Creating a Palette

Color palettes in Think Crew help you visually organize your production schedule by applying consistent colors to different types of elements. A well-designed palette makes your schedule easier to read at a glance and helps your team quickly identify different production components.

Accessing the Palette Creator #

1. Open the schedule you want to work with
2. In the top menu, select “Manage / Designs”
3. Click on the Palettes tab
4. You will see a list of all of your palettes

Creating a New Palette #

1. Start a New Palette:
   • Click the “New” button
   • Give your palette a descriptive name
   • Click the “Edit this palette design” button, this will open the palette editor
2. Add Color Categories:
   • You will see a grid of color swatches.
   • The rows are the elements in the “Day/Night” category
   • The columns are the elements in the “INT/EXT” category
3. Arrange Your Palette:
   • Click on an individual swatch at the intersection of the day/night and int/ext that you want to edit.
   • A color picker will appear, use the tool to select the color you want
   • If you want to use the same color for multiple swatches, select the hex code for that color (at the bottom of the color picker), copy it, then paste that code into another color swatch’s picker.
4. Save Your Palette:
   • Click “Save Palette” to save your palette

How Is Text Color Decided #

The palette color only affects the background color of a strip. The color of the text is done automatically by Think Crew. The site determines the color value of each strip and then makes a mathematical calculation about the contrast level of the palette color. It then determines whether white or black text would stand out best against this background color.

Palette Best Practices #

• Use contrasting colors to make different categories easily distinguishable
• Consider color meaning in the industry (look at other standardized palettes to understand the history of strip colors)
• Ensure accessibility by choosing colors with sufficient contrast
• Limit your palette to a few colors to avoid visual confusion
• Test your palette on actual schedule data before finalizing

Once created, your palette will be available to apply to strips in your schedule, helping you create a visual system that enhances communication and understanding across your production team. You can create multiple palettes for different purposes within the same design, giving you flexibility in how you organize your visual information.