Color Palettes: Strawberries & Cream | T-Shirt Design Ideas

In honor of Valentines Day, we put together a hearts and kisses inspired color pallet we like to call Strawberries and Cream. As spring approaches, color-schemes lighten and a warmer, more gleeful look comes out of the dark winter tones we've gotten used to over the past few months.

The color theory backstory

Strawberries and Cream is a beautiful analogous color scheme made of warm but gentle oranges, pinks, and reds. As we delve into in our article on using color theory in your t-shirt designs, analogous colors are those that are adjacent to each other on the color wheel. This approach is an easy and relatively low-risk way of creating color harmony and a design with a professional touch.

One important feature of this color scheme is how we've varied the shade of each color. What makes analogous color schemes so simple is how similar the colors are to each other, however, that also means you usually need to introduce some contrast to make elements stand out.

In the examples above, the darkest color is used as a contrasting background to the relatively much lighter ink colors. And each in color is varied enough to make each element stand out while still creating a cohesive look.

Match the occasion

A color pallet like this also works well for those group orders where you want a few different looks to stand out from each other. That could be an event where you want volunteers to stand out from participants, or a family vacation where the kids want their own special color.

You can create this whole pallet with a combination of colors from our Canvas Jersey T-shirts. The colors we've used here are Heather Cardinal, Heather Raspberry, Coral and Heather Prism Peach.

If you go this route, a simple one-color design is often best. It can be hard to get a multi-colored design to look right on so many different t-shirt colors so just stick to one to ensure you get a consistent look across all of them.

While this pallet has us thinking of Valentines Day and the nearing spring season, it can really be great for a whole range of uses. Whether you are in charge of a bachelorette party or getting shirts for your local ice cream shop, Strawberries and Cream is a fun and fresh color palette.