How to Pick a Presentation Color Palette

A palette you can reuse

Most decks only need three roles: a primary brand color, a neutral for
text and backgrounds, and one accent for emphasis.

A simple method

1. Primary — pick one color that matches your brand or topic.
2. Neutral — a dark slate for text and a near-white for backgrounds.
3. Accent — one contrasting color for highlights and data.

Rules of thumb

• Keep text on background at a 4.5:1 contrast ratio for readability.
• Limit yourself to one accent; more colors read as noise.
• Test the deck on a projector — colors shift under bright light.

Primary   #4f46e5  (indigo)
Text      #0f172a  (slate-900)
Surface   #f8fafc  (slate-50)
Accent    #d946ef  (fuchsia)

A disciplined palette does more for professionalism than any single template.