Consistent color usage is one of the fastest ways to make your designs look professional and instantly recognizable. Instead of manually searching for the right shade every time you design, Canva lets you save your brand’s exact colors so they’re always just a click away. Once added, your brand colors appear as quick-select swatches throughout the editor.
In this guide, you’ll learn exactly how to add brand colors to Canva, apply them to your designs, and keep your palette organized and up to date.
Why Adding Brand Colors Matters
Manually re-entering hex codes every time you design is slow and prone to small errors that make your colors inconsistent across designs. Saving your brand colors in Canva allows you to:
- Apply exact, consistent colors with a single click
- Avoid mismatched shades caused by guessing or eyeballing colors
- Save time when formatting text, backgrounds, and shapes
- Keep your whole team using the same palette, if you’re working with collaborators
Step 1: Open Brand Kit
Log in to Canva and click Brand Kit in the left-hand sidebar. If you’re already inside a design, you can also access it through the Brand tab in the top toolbar.
Note: Free Canva accounts have access to basic brand colors, while Canva Pro, Teams, and Enterprise plans offer expanded color palette options and multiple Brand Kits.
Step 2: Locate the Colors Section
Inside the Brand Kit panel, find the section labeled Colors. This is where all of your saved brand colors will appear as swatches once added.
Step 3: Add a New Brand Color
- Click the Add a color button (often shown as a “+” icon).
- In the color picker that appears, do one of the following:
- Enter the exact hex code of your brand color for precise accuracy.
- Use the color wheel or slider to manually select a shade.
- Enter RGB or CMYK values if you’re matching a color from a specific source, such as a style guide.
- Click Add (or confirm) to save the color to your Brand Kit.
Step 4: Label Your Colors Clearly
After adding a color, click on its name field and rename it something descriptive, such as “Primary Navy,” “Accent Coral,” or “Neutral Gray.” Clear labels make it much easier for you or your team to pick the correct color quickly, especially once your palette grows.
Step 5: Add Your Full Color Palette
Repeat Steps 3 and 4 for every color in your brand’s palette — typically a primary color, one or two secondary colors, and a couple of neutral or accent shades. Most effective brand palettes include somewhere between 4 and 8 colors total.
Step 6: Apply Brand Colors to a Design
Once your palette is saved, applying it is simple:
- Select an element, text, or background in your design.
- Click the color fill icon in the toolbar.
- Your saved brand colors will appear at the top of the color picker under a “Brand colors” (or “Document colors”) section.
- Click the swatch you want to apply.
This ensures every element uses your exact brand shade, rather than an approximate match.
Step 7: Edit or Update a Saved Color
Brand colors can change over time as your visual identity evolves:
- Go back to the Brand Kit panel.
- Click on the color swatch you want to change.
- Update the hex code or adjust it using the color picker.
- The updated color will now apply going forward wherever that brand color is selected.
Note: Updating a saved brand color does not automatically change colors already applied to existing designs — you’ll need to reapply the new shade manually to older projects if needed.
Step 8: Reorder or Remove Colors
To keep your palette clean and relevant:
- Reorder colors by dragging swatches into your preferred sequence (usually primary colors first).
- Remove a color by clicking the swatch and selecting the delete or trash icon, useful if a shade is no longer part of your brand.
Common Issues With Adding Brand Colors
Color looks different than expected on screen Colors can render slightly differently depending on your monitor’s calibration. Always double-check using the exact hex code rather than relying on visual matching.
Can’t find the Brand Colors option Make sure you’re looking in the Brand Kit section, not the standard color picker for an individual design — brand colors are managed separately from one-off design colors.
Too many similar shades in the palette Keep your palette focused — too many near-identical colors makes it harder for you or your team to pick the right one quickly. Remove duplicates or very similar shades.
Colors not showing up while designing Confirm you’re selecting the color picker from an actual design (not just the Brand Kit page) — brand colors appear as swatches only within the color fill/selection tool.
Tips for Managing Brand Colors Effectively
- Always use hex codes when available for the most accurate, consistent color matching.
- Limit your palette to a manageable number of core colors, plus a couple of accents.
- Name colors by function (e.g., “Primary,” “Secondary,” “Accent”) rather than vague descriptions, so anyone on your team knows exactly which to use.
- Revisit your palette periodically to ensure it still reflects your current brand identity.
Final Thoughts
Adding brand colors to Canva takes just a few minutes but saves significant time and ensures visual consistency across every design you create. Once your palette is saved, applying the right shade becomes as easy as a single click.
Next time you start a new design, skip the guesswork — pull your colors straight from your Brand Kit and keep every project perfectly on-brand.