5 Fall Color Palettes with HEX Codes for Your Next Brand Campaign

Fall design does not have to mean orange leaves on a beige background. A seasonal palette can be richer, quieter, or more unexpected while still feeling appropriate for your brand.

Recent fall fashion coverage has highlighted combinations such as navy with burgundy, chocolate brown with yellow, and purple with red. These are useful starting points for visual exploration, rather than rules every business needs to follow. InStyle’s fall color combinations offer the seasonal inspiration behind several ideas below.

The five palettes here are original design suggestions. Their HEX codes are our selections, not official trend colors or shades supplied by the source.

1. Burgundy, Navy, and Warm Ivory

A restrained starting point for an editorial campaign, a seasonal collection, or a presentation with a more formal tone.

Build the palette around burgundy (#742C40), using deep navy (#19263D) for headings or dark panels and warm ivory (#F5EFE6) as the main background. Dusty rose (#C8959E) can soften supporting graphics, while muted gold (#C8A86B) adds a restrained decorative accent.

Try an ivory page with a burgundy image frame and navy headings. Keep the gold to small details so it does not compete with the main message. Avoid placing small burgundy text directly over navy: colors can look attractive together without making a readable text pair.

2. Chocolate Brown, Butter Yellow, and Cream

For an approachable seasonal direction, pair a deep brown with a light yellow and plenty of cream.

Use chocolate brown (#493126) as the main dark tone and butter yellow (#F1D77A) for a featured panel or highlight. Soft cream (#FFF7E8) creates a light background, with warm taupe (#B5A091) for supporting shapes and dark cocoa (#2C211D) as a text color to test against your chosen background.

Picture a cream social post with a yellow panel behind a product photograph and a short cocoa headline. This is a starting point worth trying for a bakery, a homeware collection, or a small retail campaign.

Use yellow to direct attention to one area rather than applying it to every badge, border, and button.

3. Plum, Red, and Pale Blush

This combination is for a campaign that needs a stronger visual interruption.

Deep plum (#512747) gives the design its main seasonal color, while warm red (#C83F45) supplies a more energetic accent. Pale blush (#F8EBEB) provides a light background. Add dusty mauve (#AE829B) to supporting graphics and test ink (#251F29) for headlines and body text.

Let one saturated color lead. For example, use plum for the main panel and red for a single graphic detail. Give the headline enough empty space instead of surrounding it with several competing blocks of color.

Test this direction on a launch graphic or event announcement before applying it across an entire website.

4. Olive, Clay, and Oat

For a softer alternative, build around muted green and a warm clay accent.

Start with olive (#596044) as the main color, then introduce clay (#B76549) in small accents. Oat (#EFE6D6) works as a background direction, while pale sage (#CBD1BB) can separate supporting panels. Charcoal (#292C26) is a dark text option to test in the final layout.

This is an original autumn interpretation rather than a claim about a measured trend. Try it with product photography featuring wood, paper, fabric, or other textured surfaces.

Keep the layout simple. A palette with several muted colors can become flat if every element has similar visual weight.

5. Burnt Orange, Slate Blue, and Chalk

If you want a recognizable autumn accent without an entirely warm palette, balance orange with blue.

Combine burnt orange (#B9502F) as the seasonal accent with slate blue (#465D75) as the main supporting color. Chalk (#F5F3EF) gives the design a light background, and light steel (#C8D3DD) can define secondary panels. Test deep slate (#233142) for text and other dark details.

Use chalk for the page, slate for structure, and orange for a small number of focal points. A seasonal banner or a short social media series can be a useful place to experiment without changing the brand’s core identity.

Make the Palette Work Beyond the Swatches

Start with one real layout. Choose a background, a headline color, a supporting color, and an accent. You do not need all five colors in every asset.

Keep something familiar from your existing identity, such as typography, image style, or layout. This gives the seasonal colors a consistent setting.

Then check readability. For web text, WCAG’s Level AA contrast criterion generally requires at least 4.5:1 for normal text and 3:1 for qualifying large text, with specified exceptions. The palettes above have not been certified as accessible combinations; check each actual text-and-background pairing. W3C contrast guidance

A useful fall palette should help your audience notice and understand the content. Looking seasonal is only one part of the job.

Turn Your Starting Color into a Palette

Have a HEX color you want to build around? The free DF Tools Color Harmony Generator creates a five-color starting palette with your base color, a contrasting color, and darker and lighter variations. Use it to explore a direction, then test the result in your own design and check text contrast before publishing.