Color affects us in powerful ways. Whether warm and bright or cold and dark, certain tones can impact the way we perceive the messages that surround us. As visual communicators, many of us love experimenting with new color combinations to see where they take our design concepts. To help you out, we’ve handpicked 20 bold palettes from the most popular ones uploaded to Colourlovers.
This month we’re going to take a look at metallic palettes, one of this year’s 6 Beautiful Color Trends. This trend is already strong in the home decor, fashion and stationery markets, but now we see it spilling into areas such as technology and temporary tattoos. Of course, metallics are perfect for Christmas, so if you design holiday cards, patterns, illustrations, wrapping paper or icons for the holidays, metallics can give your design that extra, festive sparkle.
Gold, silver, and rose copper all give your designs an elegant touch. A feeling of opulence. Maybe it’s because we live in times of great change, and many of us are facing rather tough financial times, that the metallic trend can be so appealing? Even on a budget you can bring a bit of glamorous, gold garnish into your life.
The metallic palette can be dressed up or down. Keep it minimalist, adding a metallic accent or go maximalist, over the top, dramatic, by reimagining Versailles!
Gradients can be a way to create a realistic, metallic effect. Contrasting light and dark colors from your metallic palette causes that glimmering look. For more tips on how to succeed with gradients check out this article: The Missing Guide To Gradients.
The best part? All of these palettes are available for download. Just click on the one/s you like and you’ll be able to grab the swatches in a ton of formats including .ai, .html, .zip, .aco and .ase. You’ll also find the HEX and RGB specs for each color so that you can use it in your next web or print design project. For each palette, make sure to read the details of its Creative Commons license.
1. 24 Karat Gold
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2. True Pewter
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3. True Silver
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4. White Gold
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5. Santa Barbara
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6. 18 Carat Gold
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7. Platinum
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8. Precious Metal
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9. True Tin
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10. Heat Metal
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11. Metals
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12. Heavy Metals
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13. Moonlight and Metal
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14. Copper Rose
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15. Silver & Gold Leaf
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16. Oxidize Steel
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17. Temperance
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18. Sparkling Champagne
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19. Palace of Versailles
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20. Mmm….. Just Right!
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Pin them for later!
What’s your favorite? Have any other palettes you’d like us to feature next month? Let us know in the comments below.

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I'm a Scandinavian designer. Colour and I have an endless love affair! The result is a bold and expressive, vibrant and organic aesthetic. Join Club Marmalade Moon (it’s free), to receive samples, early bird offers, sneak peeks and other goodies. Here’s the link: http://bit.ly/1LQMngK
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