Color Combinations to Avoid- Part 2

Read part 1 of the color combinations to avoid!

When designing your packaging and brand image, you have so many choices when it comes to color. You can pick any combination of colors you want. However, some pairings just do not look good together. This blog will cover the worst green, orange, and yellow color combinations that we can think of. Every one of these pairings has an exception, but use this blog as a handy guide for determining which colors are hard to make look good together.

A few things come to mind with this paring. Barney, the Incredible Hulk, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. None of these associations are great for business. The two colors are complementary and attention-grabbing, not attention-keeping. The contrast makes looking at the pairing for too long uncomfortable. Text that contrasts the background color too heavily is also just hard to read. You want something that feels comfortable to look at.

This may be a surprising one to see since green and yellow are seen on a handful of brand designs like sprite and John Deer. However, it is because those brands use them that his combo should be avoided. Yellow and green are now cemented into the average person's mind as representative of lemon-lime drinks or lawn care. If you find yourself in either of those two industries, then you can use this combo. However, other industries should avoid it.

Yellow and green are also too close to each other on the color spectrum to provide a needed contrast. Yellow background with green text on top will be unreadable, and vice-versa. The two colors meld into each other, which results in a lack of definition. 

Another color to avoid with green is orange. The reason for this is that the pairing is just unpleasant to look at. It's loud, it’s too citrusy, and it's too bright. It's attention grabbing for sure, but few viewers are going to want to stare at an orange and green pairing for too long. For web design, the two colors are too jarring together to look good on a page. Save this pairing for tropical flavored candies and fruit salad.

Orange and yellow are too similar to each other to be paired. When the two are near each other, there is not enough of a transition to make the image visually interesting. A third color needs to be added to the mix. The combination of bright on bright should also be avoided as too many bright colors can cause eye fatigue.

I'm sure you know what these two colors together are reminiscent of. There are ways to make this pairing work, but it’s too risky to even try. Brown is a hard color to mix seamlessly into designs, and mixing it with yellow is a recipe for disaster.  Keep yellow with other fun and happy colors, and keep brown with more earthy tones.

Yellow and white are too similar on the color spectrum to be distinguishable. Any white text on a yellow background or vice-versa is going to be impossible to read easily.  Yellow is also such a bright color that it's going to draw in all the attention, making yellow seem like the primary color of your brand. The colors you use in your brand design should each stand out, not wash each other out.

Now that you know what color pairings to avoid, you can focus on finding the right colors to make your brand pop. Consult our guide on red and black color combos to avoid even more information on disastrous color pairings. When you are ready to start creating a custom package, check out our custom printing page. There is no such thing as too much color, but it’s important to be aware of what looks good, and what does not.

QQ Tip- Avoid pairing bright text and bright backgrounds on packaging or logos, it will be hard to read!