The colors block allows you to manage brand colors across your guidelines. You can reuse shared brand colors from essentials, ensuring that any central color change updates automatically wherever it appears. You can also add custom colors to the same palette for campaigns, events, products, or specific use cases.
With the colors block, you can:
Reuse shared brand colors from essentials
Keep essentials colors synchronized across guidelines
Combine shared colors with custom colors in the same palette
Customize palette displays, layouts, and visible color values
Understand essentials and custom colors
The colors block supports two types of colors:
Essentials colors
Essentials colors are shared brand colors managed centrally in the essentials dashboard.
When you add an essentials color to a colors block, it remains connected to essentials. Updating the color in essentials automatically updates every colors block where that color is used. Use essentials for colors that should remain consistent across your brand, such as primary, secondary, and neutral brand palettes.
Custom colors
Custom colors belong exclusively to the colors block where they are added.
They are not connected to essentials and remain unaffected when an essentials color changes. Use custom colors for campaign-, event-, product-, or market-specific palettes that do not need central management.
Add a colors block
Open your guideline in edit mode.
Click the + icon to open the block picker.
Select Colors.
Add an optional title for the palette.
Add shared colors from essentials
Open the colors block.
Select Essentials.
Choose the shared colors you want to include.
Add them to the palette.
These colors remain connected to essentials. When updated in essentials, the corresponding values update automatically across all guidelines where the color appears.
Add custom colors
Open the colors block.
Select Custom.
Enter the color values (such as HEX or RGBA).
Add a name and any additional details.
Repeat these steps for any additional custom colors.
Custom colors remain local to the current palette.
Combine essentials and custom colors
You can use essentials and custom colors together within the same palette.
For example, an event team can include core brand colors from essentials alongside bespoke colors created specifically for the event. If a core brand color updates in essentials, it updates automatically in the event palette, while the event-specific custom colors remain unchanged.
Customize the palette display
You can present palettes using one of three view options:
Cards
Drops
List
Within the block display settings, you can configure:
Layout and spacing
Text alignment
Visible color values and representations
Borders
Corner radius
The available settings depend on the selected display type.
Frequently asked questions
What happens when an essentials color changes?
The color updates automatically in every colors block where that essentials color is linked.
Do custom colors update automatically?
No. Custom colors are local to their specific colors block and remain unchanged when essentials colors are modified.
Can essentials and custom colors live in the same palette?
Yes. You can combine both color types in a single colors block.