# Five color pairs to try in a real layout

> Copy the original palette values, then check contrast where text and backgrounds meet.

Source: https://fullbytedeveloper.com/blog/five-color-pairs-from-our-carousel
Originally posted: 2025-02-25
Published here: 2026-11-06

Our color-pair carousel showed five combinations. These values come from the labels in the original slides, rather than sampling the compressed screenshots.

## The five pairs

| Pair | First color | Second color |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Cherry Crush / Peach Cream | `#E54F5D` | `#FDDFC5` |
| Soft Sage / Deep Olive | `#ABC7A1` | `#1A2517` |
| Mint Whisper / Dark Mustard | `#D5E9E0` | `#4B421B` |
| Deep Burgundy / Golden Sand | `#5C0D13` | `#F0E295` |
| Vanilla Latte / Teal Forest | `#F4E5C3` | `#174E50` |

## Give each color a job

Try one as the background and the other as an accent. Add a separate text color if the pair does not provide enough contrast. A pleasing combination can still produce unreadable small text.

WCAG measures text contrast against its actual background; ordinary text generally needs 4.5:1 and large text 3:1 [1]. Check the finished layout rather than approving a palette from two large swatches.

Test a heading, a paragraph and a link at the size readers will see. Keep labels visible when a control changes color on hover or selection. These pairs are starting points for a design, not evidence that a particular color will increase conversions or communicate the same emotion to every audience.

## Sources

1. [W3C: minimum text contrast](https://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG22/Understanding/contrast-minimum.html)

## Original posts

- [Instagram post](https://www.instagram.com/fullbytedeveloper/p/DGgZImhuXdS/)