Branding is the whole concept of putting who you are and how you want to be seen, out there online, while making your work recognisable to others. I wanted to elaborate on one of the areas of branding that you might be stuck on, and that is how to choose a colour palette. I want you to be able to have a unique colour palette for your own blog, so I'll be leading you through how to do it.
1. Find a photo you love
The first thing you need to is find a photo that inspires you. This could be one of your own blog photos, a photo you've liked on Instagram or one you've spotted on Pinterest. It needs to encompass what you and your blog are all about. The whole vibe, colours and the feeling it evokes. 
2. Open it in Adobe Color CC
Now this is a website that makes creating a colour palette so simple. Open up Adobe Color CC and click on the little camera icon in the top right corner. Open the photo you've chosen, and it will automatically create a colour palette with the best colours from your photo! There is a 'Colour Mood' box in the top left corner, where you can click through each option to look at other colour palettes they've created for you from the same photo. 
3. Perfect your palette
Now that you have a colour palette you like, screenshot the page, crop it down to the palette only and open it up in Photoshop (or a free image editing site like Picmonkey or Canva). You now have five set colours which you can stay with, however I believe it's helpful to have six colours in your final palette. So now you need to do some adding and subtracting.
If your palette doesn't have any neutrals in it, you'll need to add them in. I always suggest having at least one neutral, preferably two, and I tend to always go with black and grey (white isn't needed as it's a given!). I like to add black in as it's generally the colour of your logo and text, so it's good to see how it works with your other colours. Something else I suggest adding, however optional, is a metallic like gold, silver or bronze. It's an easy way to make your brand feel more luxurious and exciting.
And that's it! You now have a colour palette for your blog. Now whenever you change the colours of your blog design, such as the side bar, drop down menu or link hover colours, you'll know exactly what colours to use for your brand.
If you need the hex value (eg. #FFFFFF) of a colour from your palette (and you don't have Photoshop), just upload it to Image Color Picker and click on each colour to get the code. You can use this colour palette throughout your blog, in your Twitter profile, in any graphics you create and in variations of your logo.
Check out our pastel color palettes with color codes for more branding ideas!
