Quick answer: A good explainer video color palette starts with your brand colors and adds what motion needs. That means a neutral background, one or two supporting colors, and a single accent saved for the things viewers must notice. Use roughly a 60-30-10 split. Make sure all on-screen text meets WCAG contrast: 4.5:1 for normal text, 3:1 for large text.
Most brand guides were written for logos, websites and print. They rarely say what happens when 40 shapes move at once, text flies in over a gradient, or a phone screen is viewed in bright sun. That gap is where explainer videos go wrong. This guide covers how we pick colors for an animated video at Gisteo, with examples from our own portfolio.
Why does color matter more in motion?
On a web page, the viewer controls the pace. They can stop, scan and reread. In a video, you control the pace, and every scene is on screen for a few seconds at most. Color is one of the fastest ways to tell the viewer where to look.
Three things make color harder in an animated explainer video than on a static page:
- Attention is fleeting. If the button, the number or the product isn’t the most visible thing in the frame, the viewer may miss it before the scene cuts.
- Colors sit next to each other in new ways. A brand red that looks fine on a white page can vibrate against a saturated blue character, or disappear against an orange background.
- Video gets compressed. Streaming platforms squeeze file sizes. Smooth gradients can show visible bands, and thin, very saturated colored text, especially red, can smear at the edges. Flat, confident colors survive compression better than subtle ones.
Color also carries meaning across a whole video. If green means “solved” in scene two, it should still mean “solved” in scene nine. Viewers pick up these rules quickly, even without being told, and break them at your peril.
How do you extend a brand palette for animation?
Start with what you already have. A brand video style guide usually lists a primary color, one or two secondary colors and maybe a few tints. That is a starting point, not a full animation palette. A typical explainer needs more roles filled.
The 60-30-10 split
A simple rule of thumb borrowed from interior design works well for video:
- 60% dominant: usually a background or neutral. Off-white, light grey, deep navy or charcoal. It should be calm enough that everything else reads on top of it.
- 30% secondary: the color that carries the brand feel. Often your primary brand color, used for large shapes, UI panels and scene transitions.
- 10% accent: one high-contrast color used sparingly for the thing that matters in each scene. A call to action, a key number, the “after” in a before-and-after.
The split is a guide, not a formula. The point is hierarchy. If every color is loud, nothing is.
Roles a brand guide usually misses
When we build a palette at the storyboard stage, we check that each of these roles has a color:
| Role | What it’s for | Where it often comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Background | 60% of most frames | A neutral tint of the brand color, or a true neutral |
| Primary brand | Big shapes, panels, transitions | The brand guide’s main color |
| Accent | Calls to action, key data, highlights | A secondary brand color or a complementary hue |
| Text | Headlines and captions | Near-black or near-white, chosen for contrast |
| Skin tones | Characters in 2D animation | A range of tones, set separately from brand colors |
| Status colors | Problem vs. solution, error vs. success | Red/green or a colorblind-friendly alternative |
| Shadow and highlight | Depth, 2.5D effects | Darker and lighter versions of each main color |
Characters deserve a note. Skin tones should never be pulled from the brand palette. A blue brand doesn’t mean blue people. Clothing and props are where brand colors can show up on characters.
Build tints and shades
Most brand guides give one value per color. Animation needs a range: a lighter tint for backgrounds, a darker shade for shadows and depth, and sometimes a mid-tone for secondary shapes. Keep the hue the same and change the lightness. This keeps the video on-brand while giving the animator room to create depth, which matters more in 2D animation and motion graphics than in a flat logo.
Lock it in the storyboard
At Gisteo, the storyboard stage turns the script into full-color, frame-by-frame visuals before any animation starts. See what storyboarding is for the full picture. That is the right moment to approve a palette. Changing colors after animation has begun means re-rendering scenes. Changing them on a storyboard means editing a few frames.
How much contrast does on-screen text need?
The clearest standard is the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). Success Criterion 1.4.3, Contrast (Minimum) sets these minimums:
- Normal text: a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1 against its background.
- Large text: at least 3:1. WCAG defines large text as at least 18 point, or 14 point bold.
- Logos: text that is part of a logo or brand name has no contrast requirement.
WCAG was written for web content, but the same logic applies to text in a video. Contrast is measured against the background the text actually sits on. In a video, that background moves. Check the worst frame, not the best one. Text that passes over a white panel can fail when a light blue shape slides behind it a second later.
Practical ways to keep text readable:
- Put key text on a solid shape or a semi-opaque band rather than directly over busy animation.
- Use near-black text on light backgrounds and near-white on dark ones. Save brand colors for shapes, not small text.
- Don’t rely on color alone to carry meaning. Pair red and green with icons, labels or position, since red-green color blindness is common.
- Test with a free tool such as the WebAIM Contrast Checker by sampling the actual colors from your storyboard frames.
If accessibility is a priority for your project, our guide to accessible explainer videos covers captions, audio description and the rest of WCAG.
Does color change how viewers feel?
Yes, in the sense that color sets a mood. A deep navy scene feels calmer than a hot pink one. Warm, saturated palettes feel energetic. Muted palettes feel more serious. Most people would agree on that much.
We’re more cautious about the charts that say “blue builds trust” or “orange makes people buy.” Color meanings shift with culture, industry and context. Red can signal danger, a sale, luck or a brand like Coca-Cola, depending on where and how you see it. We haven’t seen good enough evidence to plan a video around a single color’s supposed psychological effect.
What we do rely on is contrast and consistency. Make the important thing stand out. Use the same color for the same idea throughout. Match the overall mood to the message: a cybersecurity explainer and a kids’ reading app shouldn’t feel the same. That gets you most of the benefit without the guesswork.
Brand examples from the Gisteo portfolio
Here are four projects from our portfolio with distinctive palettes. We describe only what you can see in the frame shown on the portfolio page.
Recurly (motion graphics)
The Recurly frame is built on a pale grey background with an isometric dashboard. The brand’s purple appears in the dashboard’s sidebar, where the logo sits. Red and green tiles stand for problem and success states, linked by thin green connector lines, with a dark card as a contrast point.
What it shows: a near-neutral 60%, the brand color as the 30%, and status colors used only where they carry meaning.
Jackpot.com (motion graphics)
This one goes the other way. The background is a solid, bright green, with a heavy black, all-caps headline beside a phone showing the app’s white interface.
What it shows: a bold brand color can be the dominant 60% if the text on top is high contrast. Black on bright green reads instantly.
Boombox (motion graphics)
The Boombox frame is a deep navy underwater scene with lighter blue coral and fish. The logo uses a warm orange-yellow outline with white type, and a yellow octopus sits in the corner.
What it shows: a dark-mode palette with a warm accent. Yellow and orange against navy is a near-complementary pairing, so the logo and character pop without any extra effects.
Treasure Data (kinetic typography)
The Treasure Data frame is mostly off-white, with faint pink network lines. The headline is set in bold black type, and the key phrase is picked out in magenta.
What it shows: the 10% accent at work. In a text-led video, one highlight color tells the viewer which words matter.
You can browse more styles, from 2D animation to whiteboard, on our explainer videos and custom explainer videos pages.
Common mistakes with explainer video colors
| Mistake | Why it hurts | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Using every brand color at full strength | No hierarchy; viewers don’t know where to look | Apply 60-30-10; save one accent for key moments |
| Brand-colored small text | Often fails 4.5:1 contrast, especially mid-tones | Use near-black or near-white text; put color in shapes |
| Text over moving, busy backgrounds | Contrast changes frame to frame | Add a solid band or panel behind key text |
| Red vs. green as the only signal | Hard to read for many colorblind viewers | Add icons, labels or position cues |
| Subtle gradients everywhere | Banding after compression on streaming platforms | Use flatter fills or test the exported file |
| Skin tones pulled from the brand palette | Characters look odd or unrelatable | Set skin tones separately; use brand colors in clothing and props |
| Changing color meanings mid-video | Viewers lose the visual logic | Assign each color a role and keep it |
| Approving colors after animation starts | Costly re-renders and delays | Lock the palette at the full-color storyboard stage |
| Checking only on a big desktop monitor | Colors and contrast look different on phones | Review on a phone, in light and dark settings |
Getting the palette right from the start
Color is one of the cheapest things to get right and one of the most expensive to fix late. Start from your brand guide, fill the missing roles, check contrast on the real frames, and approve it all at the storyboard stage.
When Gisteo produces a custom explainer, the palette is part of the storyboard you review and approve. Custom animation includes unlimited revisions within each production stage, so colors can be adjusted before a single scene is animated. A custom 60-second explainer is $3,500 if you supply the script (Just Animate!) or $4,000 with our scriptwriting (Full-Service). If you’re planning a video and want to see what’s included, see our explainer video pricing.
Frequently asked questions
How many colors should an explainer video use?
Most explainers work well with three to five main colors: a background neutral, one or two brand colors, an accent and a text color. Add tints and shades of those for depth, plus skin tones if there are characters. More than that is possible, but each extra color should have a clear job. If you can’t say what a color is for, cut it.
What if my brand colors clash on screen?
It happens, especially when two strong brand colors sit side by side in motion. The usual fix is to stop using them at equal strength. Make one dominant and use the other as a small accent. You can also separate them with a neutral, or use a lighter tint of one. Your brand stays recognizable while the frames stay comfortable to watch.
Should an explainer video use a dark or light background?
Either can work. Light backgrounds feel clean and suit software, healthcare and most B2B topics. Dark backgrounds feel more dramatic and make bright accents pop, which suits tech, security and premium brands. Decide based on your brand and where the video will play. Then check text contrast in both directions: dark mode doesn’t excuse low-contrast text.
Does Gisteo follow our brand style guide?
Yes. Send us your brand guide, logo files and any existing videos, and we build the palette from them. If your guide doesn’t cover motion, we fill the gaps, such as background tints, accents and character skin tones, and show you the result in the full-color storyboard. You approve the colors there, before animation begins.
Do brand logos need to meet contrast rules?
Under WCAG 1.4.3, text that is part of a logo or brand name has no minimum contrast requirement. In practice, though, you still want your logo to be seen. Place it on a background that gives it room, and use the light or dark version from your brand guide to match the scene.
