Mustard Color Palettes

Using a mustard palette

Mustard is yellow that gave up on sunshine: darkened and browned toward the condiment, which solves saturated yellow’s notorious contrast problem — mustard can hold dark type and even white type at its deeper end, where lemon yellow never could — while keeping yellow’s ability to warm a page. Petrol teal and a bold cobalt complete the scheme, and mustard-and-blue is one of design’s most durable duos, running from mid-century furniture through contemporary editorial without a gap. On its own, mustard reads retro fast, so context decides the decade: with cream and walnut it is 1972, with charcoal and geometric type it is a modern magazine. Publishing, furniture, menswear, and craft food brands are the frequent users. Deploy it in confident blocks rather than slivers — a small smear of mustard looks like a dirtied yellow, while a full panel of it looks chosen.

Frequently asked questions