At the risk of sounding redundant, white is so vanilla. A near infinite number of color possibilities other than the standard hue are possible for your custom envelopes. To help kick your imagination into high gear, here are some suggestions to get the absolute most out of your palette choices.

Season’s Greetings

An obvious choice would be to coordinate your colored envelopes to the most recent holiday event. Common choices include:

● New Year’s — Blue, gold, white, light blue
● Valentine’s Day — Red, pink
● Easter — Pastels, especially blue, green, pink, yellow
● Fourth of July — Red, white and blue, of course!
● Halloween — Orange or black
● Christmas — Red, green
● Hanukkah — Blue or white

Just because there is a holiday, though, does not mean that your color choices are set in stone. In fact, many style editors, makeup artists and fashion designers pore over color choices to find the absolute best seasonal color schemes. These colors help place people in the right mindset and make best use of the seasonal lighting conditions.

Rather than breaking down the seasons into a simple cycle, there is a whole science to finding the appropriate color choice. Typical diagrams place the choices in a compass of sorts that spans the whole calendar year. On the north-south axis lies autumn and winter, which use dark, deep color hues. On the east-west axis lies spring and summer, which are lighter and more jubilant.

The process of transitioning through the axis from one season to the other, starting from winter goes: cool → clear → soft → warm. To help you understand this surprisingly technical process further, here is a breakdown for each season.

Spring

Spring lies in between the “warmer” colors of autumn and the “clear” colors of winter
Colors are bright and clear, with warm undertones
Color choices include:
○ Rose
○ Sky blue
○ Auburn
○ Yellow
○ Turquoise
○ Light green
○ Cobalt
○ Red

Summer

● Summer lies in between the cooler colors of winter and the warmer colors of fall
● Colors are soft and muted with cool undertones
● Color choices include:
○ Lavender
○ Violet
○ Coral
○ Pink
○ Teal
○ Pastel green
○ Navy
○ Maroon

Autumn

● Autumn lies in between the soft colors of summer and the warm colors of spring
● Colors are muted but rich, with gold or earthy undertones
● Color choices include:
○ Goldenrod
○ Chartreuse
○ Burnt orange
○ Peach
○ Periwinkle
○ Mauve
○ Hunter green
○ Teal
○ Wheat
○ Mahogany

Winter

● Winter lies in between the clear colors of spring and the cool colors of summer
● Colors are often deep and rich with precious jewel tones
● Color choices include:
○ Black
○ White
○ Primary colors
■ Red
■ Blue
■ Yellow
■ Green
■ Purple
○ Lavender
○ Dark green
○ Navy blue
○ Sapphire

Using colored envelopes to Your Advantage

These color choices are not just for people trying to decide which season or Hollywood starlet they should mirror their style to. Instead, specific color choices like these both evoke and are enhanced by the natural seasonal moods people experience.

Anyone sending out custom envelopes would benefit from matching their color schemes to fit the natural look and feel of the season they send it in. We can create gorgeous, custom-printed envelopes in any eye-catching color so you can “wow” your direct mail recipients. Check out our product line to get inspired.