10 Color Palettes to Nail Your Next Presentation

Bring your A-game to your next pitch meeting with these satisfying psychological color palettes. Sure to dazzle.

Color is a powerful design tool. The right scheme can energize and motivate, soothe and inspire. With that in mind, we put together a batch of ten perfectly-pitched color palettes, each intended to achieve a different psychological effect.

Perhaps you’re a young startup and need to excite potential investors, or maybe you want to ensure that viewers remain focused on important data. Whatever the case, you’ll find a color palette that suits your needs in the list below.

Simply take a note of the HEX codes in the goal-oriented palettes, and apply your swatches to backgrounds, typography, or graphics. Scroll down for an easy one-two-three tutorial on how to do that using PicMonkey.

Now, let’s get started. It’s time to nail that pitch.

1. The Goal: To Energize Your Audience

Orange has been proven to promote energy and appetite in viewers, so it’s the perfect color choice for presentations that need to have an upbeat feel.

Vibrant purple blue and mint green are zesty and fresh, with an oceanic mood, while white is a clean neutral that will ensure your text remains crisp and legible.

Street-side view of tall orange building, white diving board against a orange wall, and a purple hot air balloon on a blue background — *Images via SharonPhoto, Markus Pfaff, and Anna-Nas.*

Orange desert sand dune against a seafoam green sky — *Image via dvoevnore.*

2. The Goal: To Calm and Reassure the Room

In some circumstances, it’s more important to calm and reassure your audience than to energize or surprise them. Presentations focused on mental wellbeing, health, or wellness, for example, wouldn’t benefit from a neon palette.

Instead, bring a zen mood to the boardroom with this palette of soothing hues. Spring green, navy blue, terracotta, and blue gray have a grounding personality and mimic colors seen in nature for an ultra-relaxing effect.

Top-down view of dark green cactus in pot, terracotta couch and lamps against brick wall, and closeup of peaches in a bowl — *Images via Michaela Warthen, bezikus, and Nelli Syrotynska.*

Terracotta and green hanging lamps against brick wall — *Image via bezikus.*

3. The Goal: To Boost Confidence

Red is the color of confidence, proven to make viewers feel stronger and more self-assured in its presence.

If you want to come across as capable and confident—while boosting your own self-confidence—turn to this palette for its direct and assertive mood.

Bold blue tempers red’s aggressive tendencies, while dove gray and black are neutral-yet-assured teammates.

Red Siamese fighting fish, white square and rectangular frames on a blue background, and navy chair with red curtains in the background — *Images via panpilai paipa, olgameola, and Photographee.eu.*

Silhouette of a girl in the light of red and blue colored lamps — *Image via Alexander_Evgenyevich.*

4. The Goal: To Appeal to Corporate Types

This color scheme mimics the traditional palettes of the financial and legal world. Bottle green and cognac brown are teamed with dark racing-green and old gold for an established and luxurious effect.

Evocative of leather and velvet, this is a cocooning and moneyed palette that will help corporate clients feel like you understand their formal world.

Portrait of a woman in a green coat holding dried flowers, green couch with burnt orange throw against a dark green wall, and closeup of a green palm leaf — *Images via Capable97, Followtheflow, and Stock Foto.Touch.*

Top view of folder, smartphone with blank screen, glasses, paper for notes, wooden box with pens on a dark green desk — *Image via Piece of Cake.*

5. The Goal: Give Off Cool Vibes

This urban palette combines deep and inky violet with acid lime yellow for a high-contrast effect, while concrete gray and black provide a neutral offset.

Use it to say, “My brand is on the cutting-edge.”

Cyberpunk man in shades with neon green background, cement curved texture pattern on a building, and three violet coffee cups on lime green background — *Images via Damir Khabirov, VTT Studio, and AlonaPhoto.*

Explosion of yellow, purple, and green paint on a black backdrop — *Image via Master1305.*

6. The Goal: To Show Off Your Newness

Young companies or startups pitching for their first round of investments need a palette that will communicate a spirit of innovation and fresh thinking.

Purple is the most intellectual and mysterious of colors, making it a good fit for businesses offering something a little different from the norm, especially in the tech sector.

Pink is an unexpected choice for work presentations, but here it is the perfect companion, bringing energy and a youthful mood.

Closeup of a big neon lightbulb, aerial view of purple skyscrapers, and a purple and pink hallway — *Images via Echelon Photography, SkyMediaPro, and bigkai.*

Silhouette of a man on his phone against a purple and pink background — *Image via Rawpixel.com.*

7. The Goal: To Create a High-End Feel

Elevate your presentations with this luxurious color scheme. If you’re pitching for a high-end brand or simply want to invest your slides with serious class, this claret-and-copper scheme is rich and heady.

The palette would also be a good fit for the hospitality, travel, or luxury-goods sectors.

Sunset lighting an office building, pomegranate cut in half exposing the seeds, and copper bars and plates on gray background — *Images via umcher, Cavan-Images, and Mirko Graul.*

Wooden food bar with copper lamps against a hot pink and gray wall — *Image via Eug Png.*

8. The Goal: To Improve Focus

If you have vitally important data or a specific message you want your viewers to remember, consider this palette, which employs a series of focus-promoting colors that will keep your audience from mid-pitch window gazing.

Blue and green are the two colors most associated with improving focus and concentration. And, in this palette, a rich teal helps combine both of those shades for a serious focus hit.

Earthy burnt orange prevents teal from feeling lethargic, while giving the palette a grounded edge that feels serious and cerebral.

Pier on a lake at sunset with green hills in the background, silhouette of a man reflected in orange and blue colors, and a digital rendition of autumn trees — *Images via Tobias Vannay, Iryna Kalamurza, and Robert Ruidl.*

Beautiful orange and turquoise reflected against a building — *Image via Sichim Sergiu.*

With sustainability a central concern for many businesses today, it might be in your interest to give your presentations an environmental slant (without practicing greenwashing, of course).

Whether you want to discuss how your company can become more eco-friendly or promote a sustainable product to a potential buyer, this fresh and verdant palette will give your slides a nature-inspired mood.

Sea-foam blue, grass green, and deep teal are made crisp and contemporary with chalk white.

Green palm leaf in a clear jar on gray background, bouquets of blooming apple tree branches with white flowers in glass bottles on light green background, and tropical palm tree with lush green leaves near white house — *Images via VictoriaArt, Sve_M, and Floral Deco.*

Couple eating at a small coffee shop with brick walls — *Image via longxmusic.*

10. The Goal: To Breed Open-Mindedness

This is a cool pick-me-up scheme for work-weary souls—the perfect option for team-building days or for subjects that are more outside-the-box than usual.

Orange and pink perk up the palette, while viridian green and Reflex Blue keep it from straying into childlike territory.

Colorful Yemen chameleon isolated on black background, wooden fence painted in red and blue, and building wall painted orange and pink — *Images via Baishev, Valerii Piankovskyi, and Ron Ellis.*

Colorful houses on a small traditional square — *Image via Eric Isselee.*

How to Use Your Palettes in PicMonkey

It’s quick and easy to create presentation designs using online design app PicMonkey. Here’s how you can use your color swatches to create impactful presentation slides in no time at all!

Step 1

Go to PicMonkey and identify the Collage layouts and blank canvases section at the bottom of the workspace.

Click on See all blanks.

Screenshot of presentation templates in PicMonkey

Click on the blank called Presentation and the canvas will load onto your screen.

Screenshot of blank templates in PicMonkey

Step 2

Click on Background color and from here you can insert the HEX code of the color swatch you’d like to use.

This swatch—#4a1be4—is taken from the fifth palette above.

Screenshot of how to choose a color swatch in PicMonkey

Step 3

Click on the Text icon at the top-left of the workspace, and from here you can insert and format your own text, or choose from a range of pre-designed typography.

Next, click on a type template to drop the text onto the canvas.

Screenshot of how to choose a type template in PicMonkey

Click on Text color to adjust the color of the text. Here, I’ve gone for the second color in the same palette—#d9f852—to create a complementary effect.

Screenshot of how to choose text color in PicMonkey

Click on Photos and Videos to access a wide range of stock images you can use in your slides. Search for an image and then click on the image to drop it onto the page.

Screenshot of how to choose an image for your template in PicMonkey

Once you’ve finished formatting your slide, simply click on Download at the top-right of the workspace to save your design as a JPEG or PDF file, ready to use in your PowerPoint deck.

Step 4

In this example, we can use some of the color swatches to create a gradient effect on a slide.

This time, click on Background Color > Gradient, and click on the circle icons to insert different HEX codes from the same palette to create a cool graduating effect.