT: I think of accents as the parts of the chart that draw in the viewers eye. Think bullets, speech bubbles, big blocks of color. It's not so much text as it is pops of color, hence why I usually make this color the same as the color of my title. I like to use both Big Ones and Neuland No.One's for my accent colors.



  • SHADING: Shading gives your text and graphics more depth and a more dynamic look on the page. Think of this as adding soft color to your graphic and title. I like to use the Art Brush marker for my shading.




COLOR PALETTE #1

Title & Accent: #601

Sub-header & Key Text: #301

Shading: #500 & #303


COLOR PALETTE #2

Title & Accent: #401

Sub-header & Key Text: #301

Shading: #500 & #303


COLOR PALETTE #3

Title & Accent: #302

Sub-header & Key Text: #701

Shading: #500 & #102


I hope you love these color palettes as much as I do! What are some of your favorites?? Drop them in the comment below!


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3 commenti


Alalia Lundy
Alalia Lundy
30 mag 2020

Malgosia, thanks for sharing your knowledge.

Mi piace

Alalia Lundy
Alalia Lundy
30 mag 2020

@bribrifitz Neuland refill colors still exist for markers that no longer exist for a particular color. 104 is a color I like but they don't offer it in a marker anymore, so I just purchase the refill bottle and an empty marker to fill.

Mi piace

bribrifitz
05 mar 2020

ILove this Malgosia! Imagine my dismay when going to Neuland and not finding #601 color anywhere!

Mi piace
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