The new Colors block gives you a more scalable way to manage brand colors across your guidelines.
Unlike the current Color block, which stores each palette independently, the new Colors block lets you reuse shared colors from Essentials. These colors remain connected to their source, so when a brand color changes in Essentials, it updates automatically everywhere it is used.
You can also add custom colors to the same palette for campaigns, events, products, or other specific use cases.
What is changing?
Frontify is introducing a new Colors block to replace the current Color block.
The current Color block is useful for presenting color palettes, but every palette must be maintained separately. If the same brand color appears across several guidelines, each instance needs to be updated manually.
The new Colors block solves this by letting you:
Reuse shared brand colors from Essentials
Keep Essentials colors synchronized across guidelines
Combine shared colors with custom colors in the same palette
Customize how your palette is displayed
This helps you maintain consistent brand colors while giving individual teams the flexibility to create palettes for their own needs.
Understand Essentials and custom colors
The new Colors block supports two types of colors.
Essentials colors
Essentials colors are shared brand colors managed 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 it is used. Use Essentials for colors that should remain consistent across your brand, such as primary, secondary, or neutral brand colors.
Custom colors
Custom colors belong only to the Colors block where they are created.
They are not connected to Essentials and are not affected when an Essentials color changes. Use custom colors for campaign, event, product, or market-specific palettes that do not need to be managed centrally.
Add the new Colors block
Open the guideline you want to edit.
Open the block picker.
Select Colors.
Add an optional title for the palette.
During the rollout, the block picker will also show the current Color block. Select Colors to use the new experience.
Add shared colors from Essentials
Open the Colors block.
Select Essentials.
Choose the shared colors you want to use.
Add them to the palette.
The colors remain connected to Essentials after they are added.
When someone updates one of these colors in Essentials, the corresponding color updates automatically in every Colors block where it appears.
Add custom colors
Open the Colors block.
Select Custom.
Enter the color value.
Add a name or other available details.
Repeat these steps for any additional custom colors.
Custom colors remain specific to the current palette.
Combine Essentials and custom colors
You can use Essentials and custom colors together in the same Colors block.
For example, an event team could reuse the company’s core brand colors from Essentials and add several colors created specifically for the event.
If a core brand color is later updated in Essentials, it changes automatically in the event palette. The event-specific custom colors remain unchanged.
This gives teams a consistent brand foundation without limiting their ability to create tailored palettes.
Customize the palette display
You can display your palette using:
Cards
Drops
List
Additional display settings let you control options such as:
Layout and spacing
Text alignment
Color values
Borders
Corner radius
The available settings depend on the selected display type.
What happens to the current Color block?
During the rollout, you will temporarily see two options in the block picker:
Colors: the new block with Essentials connections, custom colors, and advanced display settings
Color block: the current block, where palettes are maintained independently
Frontify will automatically migrate existing Color block content to the new Colors block during August and September.
You do not need to recreate your palettes or take any other action.
Once all existing content has been migrated, the current Color block will be removed from the block picker.
Frequently asked questions
Why is Frontify introducing a new block? The current Color block stores every palette independently. This makes shared brand colors difficult to maintain across multiple guidelines. The new Colors block connects shared colors to Essentials, allowing them to be managed centrally and reused across guidelines.
Do I need to migrate my existing Color blocks? No. Frontify will migrate existing Color block content automatically.
Will my existing palettes be deleted? No. Existing Color block content will be moved to the new Colors block as part of the migration.
What happens when an Essentials color changes? The color updates automatically in every Colors block where that Essentials color is used.
Do custom colors update automatically? No. Custom colors are local to their Colors block and remain unchanged when Essentials colors are updated.
Can I use Essentials and custom colors in one palette? Yes. You can combine both types of colors in the same Colors block.