The Wellfolk Design Color Palette: Why Every Color Has a Name

Every color in the Wellfolk Design palette has a name. Not just a hex code, but a real name: Espresso, Walnut, Wood, Amber, Linen, Oat, Dove, Mist, and Fjord.

What the names mean

The naming isn’t for decoration, there are specific reasons behind the names. Each name points to a specific reference from the natural and material world.

Espresso is the dark roast, the iron, the richly pigmented earth. Walnut is the shell, the deep clay, old timber. Wood is chestnut and aged oak and worn saddle leather. Amber is beeswax, like the wax of a working hive, the heartwood of an oak, raw resin that preserves. Linen is unbleached fabric, raw cotton, the texture of something natural and unprocessed. Oat is dried grass and worn leather. Dove is the color of a feather, bleached cotton, birch bark. Mist is morning fog, winter sky. Fjord is deep water, iron-gall ink, the indigo of something ancient and enduring.

Why this matters

Designers who create brands for health and wellness practices typically default to a similar color palette, like sage green, dusty pink, and warm neutral beige. These colors are everywhere in the space; they are on every clinic's website, every wellness practice's Instagram, and every nonprofit's annual report.

They became the default because they feel credible in a category saturated with them. But when every health brand uses the same palette, that palette stops communicating anything specific about the organization using it. It ends up communicating the aesthetic trend that it was designed in.

A color system for a health practice or nonprofit needs to say something true and specific about who that organization is, and needs to last as long as the organization does.

What this means for your brand

If your health practice or nonprofit is working with color choices that are based on what looks right in your industry rather than what's true about your organization, unfortunately it shows.

A color system that's specific to you, grounded in your brand’s values, and built with intention is one of the most durable investments a brand can make; that way the colors don't need to change when passing trends do.