When it comes to designing a poster, a stylish color scheme can go a long way to bringing attention to the design. From bright colors and unusual combinations, to subtle and understated, this is a space where almost anything goes.

Here, we’re diving into some super cool color schemes that you can use in poster design, sharing the hex codes for each poster color scheme to get you started.

Plus, each example is actually available as a template as well, if you want to jump start your design and use any of these specific examples!

Duotone

If your goal is to create a poster design with a bold, stylish, and edgy look, you can’t go wrong with a duotone color scheme. It’s one of the easiest color schemes you can create by combining a black halftone with either red, yellow, or blue. And it does wonders for making your core elements like titles and call to action pop from the background.

Soft Green, Yellow, and Red

Soft color palettes are one of the hottest trends in poster design these days. It’s especially effective for creating soothing color schemes reminiscent of the 80s and 90s. By pairing a soft green with a similarly light yellow color, this poster design has achieved a beautiful vibe. You’ll also notice how it has managed to sneak in a little bit of red to highlight the important elements.

Orange, Black, and Yellow

This is a great color scheme you can use to create a subtle and minimalist poster that stands out from the crowd. The sharp orange color is the key here that allows other colors to shine bright. It makes the black and yellow elements to take center stage and instantly grab the attention of the users.

Neon Green

Neon colors have been quite popular in poster designs over the past few months, as they especially do a great job of attracting attention. Whether you’re aiming for a modern and contemporary look or a futuristic, tech-themed vibe, these neon colors shine brighter than any other color.

Black and Gold

Black and gold is one of the most iconic color schemes used not just in poster design but almost every other design. It’s a color combination that gives a classic and timeless look, especially for posters with luxury and high-end themes. As you can see in the example above, this color combo works perfectly both ways no matter how you use it.

Light Pink, Yellow, and Dark Blue

This color scheme is most effective when used with a modern abstract poster design. It helps create a bold and striking look for the poster while also highlighting text and other shapes. The dark blue background takes the main role in this color scheme by offering a canvas for all the other colors and elements to stand out.

Purple, Pink, and Yellow

You’ll see this color scheme used across various technology, gaming, and modern conference event poster designs. It’s a trendy and stylish color combination that allows you to design more colorful and creative posters with a contemporary vibe. The yellow-colored elements on the dark purple background come through perfectly as well.

Pastel Pink, Salmon, and Dark Grey-Blue

Creating a beautifully aesthetic poster design is much easier when you use a pastel color scheme, like this one. The use of the Salmon and the Dark Grey-Blue colors on top of the light pastel pink works brilliantly in this poster design to create not only a soothing and calming vibe but also an elegant look and feel.

Black and Yellow

Yellow is a powerful choice for poster color schemes. It works perfectly with almost any other color you can pair it with, especially for highlighting specific elements and parts of your poster design. When you use it with a dark background, yellow is the ideal color for bringing more attention to your titles, text, and other important objects.

White and Yellow

As mentioned earlier, Yellow is the king of marketing color schemes. While it works beautifully with dark backgrounds for creating a bold and energetic look, you can also use it with light and white color backgrounds to create more subtly attractive and memorable poster designs.

Purple and Gray with Gradients

With a cool design and cool color scheme, you can create a stylish poster without a lot of color. This combination of deep purple and gray creates a certain mood that looks modern and with enough contrast for text elements of all sizes.

Gold Monotone

From almost monotone to full monotone, this gold mono option is super trendy. The trick to making a color scheme like this work is using really different variations of the hue. The brightest gold color is deep and rich while the complementary gold is pale and muted.

Red and Black

Red and black combos are one of those poster color schemes that never seem to go out of style. For a more modern spin, go for a red with a more crimson tone and a black that’s richer and has a little more depth. By playing with atypical variations of color, you can create a stunning combo.

Blue and Peach

Blue and peach is an unexpected color combination that has a fun style that can work for a number of poster types. What’s nice about this due is that there’s so much contrast that it is easy to see the colors from a distance. They are also not “environmental neutrals” and will stand out in outdoor settings.

Bright Blue and White

Bright blue and white is a classic poster color combination that works for almost any use. The blue color has a somewhat neutral feel that works with images or not as well as text elements. A white background is crisp and lends itself to ease of printing.

Black and White and Magenta

This color palette, featuring a black and white background with magenta accents, is simply stunning. The contrast of these colors creates a striking aesthetic that can have a charged feel to it. The color scheme can work great for imagery that’s a little different or when you want to jump out to people who see the poster design.

Blue, Red, and Gold

This color scheme is a classic when it comes to posters and food promotion (as seen in this poster design). Red is engaging to the appetite while blue and gold help create more of a sense of trust and calm. Overall the color combination is daring and warm.

Yellow and Black

Shades of yellow and black can turn out one of two ways – looking like a bumblebee or with understated elegance. (Thankfully this design has the look of the latter.) Black and yellow create sharp contrast and the color pair works wonderfully with icons or non-photo art elements.

Emerald Monotone

Monotone color schemes can be great for poster design because they create a unified look for the design from top to bottom of the printed piece. A strong color – and color palette – can help draw the eye to the design, such as this emerald poster color scheme. It’s inviting and easy to use thanks to a variety of green choices.

Bluish-Purple and Pale Yellow

The bluish-purple and pale yellow combination in this poster color scheme is soft and inviting. The colors work well for a design that you really want people to feel welcomed into. The other bonus? The colors seem to work well with plenty of other color elements in the mix, from photos to icons to illustrations.

Pink and Mint Green

When you think of a pink and mint green color palette, your first impression might not be positive. But this is a trending color combination that’s popular for both poster and website design as many people continue to play with bright color options.

Orange, Yellow, and Green

This is another highly engaging and visually interesting color combination – orange, yellow, and green. It’s one of those color schemes you might not use for anything other than a poster, but it works for attracting attention from a distance.

Navy Monotone

A navy monotone color scheme is moody and classic. With so many variations of navy to work with this color palette can work with almost any other design elements to create an inviting poster.

Pastel Violets

Another monotone color palette with violet hues creates a soft and appealing poster design. This color scheme is nice because it’s simple and doesn’t create too much of a mood. The colors work well if you need to use an image and the deeper violet color is great for text elements.

Purple, Pink, and Sky Blue

This might be the most “Material” of all the color schemes in this roundup with a trendy palette that looks like it fits right into Google’s design framework. The trio of colors blends well and creates a striking visual element that can be combine with images, icons, or other graphics.

Red, Navy, and Gold

This color scheme is similar to one above but with deeper, more saturated colors it takes on a more serious feel. Deep red and gold almost seem to jump off a navy background. But what’s even nicer is that you can use those colors with a white background as well for a different feel.

Light Blue and Gray

Light blue and gray create an almost timeless aesthetic that works with almost any content. It’s simple and inviting.

Bright Blue and Gold

Bright color combinations are among some of the most popular in poster design because they do grab your attention from a distance. This bright blue and yellow combination is no exception. It’s also great that both colors have enough saturation to allow for reversed out (light color) typography if you like.

Teal and White

Teal and white is a modern take on using blue and white for a poster design. Teal is just a little bit less mainstream and has a nice appeal. A deep teal works great for accents and lettering and a lighter teal can help secondary design elements stand out.

Bright Green, Black, and White

Are you sensing a commonality here? Many poster color palettes use black and white. This color scheme is no exception. Black and white help make green a focal point but ensure content is easy to read.

Orange and Yellow

Orange and Yellow make fun accent colors for a poster design that is image based. Often these colors aren’t the focus of an image and can have exceptional contrast to create an interesting design. They also have a light, inviting feel to them.

Warm and Cool Color Overlay

A combination of warm and cool colors – here red and blue – make a great color overlay. Play with the saturations and color mixes to achieve the ideal look for your background image.

Dark Green and Gold

If you are looking for a touch of elegance, try a dark green and gold color scheme for your poster design. With a lot of contrast, this duo pops right off the paper.

Purple and Blue Gradient

We can’t talk color schemes without including a gradient (one of the trendiest color options out there). This purple to blue gradient is simple and easy on the eyes.

Conclusion

What’s great about all these different color schemes is that they can really set the mood for events or anything your poster is promoting.

Just remember when picking out a color scheme for a poster that you want to ensure that everything is readable in the environment where the poster will be placed and for the size of the printed piece. That can make a big difference when it comes to what colors you choose. And have fun with picking colors for your poster projects!